Over two careful days in Adriata, Feyre keeps up the appearance of a casual guest while secretly searching for the Book of Breathings. Rhys and Amren occupy Tarquin with meetings, giving Feyre time to roam the city, practice her water magic in private, and look for magical traces without seeming too interested. As she sees the scars Amarantha's rule left on Adriata and its people, Feyre realizes that she helped save them too, which briefly eases her guilt. At sunset on the third day, she notices a small, half-submerged building exposed by the receding tide along the causeway and suspects it may hide the object they seek.

At dinner with Tarquin, Cresseida, Varian, Rhys, and Amren, Feyre deliberately mentions the building and suggests visiting it. Tarquin smoothly calls it an old temple ruin, but his glance toward Cresseida confirms to Feyre that it matters. Acting on instinct and using the daemati power she inherited from Rhys, Feyre slips into Tarquin's mind by matching the feel of his sea-shaped mental shields. She reads his suspicion that she is interested in his hidden trove, then quietly pushes reassuring thoughts into him so he decides she is harmless and agrees to take her elsewhere the next day. Feyre succeeds, but she is immediately unsettled by the intimate violation of what she has done.

Later that night, Rhys and Amren come to Feyre's room after the household goes dark. Rhys reveals that he sensed Feyre entering Tarquin's mind and praises how quickly and skillfully she learned to bypass mental defenses, while also admitting that this kind of intrusion should never feel comfortable. Feyre says it still feels wrong and challenges Rhys about the times he entered her mind; Rhys answers that he left private parts of her mind untouched and that he checked on her because he was terrified for her while she was trapped in the Spring Court. He promises to explain more later.

Once Amren joins them, the conversation turns to the likely hiding place. Rhys agrees that the tidal temple is an excellent place to conceal the Book and warns that it is probably warded against winnowing, so they must break in physically. Feyre proposes that they first observe the guard rotations at low tide, then raid the temple the following night. Rhys will watch from the air, hide them from sight, and monitor for danger, while Feyre and Amren go in on foot and hope Feyre's stolen magical touch can open Tarquin's locks. With Nuala and Cerridwen already gathering information inside the palace, Feyre and Amren prepare to take a midnight walk and scout the defenses.