Bryce’s gate home ends abruptly when she drops into the Autumn King’s private study and slams into a wall. Before Bryce can gather her power, the Autumn King binds Bryce with gorsian shackles that smother her magic, confiscates the Starsword, Truth-Teller, and her phone, and begins interrogating her about where she has been.

Bryce repeatedly demands to know whether Ruhn and Hunt are still alive, but the Autumn King focuses on her off-world arrival and the significance of the dagger that matches the Starsword. He deduces Bryce reached a world he has long wanted to access and hints at exploiting that path for himself, while Bryce warns him that those people will not tolerate him.

The Autumn King makes clear Bryce is effectively a hostage: he has sealed the villa’s wards and dismissed servants and sentries so that no one knows Bryce has returned. When Bryce asks if he will report her to the Asteri, the Autumn King says that decision “depends entirely” on Bryce’s cooperation, raising the stakes of Bryce’s captivity.

Elsewhere, Ithan sprints hundreds of miles back to Crescent City from the Ionia docks, unable to flee the consequences of his actions and thinking of making his brother proud. He avoids wolf territories and familiar places as he heads straight for the river and the Black Dock, where the Bone Quarter’s mists lie thick and the area sits unnaturally quiet.

Ithan finds the unguarded black door in a mausoleum-like facade marked with crude, ancient scratches and a flaming horned skull. After he knocks, the door opens onto darkness and a long staircase descending underground; Ithan steps inside without hesitation as the door shuts behind him, trapping him in the House of Flame and Shadow.