In Marco’s flat before dawn, Celia lies awake listening to Marco’s heartbeat and the ticking clock, wishing she could freeze the moment so she would not have to leave. Instead, Celia unintentionally slows Marco’s heartbeat enough that Marco falls into a deep sleep, sparing Celia a goodbye she cannot bear.

Celia dresses quietly and removes her ring, leaving it on the mantel beside a playing card marked with two hearts. Before leaving, Celia studies the books scattered across Marco’s desk and decides that understanding Marco’s carefully built magical “systems” might help her make the circus more independent, reducing the constant strain on her and giving them more than stolen hours together.

Celia takes the leather-bound volume filled with names and slips into the hallway, the book tucked under her arm, as the locks click into place behind her. In the shadows nearby, Hector Bowen reveals himself and immediately attacks Celia with insults, then notes that Marco’s wards are so strong that nothing can enter without Marco allowing it.

Celia refuses Hector’s attempt to intimidate her and explains she is not trying to interfere with Marco’s work, but to learn it so she can stop having to manage the circus so relentlessly. Hector calls Celia weak and, as Celia presses him for clarity, Hector finally admits the true rule Celia has been missing: the contest is not stopped or “declared” over; it is played out until only one player remains. Celia recognizes what that means in practice—that the losing player dies—and confronts Hector for binding her to stakes he let her misunderstand.

When Celia asks what becomes of the circus and its people after the game, Hector dismisses them as mere consequences of using a public venue. Hector adds that he is only speaking now because he did not think Celia could be the one to lose, and he sneers at the idea of Celia and Marco together afterward. Finally, when Celia asks what happened to the last winner from Alexander’s side, Hector laughs and says, “She is bending herself into knots in your precious circus,” implying the previous victor is still trapped within it.