One year earlier, with a highstorm approaching, Shallan visits Balat as he prepares to flee with Eylita. Helaran has vanished, their father grows more volatile despite newfound wealth, and Balat resolves to expose him to the highprince. The plan unravels when Wikim reports that Father has summoned Eylita to the feast hall.

Shallan discovers Malise’s corpse blocking the kitchen door, realizing Father learned of their plans and murdered his wife as punishment. In the hall, Father confronts Balat, denounces his sons, and provokes a duel. Balat’s desperate lunge barely grazes Father and breaks something concealed in his coat; Father disarms him and savagely beats Balat’s leg with a poker while the storm rages.

Father abruptly falters and collapses. Shallan had laced his wine with blackbane—provided years earlier by Wikim—intending to end his violence. Jushu rummages Father’s pocket and reveals a hidden Soulcaster with a cracked gemstone, explaining the family’s sudden wealth and its illicit origin.

Father’s paralysis ebbs; he begins to revive. With her brothers unwilling and Balat incapacitated, Shallan finishes what she began, tightening her necklace around Father’s throat as she recites a childhood lullaby, killing him. The rain drums above like a thousand scurrying creatures while Eylita tends Balat’s ruined leg.

In the aftermath, the siblings process the shock: Shallan accepts responsibility for the death, Eylita stabilizes Balat, and the broken Soulcaster confirms Father’s secret. The immediate threat ends, but the family is left with injury, guilt, and the revelation of how their wealth had been made.