In their assigned bedroom at Morven’s castle, Tharion and Sathia sit in awkward silence as newlyweds. Tharion offers her the bed and makes it clear he expects nothing from the marriage, then tries to break the tension by asking basic questions. When Sathia demands why he married her, Tharion admits he is wanted by multiple powers, has a massive bounty from the Viper Queen, and has made enough disastrous choices that he is trying to do one good thing to live with himself. Sathia, resigned to a life of political marriage anyway, accepts the situation on her own terms and acknowledges him as her husband.

At dawn, Lidia watches Bryce’s group in the courtyard preparing to leave the castle. She is raw from having seen and left her sons again, and the bleakness of Avallen and Morven’s rule presses in as the townsfolk silently observe from shuttered windows. Baxian spots her and waves; Bryce waves back; Flynn and Declan nod, while Ruhn avoids her gaze and returns inside after embracing Sathia.

Morven joins Lidia on the balcony and mocks her sentimentality, calling her a traitor and questioning whether she will betray Bryce as she betrayed the Asteri. Lidia fires back, accusing Morven of cowardice for disavowing his own child to save himself, and warns that following Bryce is wiser than opposing her. She leaves Morven furious, telling him her “professional advice” is that resisting Bryce will doom him and Avallen.

Hours later, Bryce, Hunt, Baxian, Tharion, and Sathia reach the Cave of Princes—an unimpressive slit between boulders marked by ancient runes and exhaling mist. Sathia explains Morven preserves Avallen as it was after the First Wars, dating back to Pelias, and admits she does not know how the ancient mists keep the Asteri out. Despite the group’s dread and Ruhn’s warnings about blood-drinking, soul-eating things inside, Sathia insists on coming because she refuses to be left alone at the castle with the “mind-reading bastards.” Bryce forces herself past the fear, jokingly rallies “Team Caves,” and leads them into the misty dark toward Pelias’s tomb and the Starsword.

Back at the castle, Morven stops Ruhn outside the dining hall and interrogates him about Bryce’s intentions, including whether she plans to claim Avallen. Morven insults Bryce’s heritage and tries to invoke Starborn “duty,” then attempts to physically restrain Ruhn with shadows while claiming Luna guided him to see Ruhn as Avallen’s future hope. Ruhn breaks free with his own shadows, rejects Morven’s insinuations about the castle’s females, and leaves. Outside, Declan and Flynn ask whether Morven will alert the Asteri; Lidia doubts it for now and coolly tells Ruhn to start acting like a prince.