As Dacre’s troops travel east, Dacre notices Roman’s silence and questions him about pain from his old wounds and whether he has been dreaming. Roman lies about the dream of Iris because he suspects she is more than a dream and fears what Dacre might learn. Dacre then speaks about divine magic, describing his cousin Mir’s powers and admitting that gods can take more magic than they are born with, which further unsettles Roman.

When the convoy reaches the evacuated town of Merrow, the soldiers begin securing food and lodging. The calm breaks when a sniper hidden in an upper window opens fire, killing and wounding soldiers. Dacre pulls Roman to safety, orders the sniper captured alive rather than killed, and then leads Roman away from the fighting instead of back toward the attack, even after an explosion shakes the town.

Inside a cottage, Dacre tells Roman to find a room with a hearth because his doorways favor fire and stone. He first has Roman open a wardrobe normally, then uses a key hanging from his neck to reveal a staircase descending into the under realm. Dacre explains that he forged five special keys after learning how vulnerable he and his family could be, and that only trusted people can use them to open thresholds between worlds.

The captain soon brings in the wounded sniper, a young local man who refuses to fight for Dacre and asks to be left to die in his hometown. The sniper warns that Dacre will not win because the people he turns eventually remember and abandon him. Rather than grant death, Dacre uses magic to keep the man alive and orders him taken below to a holding cell, implying that he intends to preserve or use him later, before leaving to treat other wounded soldiers.

Left alone and shaken, Roman flees to an orchard, where he collapses and vomits. Lieutenant Shane finds him there and coolly says Roman has seen worse before, which frustrates Roman because he cannot access his missing memories. When Roman presses him, Shane refuses to explain what happened in the past but does reveal one important fact: being healed by Dacre does not automatically erase a person’s identity, making Roman’s memory loss feel more deliberate and more ominous.