Falada carries Cordelia not to safety but to Evangeline, who has returned early after sensing the spells on her familiar breaking. Evangeline forces Cordelia off the horse and, using her obedience magic, demands to know what Cordelia did and who helped her. She explains that Cordelia could never have stolen Falada, since the layers of binding spells go deep and obedience to Evangeline lies at the core.

When Cordelia refuses to talk, Evangeline compels her to take a penknife and carve a triangle of skin from her own thigh. Wracked with pain, Cordelia seizes on a lie her mother offers herself: that she fell in love with Lord Evermore. Evangeline softens, sharing that Cordelia's own father similarly abandoned her, and that she nearly killed Cordelia as a toddler before realizing she could be married off for wealth.

Pressed further, Cordelia names Evermore as the conspirator, blames the dead gamekeeper, and mentions that Imogene and Hester saw the book but dismissed sorcery as nonsense. Evangeline decides Evermore must be killed and plans to frame Imogene for stabbing him out of jealousy, eliminating the need for prolonged mourning. She pulls Cordelia to her feet to act before things spiral further.

Meanwhile at Evermore, Hester wakes to pounding on her door. She and Richard, having sought comfort in each other the previous night after Bernard's death, are in bed together. Alice, Cordelia's maid, is at the door with urgent news: Cordelia slipped away to stop Falada herself and has not returned by dawn. Hester orders Richard out from under the bed, the secrecy no longer mattering.