Nesta spends the evening in the House of Wind’s library, eating heavily and realizing the House is quietly caring for her by sending food where she wants it. Cassian finds her there, teases her for talking to the House, and steals bites of her cake while turning the moment into another argument about training. He points out that if Nesta learned from him, she could actually back up her threats, but she refuses to engage and he leaves her with the half-eaten dessert.

Later, Nesta reads in the library until she is exhausted and goes to bed fully dressed. When she wakes freezing, the House responds to her needs: it puts out the fire when she asks, then warms the bed and room by other means, and even closes the drapes after she thanks it. The scene shows that while Nesta resists most people, the House is beginning to understand and comfort her in ways she can accept.

During the night, Nesta is hit by a nightmare that blends memory and guilt. She relives Elain’s capture by Hybern, the Cauldron’s terrible attention on her, and her father’s death, and the force of those memories stirs the dangerous power inside her. Terrified by what rises in her, Nesta forces that power back down and decides she needs a drink badly enough to attempt the stairs again in the middle of the night.

As Nesta descends, her trauma overwhelms her, causing her to lose her footing and tumble down the steps. In desperation, she reaches for the stone and somehow stops herself by driving her fingers into it, leaving glowing, melted handprints behind. Horrified by this proof of the power she refuses to name, Nesta flees back upstairs, determined to ignore what happened.

The next morning, Cassian notices her injuries but waits until training to confront her. He reveals that he knew she had tried the stairs at three in the morning and fell, though he says he would have intervened if she had kept falling. When he invites her to join him and finally says “please,” offering a rare moment of humility and connection, Nesta is tempted but cannot make herself take his hand. Cassian withdraws with visible disappointment, and the distance between them remains, even as the chapter makes clear that Nesta’s fear of herself is now one of the central obstacles she must face.