Overview

Sybil Delling and Rory Myndacious consummated their relationship, shedding armor, rules, and past facades. After intense intimacy, Sybil confronted her fear about her altered, stone-white eyes, and Rory reassured her, affirming desire and commitment. The chapter deepened their trust, revealed Rory’s past with theft and Maude’s protection, and ended with them choosing to defy knighthood rules together.

Full Summary

The chapter opened with Sybil and Rory surrendering to desire in Rory’s room. Their encounter was mutually enthusiastic, with Rory alternating between teasing and tenderness, and Sybil openly claiming her want for him. Their intimacy culminated in both of them finding pleasure and collapsing together, content and at peace.

When Sybil later woke alone, she explored Rory’s crowded room, noticing his many possessions, before finding a looking glass. Seeing her face unshrouded, she discovered her eyes were pallid and pupil-less, like stone—an effect of Aisling’s spring water—and feared she looked like an Omen. Rory returned with food and, noticing her distress and the shroud, immediately crossed to her, kissed her, and demanded to know what was wrong.

Sybil voiced her fear that Rory might be repulsed by her eyes and the change Aisling had wrought. Rory dismissed the fear, insisting she was nothing like the Omens. He threw her shroud aside, affirmed her beauty and worth, and reassured her that he had left only to fetch food. His words and touch steadied her, turning her anxiety into relief and intimacy.

Sybil then remarked on the abundance in Rory’s room, prompting Rory to confess his history: as a child of Pupil House II and later under the Artful Brigand at Castle Luricht, he had been denied basic needs and developed a habit of stealing. Maude discovered this but chose to fit him for armor and later helped him become a knight; since then, he had paid back or replaced what he’d taken. Sybil did not judge him for it, easing his residual shame.

Reconnected, they addressed knighthood rules about bed relations. Rory clarified it was not a vow but an arbitrary rule and urged Sybil to ignore it, choosing each other over such constraints. The chapter closed with them spending the night together again, symbolically unraveling names, gods, and armor—deepening their bond and defiance.

Who Appears

• Sybil Delling — newly knighted protagonist; initiates and shares intimacy with Rory; confronts her fear upon seeing her stone-white eyes; accepts Rory’s reassurance and continues to reject imposed facades and rules.
• Rory Myndacious — knight and Sybil’s lover; tender and desirous; reassures Sybil about her eyes; reveals past deprivation, theft, and Maude’s support; rejects knighthood’s arbitrary rule against bed relations and commits to Sybil.
• Maude — mentor figure; discussed only; previously supported Rory, fitting him for armor and helping him achieve knighthood.
• Artful Brigand — antagonist figure from Rory’s past; discussed only as the lord who denied Rory basic necessities at Castle Luricht.
• Abbess of Aisling — discussed only; her spring and lies contextualize Sybil’s altered eyes and fears.
• Ardent Oarsman — Omen; referenced for having reacted to Sybil’s eyes in an earlier encounter, underscoring her fear of resemblance to Omens.