That night, Vasalie goes to the kitchens to find the tunnel entrance. A kitchen girl sent by Laurent guides her to a hidden door in the cellar. Vasalie recognizes the girl’s burn scars and realizes that she’s Marian, the daughter of Brigitte. Marian confirms that Laurent helped her with forged documents so that she could work at the Gathering, hoping for a chance to see her mother, whom Illian won’t release from his service. Instead of heading to the docks, Vasalie explores the tunnels and discovers that they run behind translucent sea glass mosaics, allowing her to spy into various palace rooms. After finding Illian’s antechamber empty, she continues further and discovers a mysterious room with projected images; when figures enter, she flees. Near the docks, a guard loyal to Illian creates a distraction, allowing her to board the king’s ship. There, she retrieves Annais, a silent and frightened woman. They return through the tunnels to Vasalie’s room, and the next day, Annais begins her work as a seamstress without speaking.

Four days later, Laurent nudges Vasalie into the Hall of Thrones and locks the door behind her, leaving her to ask Anton for a special effect for their upcoming performance honoring Razam. Anton agrees and asks Vasalie about her passion for dancing. Copelan arrives and becomes tense upon seeing Anton’s closeness with Vasalie. The moment reminds Vasalie of what Copelan told her about his former dance partner, whose career was ruined after an involvement with a Crown. This tension fuels a physically charged and boundary-pushing rehearsal between them. Later, Vasalie notices that Annais wears a necklace with a four-pointed star charm, a Miridranian birthstone signifying a child born during hardship. When Vasalie asks if she has children, she thinks she hears Annais whisper, “A son.”

During an evening soirée, Anton once again asks Vasalie why she dances. She admits that she does it for power and to feel less alone. He confesses that he drinks and flirts because he, too, is lonely and desires things he can’t have. Later, in the kitchen, Vasalie witnesses her father, General Stova, verbally and physically assault Marian for serving improperly cooked meat. The attack triggers a vivid flashback for Vasalie, who relives the moment when she watched her father murder Emilia by bashing her head against a hearth and throwing her body from a balcony. The head chef takes responsibility for the food, and the general releases Marian. Wracked with guilt for not intervening, Vasalie resolves to seek vengeance by exposing her father as a murderer as soon as she’s free of Illian’s control.

In her room, Vasalie takes out Emilia’s glove and reaffirms her vow to get justice for Emilia and reclaim her own title as the heir of House Stova. Soon after, Laurent warns her that she must perform for King Estienne Orvere, Illian’s vicious older brother, who has imprisoned a huge number of captured bandits in his personal hall. Inside Estienne’s dark, cavernous throne room, Vasalie is horrified to see that he has impaled dozens of corpses on a wall of sharp pikes. 

Instead of asking her to dance, Estienne forces her to act as auctioneer for around 15 surviving prisoners brought into the room. The spectacle ends when Anton purchases all of them, outbidding everyone, to be loaded onto a ship at dawn. As the prisoners are chained together, Anton catches Vasalie attempting to slip a hairpin to one of the women. He pulls her into an alcove, warns her that Estienne would have killed her if he had seen, and says he won’t report her. Vasalie angrily confronts Anton for buying people, ostensibly to stock his Glory Court. Anton doesn’t deny the insinuation and says that at least the prisoners will be well hosted by him, leaving Vasalie disgusted and confused by his contradictory actions.

For their second signature performance, Vasalie and a shirtless, gold-painted Copelan perform an intensely sensual dance depicting a storm battling a desert. Vasalie notices Illian watching Copelan with the same look he has given men before when their proximity to her was too close. At the climax of the dance, Copelan impulsively kisses Vasalie in front of the entire Gathering. Afterward, he comes to her room and confesses his overwhelming feelings for her. Terrified of Illian’s reaction, Vasalie rejects Copelan and sends him away. Back in the Hall of Thrones, the audience buzzes with questions about Vasalie and Copelan’s relationship. When they deny that they’re courting, Aesir seizes the opportunity to flirt with Copelan and lead him away. Feeling overwhelmed by the attention and the encounter, Vasalie flees to a small library to collect herself.

In the library, Vasalie comes face-to-face with her father. Before General Stova can recognize Vasalie, Illian appears and intervenes, prompting the general to depart. Illian then informs Vasalie of her next task: She must publicly betray Laurent. When she refuses, he threatens to send her back to her cell, and she’s forced to agree. Back in the Hall of Thrones, Stova orchestrates a public disruption by pointing out that Lord Gustav has recently been poisoned. Illian steers the ensuing chaos, guiding the blame of the poisoning toward Laurent for hiring unregistered staff—specifically Marian, the “cellar wench.” At Illian’s command, Vasalie steps forward and corroborates the accusation, stating that Laurent confessed to her that he forged documents for Marian. 

Pressured by the other royals, Anton orders Laurent and Marian arrested and taken to the dungeons in Philam, where they will face execution if found guilty. Overcome with remorse, Vasalie realizes that she can’t live with her choice. She changes into dark clothes and resolves to approach someone who seems to despise Illian and just might listen to her.