One and a half years earlier, Shallan adopts the role of the perfect, silent daughter to avoid provoking her father’s violence, which he redirects onto others. Though Father grows more powerful—outmaneuvering rival lighteyes and enriching the house with a new marble deposit—his cold anger and cruelty only intensify.

At lunch, Father forbids Balat from courting a woman he loves, instead suggesting an implausible political match. When Balat calls him a murderer, Father retaliates by ordering Balat’s axehound pups killed. Luesh attempts to steady the situation, but a new guard carries out the order, deepening the terror in the household.

Shallan finds Balat grieving in the kennel and learns he has secretly met Helaran, who warned he might be gone a long time and charged Balat to watch over the family. Balat proposes fleeing with Eylita to a modest life elsewhere; Shallan refuses, believing something sinister grips Father and feeling obligated to remain for Jushu and Wikim.

Passing Father’s rooms, Shallan overhears him instructing Rin—the new captain—to find Helaran in Valath and bring back his head, promising Helaran’s Shardblade as payment. As Shallan reels and considers warning Helaran, she also notes blinding light shining from Father’s hidden strongbox—visible to her alone—heightening the sense that dark secrets sustain his power.

Malise confronts Father for ordering his own son’s death and for the house’s sustained brutality. The argument explodes, and Father storms out raging about disobedience, revealing his escalating need for control and setting the stage for further fracture within the Davar family.