Paedyn sits in a bath stained with blood from the Trial, dissociated and empty while Ellie gently washes her. She notes her injuries have been healed but clings to the memory of Kai’s blood and death. When Ellie asks after her state, Paedyn admits she feels nothing and then anger, blaming King Kitt and demanding to see him. Ellie reveals the door is locked by Kitt’s order, and after Ellie leaves to get food, Paedyn suffers a claustrophobic panic attack, begging the guards to let her out.

As Paedyn breaks down on the floor, she hears a commotion outside: a familiar voice demanding entry. The door is blown from its hinges, and Kai appears alive, uninjured, and very much himself. They rush into each other’s arms, both crying. Paedyn struggles to reconcile his presence with what she witnessed in the arena.

Kai explains he was drugged the night before the Trial and locked in his room by Healers so he would sleep through it. The cheering from the Bowl woke him, and he fought the drug to reach the arena, but Imperials restrained him. He watched, horrified, as Paedyn fought someone who looked like him and believed she thought he was hurting her. Paedyn reassures him it was not his fault.

They share a tender reunion, confirming the reality of the moment. Paedyn confesses she feared losing him before ever saying she loved him. Kai declares his love first, calling Paedyn his inevitable “in death, and in love,” and she reciprocates fully. They kiss and cling to one another, both relieved and overwhelmed.

As the initial relief ebbs, Paedyn recalls that Kitt knew the fighter in the arena was not Kai. Staring at Kai’s unharmed chest, she voices the chilling question: if it was not Kai, then who did she kill during the Trial?