Nesta finishes a long day shelving books and running errands for the priestesses, then finds the private library locked. The House of Wind refuses to open it for her, seemingly punishing her for ignoring the food it had left out earlier. Hungry and frustrated, Nesta goes to the dining room instead, where Cassian and Azriel are already eating.

At dinner, Azriel explains that Vassa was right to suspect danger and that conditions are bad enough that he will keep his base at the House while traveling back and forth. Nesta silently dwells on her resentment over her late father, who found courage for Vassa when he had failed his own daughters. When Azriel notices Nesta's fading black eye, Cassian says she fell on the stairs, and the conversation turns to why Nesta still refuses to train.

Nesta says she will not train in Windhaven, and the exchange quickly becomes cruel. She insults Rhysand, Cassian defends him, and the argument escalates until Cassian snaps that everyone hates her. When Nesta lashes back and mocks his desire for her, Cassian says he is done trying to help and storms out, insisting the training was meant to help rather than punish her. Unable to endure Azriel's quiet scrutiny, Nesta leaves too and returns to the library, where she buries herself in work and bitterly rejects Amren's advice about reaching out to others.

The perspective then shifts to Cassian sitting above the training ring, feeling he has failed with Nesta. Feyre joins him after Rhys notices Cassian brooding, and they briefly discuss the larger political threats: Azriel's mission, the human queens, Briallyn, Koschei, Beron, and Mor's coming trip to Vallahan. Their conversation shows that while Nesta's struggles are immediate, the court is still under growing outside pressure.

Feyre and Cassian then focus on Nesta. Cassian says Nesta hates him, but Feyre disagrees and explains that the bitterness between her and Nesta goes back to their mother favoring Nesta and to the strain of their poverty after their mother's death. Together they realize that library work alone lets Nesta hide and cannot replace the balance training was supposed to provide. When Cassian repeats that Nesta refuses to train in the miserable village, he suddenly sees a possible answer and decides to try one last time.