Patrick and Nina walk through the rolling hills of Kenton Hill. As Nina contemplates escape, Patrick informs her that there are landmines hidden throughout their land. Staring at the way her face and body have changed over the years, he tells her he knew from the day of their siphoning that she was the earth Charmer. He admits that he told people about the illegitimacy of the ceremony.

Patrick leads her to a place where she can bathe and sleep. When a dog named Isaiah approaches and then runs into the distance, Nina realizes that Patrick lied about the landmines.

Following Isaiah, they argue about the utility of the Miner’s Union. Patrick explains that he became the leader when his father, the union’s chairman, was captured two years ago. As they approach Kenton Hill’s main street, Nina is amazed: It appears bizarre, decorative, and unique. Patrick explains their trolley and pipe systems, noting that when they stopped mining for Belavere, they had plenty of time to work on other things. Their town is self-sustaining and completely independent from Belavere.

They enter an inn, and a drunk man named Bernie tries to grab Nina. The rest of the bar quiets as Patrick puts his hand on her waist and looks at the man harshly. The man leaves after Patrick quietly threatens him. Patrick leads Nina to a room guarded by a man named Sam. He explains that his mother runs the inn, Colson and Sons. As an enemy Artisan, Nina is not allowed to leave. When her legs finally give out, he offers her a bottle labeled “ink tincture.” Nina assumes it’s bluff but soon realizes it’s idium. Patrick promises her that she’s safe as she passes out.

Patrick gathers his strength to reenter the bar room and finds his brother, Donny, drunk with a woman on his lap. His mom begs Patrick to be careful with the earth Charmer.

Finally outside, Patrick tells Donny that they have known the woman on his lap since childhood. Donny is blind, so he did not notice. Patrick tells Donny they’re visiting Bernie to punish him for insulting a friend. Donny loads his pistol and Patrick tells him to give him a scare.

Waking up in the hotel room, Nina bathes, eats, and dresses in new clothes. She notices several inventions she hasn’t seen before: two valves, one for hot water, and a string hanging down from a lantern that lights up when pulled.

Tired of hiding, Nina summons Sam to the door and tells him she wants to walk around town. Sam hesitates, scared of Patrick and desperate for his approval. Nina realizes she must scare him. Using her earth Charming, she lifts dirt off the floor and threatens to collapse the place. Panicked, Sam agrees.

Patrick remembers his dad’s dream to open the inn. His dad saw possibility in the dilapidated building, but because he had to go into the mines each day, he was not able to help his wife, Tess, with the repairs and the service. It never made profits, and their life was difficult, but at age 12, Patrick believed in his parents.

When he walks into his home, he finds his brother, Gunner, drunk and his mother offering breakfast. He tells Gunner that his wife, Emily, would be willing to take him back if he stops drinking. Gunner swears he will make it count. Patrick leaves to begin his day, and when he reaches main street, Sam tells him that Nina disappeared on their walk. Frustrated, Patrick takes off to find her.

Among the hills and manmade canals, Nina walks and contemplates the silence. She yearns to be social, but she also craves the safety of solitude.

Soon, Patrick arrives with Isaiah. He sits in the grass next to her and explains that the dose of idium was a show of good faith. He says it took him six months to find her. She notices how tired he is, and he teases her for filling the silence with questions. He explains that right now the war is at a standstill: They have the alchemist, but Belavere has the idium. They don’t have enough terranium to raise an Artisan army. She asks again what he wants from her, and he responds that he wants her to build tunnels to the capital and map out the National House so that he can retrieve their captives.

They play a game: Heads, she answers a question and tails, he does. It lands on heads several times, and he asks her questions about her time at the academy. She asks whether he really thinks his dad is alive as a captive. He grabs her hand and lingers there, saying he will show her around the town.

As they walk back to town, Patrick explains that they get food by trading with other towns through their tunnels. Using the tunnels, other towns can escape when Tanner’s army comes to raze their homes. Nina emphasizes to Patrick that she’s seen both sides and has no sympathy for either. He details her father’s pain as a Crafter and tries to convince her to enlist in their cause. He restrains her when she tries to hit him. Feeling the warmth of his body on her back, she imagines him touching her.

Walking through town, he places her arm in his so that no one will report them if they recognize Nina. They wander through the streets, and Nina sees that the heat comes from the coal works. They stroll into a market, where Nina sees people taking food without paying. Patrick explains their system as “fair share.” People pay for whiskey and fashion, but they don’t pay for food and heat. Nina claims that it is unfair that the town of the union chairman’s son gets to start this war and live in peace while other towns experience the consequences. Patrick acknowledges her point and leads them into a tea house.

