In the Draconic Kingdom of Yscalin, Loth and Kit are admitted to the throne room of the Donmata Marosa, who wears an iron mask shaped like the head of the High Western Fýredel. She taunts them about Sabran's betrothal to Aubrecht Lievelyn—her own former betrothed—and makes crude insinuations about the Berethnet bloodline. When Loth affirms his faith in the Berethnet line, guards draw their rapiers, and the Donmata warns him not to speak ill of the Nameless One. She orders Loth to dance with Lady Priessa Yelarigas, and during the vigorous dance of thirty turns, Lady Priessa slips a note into Loth's hand requesting a secret meeting. Loth also asks the Donmata about Prince Wilstan Fynch, the Inysh ambassador, and is told he left for Córvugar weeks ago—a claim Loth nearly accuses her of fabricating before Kit restrains him.

Back in their rooms, Loth and Kit discuss the news of Sabran's betrothal—Loth is pained to miss the wedding—and the suspicious disappearance of Prince Wilstan. Kit urges Loth to mask his emotions better and shares how he himself learned to hide his true self from his cruel father. At three in the morning, Loth goes to the Privy Sanctuary, a ruined chapel filled with smashed Virtudom relics, and discovers that the woman waiting for him is not Lady Priessa but the Donmata Marosa herself, disguised. She reveals the truth: Yscalin is under the true rule of the dragon Fýredel, whose spies are everywhere, forcing her to perform cruelty in public. She confirms that the Duke of Temperance, Wilstan Fynch, is dead—killed while carrying out a secret task for her in the name of Virtudom. She asks Loth to complete what Fynch could not.

Meanwhile in Inys, the court relocates from Ascalon Palace to the cozier Briar House for Sabran's upcoming wedding to Lievelyn. At a dance, Ead is approached first by Lord Seyton Combe, the Night Hawk, who offers false friendship, and then by the Dowager Duchess of Zeedeur, Aleidine Teldan utt Kantmarkt. The Dowager Duchess reveals the backstory of Niclays Roos: he came to Inys after his friend Jannart's death, promised Sabran an elixir of life, squandered his royal pension on wine and gambling, and was exiled to the tiny trading post of Orisima for seven years. The Dowager Duchess offers Ead money to petition Sabran for Roos's pardon, but Ead refuses to get involved.

That evening, Ead prepares the Royal Bedchamber and is surprised when Sabran arrives early, suffering from insomnia. Sabran confides her recurring nightmares: one of a blood-jeweled bower guarded by sabra flowers, containing a cracked rock overflowing with blood and small bones amid terrible laughter; another of dying in childbirth while the Nameless One waits to devour her daughter. Ead comforts her, telling her that fear attacks most fiercely at night when armor is laid down, and that she is not the darkness she fears. The two share an intimate moment of clasped hands before Lady Arbella Glenn arrives to sleep beside Sabran. Ead privately recognizes that Sabran's dream of the bower matches the Bower of Eternity, lair of Kalyba—the Lady of the Woods—a witch who is very much alive, suggesting something sinister is at work.

Later that night, Roslain confronts Ead about her growing closeness to Sabran, warning her not to be another courtly spider seeking advancement—but begins to soften. Their conversation is interrupted by a scream from the Royal Bedchamber. They rush in to find that Lady Arbella Glenn has died in her sleep beside Sabran. Sabran weeps that Arbella did not live to see her wedding, as she had promised.