Freya watches Vragi crumple from the horse with Bjorn's flaming axe buried in his skull. Snorri and Bjorn react not with anger at the murder itself but with fury that Freya managed to take Bjorn's weapon—no one has ever dared touch Tyr's fire. The pain from the burns then hits Freya: her wrist and the back of her hand are red and blistered, while her palm's skin has been entirely burned away, reduced to blackened ash.

Bjorn grips Freya's chin to keep her from looking at the wound, distracting her with irreverent banter about his reputation with women. Someone applies a red salve to the burns, and the agony temporarily overwhelms Freya. Bjorn urges haste, insisting they must return to Halsar so a healer named Liv can treat the hand before it's lost. Snorri, meanwhile, reinterprets events through the lens of prophecy: he believes Freya seizing the flaming axe was the act of bravery foretold—that her name would be "born in fire"—and threatens to cut off his men's fingers if she loses her hand.

Geir, still injured with a broken shin, crawls toward Freya in anguish, blaming Bjorn for her wound. Freya angrily rejects his guilt and protectiveness, insisting she chose to kill Vragi to protect Ingrid and Geir himself. Snorri orders Geir sent back to his mother and silenced. As the numbing salve takes effect, Bjorn carries Freya to his horse and mounts behind her, holding her against his chest despite her protests about the intimate positioning.

During the ride, Bjorn teases Freya with potential nicknames—"Freya Onehand," "Freya Axethief"—and she tells him she doesn't like him. Freya reflects that the secret of her god-blood is now fully exposed, a revelation she once dreamed of but now dreads. The sedative properties of the salve pull her toward unconsciousness. The last thing she hears before passing out is Bjorn's quiet promise: "I won't let you fall."