Snorri's forces attempt a dangerous mountain crossing in brutal spring weather to surprise Gnut at Grindill. Freya struggles with the freezing cold and exhaustion as she climbs. Bjorn, whose fire-god blood keeps him perpetually warm, offers to help warm her hands and urges her to accept assistance, but Freya insists on maintaining distance and managing on her own. While turning to snap at Bjorn, she slips and tumbles off a ledge, landing in a pool of icy water. Bjorn pulls her out, and she narrowly avoids serious injury—Bodil notes that landing a few feet in either direction would have cracked her skull.

Bjorn demands Snorri stop and make camp with a fire, but Snorri refuses to lose time or risk alerting Gnut's scouts. He insists that the gods are testing Freya and that her survival of extraordinary hardships will fuel Steinunn's songs, drawing followers to swear oaths to him as king. Bjorn challenges his father's willingness to let Freya suffer, and Snorri remarks that Bjorn "cares enough for both of us," momentarily alarming Freya that their feelings have been detected. However, Snorri frames it as criticism of Bjorn's softness rather than an accusation of forbidden desire, lecturing him about thinking like a jarl rather than fixating on individual suffering.

Freya confronts Snorri directly, pointedly reminding him that the prophecy says the one who controls her fate will unite Skaland—not necessarily Snorri himself. This challenge hangs in the silence before Snorri deflects, ordering Bjorn to feed and warm her but forbidding any fire. As Freya's condition deteriorates further, she reflects bitterly on being used as a tool that will be discarded once broken. Her body stops shivering—a dangerous sign—and she begins losing consciousness.

Bjorn wraps Freya in his arms under his cloak while Bodil tends to her frozen feet. Freya drifts in and out of awareness, making dark jokes about dying on the hill. She slips into unconsciousness, sinking into a warm darkness where she contemplates not returning to the pain and loneliness of life. Two voices—one gentle, one harsh—urge her to fight on: the gentle voice says she must battle for others, and the harsh voice insists she must fight for herself. Unseen hands push her back toward the surface, and she screams as the pain of returning to life burns through her body.