Helion, High Lord of the Day Court, arrives at the Hewn City on his prized pegasus, Meallan, and the Inner Circle brings him to see the two Autumn Court soldiers captured after the attack in Oorid. Rhys and Feyre also reveal Feyre’s pregnancy to Helion because they need access to his libraries and expertise. After examining the soldiers, Helion concludes they are not under a conventional spell; instead, their minds seem covered by a fog-like influence, which leads the group to connect the attack more strongly to the Crown and to Queen Briallyn’s growing use of the Dread Trove.

As they discuss possibilities, the group considers that Briallyn may have planted the soldiers in Oorid to seize the Mask or provoke conflict with Autumn. Helion then meets Nesta and reacts sharply when she uncovers the Mask, feeling its power far more violently than the others do. Because the Mask allowed Nesta to bypass Rhys’s protections, Feyre asks Helion to help secure it, and Helion creates stronger wards keyed to Nesta’s blood. When offered the unlocking spell, Nesta refuses to learn it, claiming Briallyn could force it out of her if she were captured, though Cassian suspects she also does not trust herself with that knowledge.

With the Mask secured, the conversation turns to strategy. Rhys decides they will not yet tell Eris that they possess the Mask, but he orders Cassian to visit Eris the next day and asks Nesta to go with him because she handles court games well; Nesta unexpectedly agrees. Azriel wants to go to the human lands to confirm whether Briallyn has the Crown, but Feyre and Rhys forbid it, arguing that the Crown makes any close reconnaissance too dangerous and that even spy reports may no longer be reliable.

Afterward, Cassian learns that Nesta has asked the House for military history instead of romance novels because she wants to understand war and command for herself rather than be shaped into someone else’s weapon. Nesta says she may one day want to lead a small group of females, which gives Cassian hope that she is imagining a future. That night, Cassian brings her more books, and their awkward conversation reveals that both believed the other might not have wanted more after their first time together. Once that misunderstanding breaks, they admit their mutual desire and have sex again, far more openly than before, which deepens their intimacy and confirms how strongly they are bound to each other.