Iris wakes in what first seems to be the flat, but she realizes she is dreaming when she finds Enva in the kitchen. Enva explains that she came before Iris’s descent below and admits she has long been entering dreams to guide mortals, including resistance fighters, toward opposing Dacre. When Iris presses her, Enva reveals the central truth Iris needs to understand: because of the vow Enva made when she married Dacre, Enva can wound and outwit him but cannot kill him herself. Enva also confesses that she lied to Alzane, killed the other gods in their graves, and only trapped Dacre in sleep because her vow barred her from ending his immortality.

Before the dream collapses, Iris asks why Enva first appeared as her mother. Enva answers that mortals are slow to trust, and she needed Iris’s trust. Iris is then jolted awake by Forest, who hears someone picking the flat’s lock. Forest orders Iris to hide and run if necessary, but after an intruder enters and attacks him in the dark, Iris refuses to abandon him.

As the struggle continues, Iris retrieves Enva’s sword and remembers that it must taste the wielder’s blood before it can cut with its full power. She slices her palm, grips the hilt despite the pain, and confronts the attacker. In the dim light she recognizes him as Val, one of Dacre’s men, who demands that she surrender in exchange for Forest’s life. When Val lunges, Iris braces the sword instead of retreating, and Val drives himself onto the blade. The enchanted weapon cuts through him and kills him instantly, leaving Iris horrified by the fact that she has taken a life.

Though shaken, Iris acts quickly. She helps Forest up, takes the key and flute that fall from Val’s body, and insists they cannot remain in the flat. They flee to Attie’s house, where the Attwoods, already awake with dread over what morning may bring, let them in without hesitation. Mrs. Attwood treats Forest’s injuries, Tobias sits with the family, and everyone quietly acknowledges that they will likely need to seek safety on a ley line the next day.

Later, while washing dishes with Attie, Iris reveals that she found a key to the realm below. She also explains that Kitt had planned to meet them north of the river and help them pass through, even joining them if possible. Now that Iris has the key, however, she decides they should first get their families to safety and then use the nearest door below rather than risk crossing the river with the sword and Attie’s violin. Although the choice means giving up a last meeting with Kitt, Iris commits to the safer, more direct path toward confronting Dacre.