Broken after Cassius’s duel, Darrow drifts through fevered dreams of Eo before waking in a cave to find Mustang has hidden and nursed him. Weeks pass; winter grips the Northwoods while Jupiter and Mars raid across frozen rivers. Mustang refuses to enslave him, and their uneasy partnership grows as Darrow mourns Eo and his failures.

While hunting and surviving on scant game, Mustang critiques Darrow’s fear-based hierarchy. Observing wolves and using a hand-as-army metaphor, she argues for autonomous units loyal by choice, not chains. Darrow recognizes the model’s power and how it echoes Eo’s dream, resolving to lead differently if he is to help his people.

Mustang falls gravely ill. Two Oathbreakers invade their shelter to assault her; Darrow returns, wounds them, and—at Mustang’s urging—spares their lives, tying them for rescue and relocating to avoid retaliation. As her condition worsens, Darrow comforts her by singing the Song of Persephone and plans to seek medicine.

Tracked in the snow, Darrow confronts Proctor Fitchner. Fitchner reveals the ArchGovernor coerced all Proctors to ensure the Jackal wins, even supplying the holo that turned Cassius. He explains the omnipresent nanoCams, the scrutiny of Drafters, and the danger if Darrow resists, urging him to lie low.

Darrow instead resolves to destroy Houses Apollo and Jupiter, forcing their Proctors off Olympus and isolating the Jackal before enslaving him. Fitchner, fearing exposure, grudgingly provides antibiotics and a package: Darrow’s Pegasus with Eo’s blossom, a reminder that allies remain. Darrow returns to Mustang, intent on saving her and executing his new strategy.