As Verity helps Rune get ready for the Luminaries Dinner, Rune admits she has enchanted Gideon Sharpe’s jacket, hiding a Truth Teller spellmark in an interior pocket so she can pull answers from him if he wears it. After three days of Gideon’s silence, Rune resolves to be more ruthless, needing information to help rescue Seraphine.

Lizbeth brings a telegram from Gideon saying he will be late to dinner due to an urgent matter. The brief message stings, and Rune spirals into insecurity about being rejected, but also fears her plan will fail if Gideon does not arrive before the spell fades at midnight.

Verity insists on accompanying Rune for moral support and to discreetly probe prison security by asking “innocent questions” if she can. While choosing something to wear, Rune warns her away from the green gown Gideon made for Rune, then slips into the hidden casting room to retrieve a blood vial in case she needs extra spells.

In the casting room, Rune notices one of Nan’s rare curse books left out and open—something Rune does not remember doing—and wonders if Verity, Alex, or Lizbeth has been in the room. The book falls open to Earth Sunderer, a devastating curse requiring someone else’s fresh blood, and Verity warns Rune it is far beyond Rune’s limits.

Prompted by Gideon’s accusation that the Roseblood sisters used blood to cast corrupted magic, Rune asks Verity whether the sisters used Arcana spells. Verity reveals a painful history: her sisters used each other’s blood for Majora spells with permission, but Verity’s stepfather branded it an abomination, convinced Verity’s grieving mother, and abused the sisters brutally. Verity insists her sisters were not corrupt and that witches have long used willing blood-sharing to amplify spells, leaving Rune shaken as they prepare to leave.