In their rooms at the Summer Court, Rhysand privately warns Feyre that their mission depends on getting the second half of the Book without turning Tarquin and his court into enemies. He tells Feyre to do whatever is necessary, and their charged teasing turns tense when Feyre asks what Rhysand would do if she seduced Tarquin for the Book. When Rhysand orders Feyre to light a candle, Tarquin’s water magic in her instead answers the call, and Feyre discovers she can raise and shape water as easily as she can summon fire.

Afterward, Feyre asks whether Tamlin would go to war to reclaim her. Rhysand admits he does not know, and Feyre says she would return to Tamlin rather than let people die for her, though she does not want to go back and does not believe violence would restore her love. Before leaving, Rhysand tells Feyre that Tamlin’s love became possessive and poisonous because Tamlin wanted to keep something precious entirely for himself.

Later, aboard Tarquin’s pleasure barge, Feyre searches outward with her senses for the Book but finds nothing. She then begins carefully questioning Tarquin about the hidden Summer Court trove, and Tarquin sincerely offers to show it to her the next day. Their conversation shifts to the human world, inequality, and power, and Tarquin reveals that he wants a different Prythian in which lesser faeries have more rights and a voice, even though tradition still binds his court.

Tarquin’s openness makes Feyre feel guilty about what she plans to steal, and she admits that it would be easy to love him and call him a friend. At the same time, Feyre watches Rhysand flirt intimately with Cresseida and realizes that what she feels is not numbness but sharp unhappiness and loneliness. Overwhelmed, Feyre leaves the table to be alone, notices Amren and Varian quietly occupying one another, and spends the rest of the voyage waiting for Rhysand. When the barge docks, Tarquin, Amren, and Varian are present, but Rhysand and Cresseida are gone.