The chapter opens with Loth and Kit arriving off the coast of Yscalin aboard the Rose Eternal. Loth reflects on the significance of Fýredel's return: if one High Western has woken, the others may follow, and their wyverns carry the Draconic plague—a horrific, incurable sickness that progresses from reddened hands and scaly rash to fatal bloodblaze. Kit desperately tries to convince Captain Harlowe to let them join the pirate crew, but Loth refuses, insisting they must fulfill their mission to find Prince Wilstan. Harlowe briefly offers them a genuine chance to stay, but when Loth remains silent, the captain dismisses them. Loth urges Kit to turn back alone, but Kit refuses to abandon his friend, citing the Knight of Fellowship.

Melaugo rows Loth and Kit to shore, warning them about the plague's pervasiveness and the futility of supposed cures. They wade into Perunta, finding the once-beautiful port city devastated—streets clogged with filth, a ruined sanctuary, and boarded-up plague houses marked with scarlet wings. They locate the Grapevine tavern, where an iron coach drawn by jaculi—monstrous wolf-wyvern hybrids—awaits them. Inside, they meet Lady Priessa Yelarigas, First Lady of the Bedchamber to Donmata Marosa, who will escort them to Cárscaro. Despite his exhaustion, Loth resolves to stay vigilant, vowing to find Prince Wilstan and return home.

The narrative shifts to Ead, who wakes after days of fever following her magical defense of Sabran from Fýredel. Margret is at her bedside and explains that the wyrm departed without killing anyone, though storehouses were burned and the city is fearful. Ead tells Margret that Combe engineered Loth's exile to Yscalin disguised as a spy mission. Margret is devastated but acknowledges she has no proof to challenge Combe's story and cannot petition Sabran without evidence.

Queen Sabran visits Ead's sickroom. She presses Ead about why she was in the clock tower during the attack. Ead offers a half-truth—that she went to try to distract the wyrm. Sabran then reveals that Lady Truyde has been telling courtiers Ead is a sorceress who magically shielded the queen. Sabran dismisses Truyde's claims as lies bordering on treason, insisting it was the Saint who protected her. Ead, relieved, advocates mercy for Truyde. Before leaving, Sabran announces that Ead must return to her duties in three days, as the queen will need all her ladies for a momentous announcement: her betrothal to Aubrecht Lievelyn, High Prince of Mentendon.