The Donmata Marosa leads Loth through hidden tunnels behind the palace walls to a secret chamber where her father, King Sigoso III, is chained to a bed. Sigoso is revealed to be a "Flesh King"—a puppet ruler controlled by the wyrm Fýredel through a rare form of the Draconic plague. Marosa has sedated him so Fýredel cannot see or hear through him. Sigoso's body is wasted, his eyes turned gray, and his veins mapped with red lines of infection.

Under Marosa's questioning, Sigoso confesses to murdering Queen Rosarian. He reveals he was spurned when he proposed marriage to her, and in revenge he had a gown laced with basilisk venom and smuggled into the Privy Wardrobe by someone he calls "the cupbearer." Loth is shaken, realizing why his mother and Lady Arbella Glenn could never speak of Rosarian's death. When Sigoso's eyes begin to flicker with red embers—a sign Fýredel is stirring—Marosa quickly sedates him again.

On the stairwell outside, Marosa shares more of her history. She recounts how her mother, Sahar Taumargam, tried to flee Yscalin with her but was stopped and later killed by Sigoso, who claimed it was suicide. She then describes Fýredel's conquest of Cárscaro two years ago: the wyrm awoke in Mount Fruma after an earthquake, surrounded the city with wyverns, and forced Sigoso to submit. Fýredel used Sigoso's plague-controlled body to dismantle defenses, destroy communications, and announce Yscalin's allegiance to the Nameless One. Marosa has been trapped ever since, unable to send word or organize resistance.

Marosa then reveals her plan for Loth. She shows him an iron box taken from a captured woman named Jondu, who wore a red cloak and begged Marosa to deliver the box to Chassar uq-Ispad, the Ersyri ambassador. Marosa mercifully killed Jondu to spare her a worse death. She explains that to cross the Spindles safely, Loth must deliberately infect himself with the Draconic plague so that Draconic creatures will not attack him, and that Chassar supposedly knows a cure. She admits she previously entrusted this mission to Prince Wilstan, but he abandoned the box in the escape tunnel and was killed by an amphiptere before reaching safety.

Loth asks about Kit, and Marosa offers that Kit can stay under her protection or accompany Loth if also afflicted. Moved by Marosa's courage and the gravity of the situation, Loth considers the choice: deliberately touch the Flesh King to contract the plague and attempt the perilous journey, or remain trapped in Cárscaro indefinitely. Marosa waits for his answer.