In the Hewn City’s torture chamber, Rhys, Feyre, Amren, Azriel, and Cassian question two surviving Autumn Court soldiers captured after the fight in the Bog of Oorid. The males are vacant, violent, and seemingly stripped of reason, which leads Amren and Rhys to conclude they are under an enchantment, likely tied to Briallyn or Koschei. Feyre objects to torturing men who may be trapped inside their own minds, so Rhys decides to summon Helion to break the spell before they inform Eris.

When the group returns to the palace above the court, they find Nesta awake in the warded room with the Mask, which somehow opened the door for her. Nesta confirms the Mask beckoned to her and that she was able to remove it simply by willing it to let go, something Amren says almost no one can do. Rhys and Feyre conclude that the Mask recognizes Nesta because both were Made from similar dark power, which means Queen Briallyn may also be able to wield it. Though Nesta wants the Mask destroyed or cast into the sea, Amren says it cannot be destroyed, and the others decide it must be locked away, with Helion later helping Nesta learn stronger warding spells.

Nesta then explains that she went looking for Cassian and Azriel because she feared they had died, and she was attacked by the kelpie at the water’s edge. Rhys and Amren probe her memory and translate the creature’s ancient speech, revealing that it believed sacrifices to the waters might have resumed and intended to make Nesta its bride before killing her. This deepens the horror of what happened in Oorid and underscores how unusual it was that Nesta survived. When Nesta admits she reached for her power and found the Mask answering instead, the group accepts that her frightening abilities remain intact.

Later, Nesta stays in the moonstone palace and bathes while reflecting on the true danger of the Mask. What frightened her most was not the battle, but how wearing it erased her feelings and offered a seductive escape from guilt, grief, and self-hatred. She realizes that the Mask tempts her precisely because it promises relief from her own mind, and that although she may be the only one able to contain it, she is also the person most vulnerable to it.

Cassian brings food to her room, and their mutual fear from the day turns into desire. Nesta deliberately frames what follows as only sex, using physical intimacy to drive away the lingering terror of Oorid and the pull of the Mask. They sleep together with far more intensity than before, but afterward Cassian dresses and leaves with a pointed reminder of her own rules: that this is only sex. Left alone and confused by his abrupt exit, Nesta is forced to confront that the encounter mattered more to her than she wants to admit.