The chapter opens during a storm as the Were groom returns from a meeting and learns that the original Vampyre bride has backed out. His seconds, Cal and Flor, present a replacement file and ask for approval, but he refuses to look at it and orders the plan to continue unchanged.

Six weeks earlier, Misery Lark is working at a Human tech start-up where her coworkers resent her after she embarrassed them with a security test. While Misery endures Pierce's smug commentary and ongoing hostility, Vania, her father's Right Hand, arrives and publicly reveals herself as a Vampyre. The office erupts in panic, effectively ruining Misery's cover and likely her job, and Vania informs Misery that Henry Lark has summoned her to the Nest.

At the Nest, Misery reflects on her estrangement from Vampyre society and on the years she spent as the Vampyre Collateral among Humans. Henry receives her coolly and explains the political crisis: Governor Davenport is leaving office, the incoming Human administration plans to end the Collateral program, and Human-Were relations may be warming. Because Vampyres are few in number and vulnerable, Henry fears that an alliance between Humans and Weres could leave Vampyres exposed or even doomed.

Henry then explains that the Weres have a new Alpha, Lowe Moreland, who replaced Roscoe after a lethal leadership challenge and recently returned four foolish Vampyre boys alive instead of killing them. Henry sees that unexpected mercy as evidence that a new strategy might work. He proposes reviving an old peace tactic through an interspecies marriage between a Vampyre and the Were Alpha, paired with a reciprocal hostage-style exchange for safety.

Misery is horrified by the plan, especially because her own childhood as Collateral left her alienated from her family and people. She rejects Henry's arguments about duty, survival, and rehabilitation, insisting that she has already sacrificed enough. But as she leaves, Henry mentions the Alpha's full name, Lowe Moreland, and the name shocks Misery so deeply that she immediately changes course. By the end of the chapter, Misery decides that she will go through with the marriage.