The morning after pleasuring Nesta, Cassian is consumed by thoughts of her and has to force himself to act normal. When Nesta arrives for training, she gives no outward sign of what happened between them, and both of them slip into a contest of pretending to be unaffected. Azriel enters soon after, immediately seeming to notice the changed dynamic, and Nesta asks to see how Cassian and Azriel fight so she can understand what advanced hand-to-hand combat looks like.

Cassian and Azriel remove their shirts and spar at full speed while Nesta watches from outside the ring. Cassian uses the match to burn off his sexual frustration, but the fight also shows how evenly matched the two Illyrians are and how well they know each other's tricks. In the end, Azriel wins by copying Cassian's earlier deception: Azriel glances toward Nesta, Cassian instinctively looks too, and Azriel lands a hard punch. The moment exposes that Nesta remains Cassian's greatest distraction, and Nesta's blush after the fight reveals that she is deeply affected as well, even if she answers Cassian's teasing with irritation.

Later in the library, Nesta is still physically sore and mentally distracted by the sight of Cassian and Azriel fighting, but she forces herself to focus on the Dread Trove. She asks Gwyn whether she has ever heard of it, and when Gwyn says no, Nesta explains that it is a set of three ancient objects that must be found quickly. Nesta deliberately keeps back the names of Briallyn, Koschei, and the Cauldron, but she asks Gwyn to help search for information and to tell no one, knowingly disregarding Rhys's command for silence. Gwyn agrees to finish her current work and look through the library's systems for anything useful.

Nesta then invites Gwyn to join training, suggesting that exercise, breathing, and fighting could strengthen her and even help her research on the Valkyries. Gwyn refuses, insisting that she is an acolyte rather than a warrior, and Nesta notices that beneath the refusal lies shame and fear. Nesta wonders whether Cassian's presence is part of the problem, but she does not press after seeing Gwyn's discomfort. At sundown, Nesta finds that no one has added a name to the training sign-up sheet, feels Clotho silently observing her reaction, and chooses to descend the House stairs instead of returning to her room. As she replays every detail of her conversation with Gwyn, Nesta suddenly understands what she needs to do next.