Bryce continues through the underground tunnels with Nesta and Azriel, following the faint guiding pull of Bryce’s star. Bryce learns Azriel has been shadowing them since the moment they discovered the tunnel, watching to see what Bryce would do. As they walk past story-like carvings, they compare their worlds’ peoples: Midgard’s “Vanir” versus this world’s humans, High Fae, lesser faeries, and Illyrians like Azriel (and half-Illyrian Rhysand).

As Azriel carries both the Starsword and his dagger, Bryce and Azriel repeatedly feel a disturbing physical tug and thrumming when they draw close—Bryce’s hearing hollows out and her stomach drops, while Azriel’s wings twitch and he grows rigid. Crossing a shallow, iron-scented stream, Azriel warns the tunnels may have been made by a Middengard Wyrm and points out bones, suggesting a predator might still use the waterways. Bryce slips, cuts her hands and knees, and Azriel steadies her; the weapons’ pull intensifies until he steps back, creating distance that eases the sensation.

After sleeping briefly in the darkness, Azriel notices Bryce’s hands are not healing, though her knees have. Bryce suggests her magic may be behaving strangely in the tunnels, but the uneven healing troubles them. When Azriel examines Bryce’s palm, Bryce notices extensive burn scars on Azriel’s hands. Bryce impulsively shares that her sire used to burn Bryce’s brother, leaving scars that never healed; Azriel withdraws and takes the lead, while Nesta offers Bryce sympathy and Bryce vows to make her sire pay someday.

During another rest, Bryce questions Nesta and Azriel about the Daglan and learns Nesta killed a terrible ancient being named Lanthys months earlier, using Nesta’s sword Ataraxia. The conversation shifts to Bryce’s eight-pointed star scar and the nature of starlight: Bryce believes her power is “light,” while the Asteri’s “star” claims may be a lie masking destructive magic. Bryce asks about their weapons; Azriel names his dagger Truth-Teller and describes it as a tool that forces truth from others, while Nesta describes Ataraxia as able to kill the unkillable.

Bryce openly addresses what all three have been feeling: the Starsword and Truth-Teller “sing” to each other, seeming crafted of the same meteor iron, matching a Midgard prophecy that says reunifying sword and dagger will reunite Bryce’s people. As they study the carved reliefs, Nesta and Azriel question Bryce about the language tattooed on Bryce’s back; Bryce admits she does not know how her friend learned it because the friend is dead—assassinated by the Asteri for getting close to a major truth. The chapter ends with Bryce reading the carvings simply: whatever the darkness below, the images prove there was once joy in this world, and Bryce insists that matters most.