A woman confronts Patrick for employing her son, Sam, after he killed her husband. After she leaves, Patrick explains that her husband went into a tunnel and never came out. Nina asks for the truth of what he does, and he explains he is in the business of justice, which means feeding people and killing people. He stares longingly at Nina as she chats with the owner of the tea house.

Soon, Otto enters the shop to tell Patrick that there are hawkers selling bluff in the market. Against his wishes, Nina follows him to the market, where he punches the hawker, Ferris. Nina makes a small earthquake, and Ferris recognizes Nina as the earth Charmer right before Patrick knocks him out. Patrick sees the disgust in Nina’s face as she walks away.

Nina grapples with what she’s seen of Kenton Hill. Patrick is both the judge and the executioner, thinking that the fear he instills in civilians is what creates peace. Hearing talk of the town meeting that night, Nina says she wants to join, but Patrick denies her request. They stare at each other, and she feels the heat between them. She thinks he might kiss her, but in the end, he turns away.

Nina is shocked at the number of people squeezed into the inn’s pub. Again, she denies Patrick’s request for her to go upstairs. She is introduced to Donny, Patrick’s younger brother, and Gunner, his older brother. She also meets Briggs, a redhead who works at Colson and Sons.

Patrick begins the town meeting with announcements about food rations and the incident with the bluff hawker. Then he patiently listens to the small grievances of the townspeople while Nina gawks at their triviality. As the meeting wraps up, men in uniform enter, and Patrick’s mother whisks Nina away behind a door. She explains that they pay off the Belavere police so that they can operate independently. She warns Nina to keep her eyes off her boys.

The police are there because Ferris told them that they have the earth Charmer: They want to turn her in for the bounty. Patrick denies it, and his men back him up. No one speaks up as a witness, and the police leave. As Nina walks to her room, a door opens to reveal Theo.

As soon as the town meeting is over, Patrick and his men go to Ferris’s quarters. They bring several other bluff hawkers to his room and let one of them, Leon, play a role. He offers a coin toss: Heads, Patrick kills Ferris while he runs; tails, Leon gets to choose who shoots. It lands on tails, and Leon chooses Donny because of his sharp vision. To his shock, Donny hits Ferris easily as he runs. Patrick hopes he will sleep that night.

Theo sneaks into Nina’s room after curfew and gifts her a necklace with a green jewel. When she says she’s never owned a piece of jewelry, he questions her about her parents and childhood. She lies to maintain her story as Nina Clarke.

Nina describes her love for Theo: She feels weightless, and she enjoys the lack of responsibility. After explaining how the Crafters will give in once the House of Lords cuts off their food supply, he asks her to come to dinner with his father, who requested her presence. They kiss, and as her clothes come off, she turns into “pieces of airborne dust” (213).

Nina recalls that she sold the necklace Theo had given her for a ride through a canal. In her room at the inn, Theo expresses his sadness and anger over the fact that she disappeared and never told him that she was okay. She corrects him when he says Clarke and explains that she couldn’t risk being captured.

Theo explains that two years ago, he was ousted from the House of Lords when he sent warnings to towns before raids. He mistakenly trusted a scribbler, whom Nina assumes he was sleeping with. The Colson brothers offered Theo protection and a biannual dose of idium in exchange for help with their canals and tunnels. Theo hugs Nina and tells her he missed her. He says he will see her at the meeting with Margarite tomorrow.

When Sam leads Nina and Theo to meet Margarite, Nina is surprised to see that her friend from school, the scribbler Polly, also lives in Kenton Hill. Theo touches Nina casually as if the past seven years have not passed.

They reach a dilapidated seamstress shop called Margarite’s, where Sam drops them off. Nina learns that Margarite’s is a hole in the ground that leads to their tunnel system. Patrick explains that they will be tunneling to the capital from here to retrieve their hostages. They must tunnel underneath a river and into the exact parlor that Patrick and Nina found themselves in 13 years prior. Theo challenges him, asking whether innocent Artisans will die. He promises only to kill if it is necessary to retrieve their men. Patrick says they can leave Kenton Hill if they do not want to be involved, but Nina suspects that is not true. Nina agrees to the plan, and they enter the tunnels.