In the Council Chamber atop the Alabastrine Tower, Queen Sabran meets with Ead and Loth to learn the full truth of recent events. Sabran has been freed from Igrain Crest's custody, and the remaining traitors have been rooted out. The Duchess of Justice had spent weeks trying to force Sabran to sign an Oath of Relinquishment that would permanently yield the throne to the Crest family, threatening exposure of the queen's barrenness and even attempting to smother her with a pillow. Roslain Crest broke her own grandmother's fingers to save Sabran's life. Meanwhile, three provincial leaders—Stillwater, Fynch, and the Night Hawk—have arrived claiming they came to liberate the queen, but Sabran has them locked away until their true loyalties can be determined.

Ead reveals her true identity as Eadaz du Zāla uq-Nāra, a mage of the Priory of the Orange Tree, and explains the nature of her siden magic. She and Loth together recount their entire journey: Combe's role in exiling Loth, the Flesh King's confession about the murder of Sabran's mother, Kit's death, the Priory, the Long-Haired Star, the Tablet of Rumelabar, and Ead's visit to Kalyba, who forged Ascalon using both siden and sterren magic. Ead reveals that Galian Berethnet was not the hero of Inysh legend—Cleolind was—and that the Nameless One was only bound for a thousand years, not permanently defeated. The binding is near its end.

Ead presents the waning jewel and explains the need to find its sister jewel in the East and to recover Ascalon. Loth suggests the sword may have been entrusted to Edrig of Arondine, a founder of the Beck family, making Goldenbirch a promising starting point for the search. Ead plans to travel there with Margret. Sabran, despite the heretical nature of the revelations, pledges to lead Inys against the coming Draconic threat. She agrees to write to High Princess Ermuna to find the date of the original binding. She also announces she will tell the court she lost her child—preserving the possibility of future conception—and knights Ead as a member of the Knights Bachelor to protect her from accusations of witchcraft.

Privately, Sabran entrusts Loth with the duties of the Duchy of Justice, asking him to investigate Combe, Fynch, and Stillwater. She recounts the horrors of her imprisonment under Crest, including the attempted smothering, and declares that Crest must burn. The Earls of Eller and Withy, who failed to act against Crest, will be confined and stripped of their duchies. Loth affirms his trust in Ead when Sabran asks, telling the queen that Ead wants to keep her alive more than anything. The chapter ends with Loth visiting Igrain Crest in her prison cell to begin questioning her, but Crest refuses to answer, saying she will only answer in Halgalant. Loth grimly tells her she will not see the heavenly court.