Misery is caught in Lowe’s room while trying to search his computer. A gray wolf, revealed to be Cal, corners her until Lowe arrives with Alex and dismisses the wolf. Lowe immediately confronts Misery about sneaking into his room, searching his belongings, and leaving her scent on his bed, making clear that he deliberately gave her the opportunity because he expected her to snoop.

Alex examines the computer and confirms that Misery hacked the Were servers. He reports that she searched for a date from a little over two months earlier, the local human newspaper The Herald, and a person named Serena Paris. Seeing how frightened Misery is at Serena’s name, Lowe assumes she may be a Vampyre agent gathering intelligence and threatens to treat her actions as an attack on the alliance, even to the point of killing her and escalating conflict with the Vampyres.

Under pressure, Misery explains that Serena Paris was not a political contact but her human best friend, effectively her sister. She says that when she was a difficult, unhappy child living as Human Collateral, the Humans brought Serena, an orphan, to live with her, and the two grew up together. Serena has recently disappeared, and Misery married Lowe because Serena’s planner contained the name L. E. Moreland on the day she vanished; since Serena was a journalist for The Herald, Misery believed Lowe might have been the last lead to her disappearance.

Lowe appears genuinely confused by Misery’s accusation and seems to realize how much she risked based on a thin clue. Before the conversation can go further, Ana bursts in and asks Lowe to read to her. As Juno calls for her from the hall, Ana is addressed by her full name, Liliana Esther Moreland. Misery instantly understands that the initials in Serena’s planner likely referred to Ana, not Lowe, and that she may have misunderstood her only lead from the beginning. Lowe, now aware of the mistake and its implications, tells Misery that they need to talk.