Iris, Attie, and Tobias arrive in River Down exhausted, hungry, and shaken after fleeing Dacre’s hounds. The town is crowded with Enva’s soldiers and civilians supporting them. At Lucy’s house, Lucy’s stern worry quickly gives way to care, and Marisol and Keegan confront the trio about why they went as far as Hawk Shire after claiming they would not travel beyond Winthrop.

Tobias explains that a flat tire delayed them and exposed their retreat to Dacre’s soldiers. When Iris reveals that Dacre released his hounds after them, the kitchen falls silent. Marisol reacts with grief and anger that young people are being forced to endure war instead of ordinary lives, and Keegan quietly steadies her. Marisol then insists on feeding them, accepting that she cannot shield them from the war but can offer comfort for the moment.

After eating and drinking tea, Iris withdraws to the laundry room with her typewriter. The familiar setting and the wardrobe overwhelm her with grief, but she soon hears letters arrive. Roman has answered the three questions she previously sent him, correctly naming details from her life, then asks her the same questions about himself. Iris replies easily, proving that she remembers him clearly and cautiously testing how much of himself he has recovered.

Roman’s next letter makes the truth explicit: when he touched Iris in Dacre’s wardrobe room, all his memories returned. He declares that he has been falling in love with Iris again, understands now that his dreams were attempts to recover his past, and says he wants to send her information from inside Dacre’s world if she agrees. Iris answers that she wants to protect him but accepts the risk, asking him to destroy her letters after reading them and hoping together they might help change the course of the war.

Roman agrees, and the two formally recommit themselves to both love and resistance through their correspondence. In a final playful, intimate note, Roman explains the asterisk after “outshine,” turning an old rivalry into a declaration that he wants to see Iris blaze with brilliance beside him. The chapter closes with their bond renewed and transformed into a secret alliance against Dacre.