Mildred sleeps in the dungeon until Pholly wakes her. Pholly reassures her that Meadow is safe and commiserates about the pain of a broken heart. Pholly releases her from the dungeon.

Mildred returns to Atakan’s rooms, where she steals a dagger. As she bathes, she fights tears over Vane’s betrayal. Atakan interrupts her, and she attacks him with the knife, slicing his leg and demanding to know where to find Meadow. Their violence turns to flirtation, and Mildred offers him a deal: she will tell him everything she knows about Vane if he actually marries her, thus restoring the alliance and securing her safety.

When Atakan alludes to Mildred’s relationship with Vane, Mildred realizes that he is jealous. He vows to torture Vane for touching Mildred, and she assumes that this is because Atakan sees her as a possession. He agrees to her terms and bites his arm until it bleeds, claiming that in order to seal the blood oath that they are about to make on this matter, Mildred must drink his blood, and he hers. She feels a strange power when they share blood. He quickly leaves.

Mildred goes to dinner, still suffering the arousing effects of sharing blood with Atakan. Pholly immediately understands what transpired between them, although Atakan seems unaffected. Cordenya, who has Meadow at her side, reassures Mildred that she is safe. Mildred offers information about Unseelie, watching Atakan carefully for his reactions. Phineus explains that Daylia cannot truly shift shapes; all she can do is take on a mere “mirage” of a cat. Cordenya, Pholly, and Phineus tease Atakan and Mildred about the clear sexual tension between them.

Mildred asks after Lord Stone, who has fled because Vane believes him responsible for Mildred’s disappearance. To help end the war before Stone is killed, Mildred tells them everything that she learned, particularly about the pytherion eggs hidden in the city. When Atakan and Mildred are alone, he brags about his delight in tricking her into her current state of magical arousal. He encourages her to run, indicating that when he catches up with her, they will have sex. Mildred finds this idea pleasing and flees.

Atakan stalks Mildred slowly, which increases her desire for him. They have hasty sex, during which Mildred asks what magic has caused this intense arousal. Atakan doesn’t answer. They have sex multiple times, and their magically induced desire continues. Atakan asserts that he dislikes the intensity of his desire for her. They bite one another, enjoying the sensation of drawing blood, and Atakan speaks possessively of Mildred as “his.” Eventually, someone knocks at the door, and Atakan has to leave. Before he does, he admits that the intense reaction between them is because they “mated.” (This, she later learns, means that they were fated for one another and have now sealed that mating bond.)

Mildred is furious when Atakan doesn’t return for a full day after their frenzied coupling. She frets over the unbreakable mating bond between them. With Pholly at her side, she goes into Cloudfall, the royal city of Ethermore, and worries over Vane’s plan to destroy it. They meet Elion, who calls Mildred a “genius” for fracturing the wards without fully breaking them. Distracted by her thoughts of Atakan, Mildred reexamines their past battles in light of the information that they were fated to be together. Elion and Phineus tease her, saying that being mated has changed her scent.

Phineus interprets Atakan and Mildred’s mating as a positive sign that they might all find their fated partners, as rumors abound that the decline in mating bonds is a punishment from the goddesses for the ongoing war. Pholly explains that Phineas and Elion are in love, but that Garran is negotiating a political marriage for Phineas and has forbidden the relationship. Mildred believes that Garran is only doing this to be cruel, not because he actually cares about Phineus’s chosen match. She confides that Garran likely killed her father to seize their fortune, as Garran needed money to pay for the war with Unseelie.

The four search for the pytherion eggs. Pholly reveals that Atakan threw Mildred into the dungeon to hide her return from Garran, and that Atakan was also the one who ordered Pholly to release her. Atakan also searched tirelessly for Mildred after she vanished. Pholly further explains that fated mates can share dreams, as Mildred did with Atakan.

When Mildred cuts her finger, the blood floats through the air, leading her to the pytherion egg. She doesn’t tell Pholly or Phineus how she found the egg. As she carries the egg back to the castle, she encounters Garran.

Mildred is wary of being alone with Garran. She suddenly realizes that she can send a mental summons to Atakan, so she informs him of Garran’s return. Atakan mentally instructs her to stall Garran. Garran asks about the fractured wards, then announces his intent to kill her so that she cannot make them break fully now that she and Atakan are mated. Mildred tries to run, and Meadow arrives and defends her. Garran uses his magic to suffocate Meadow, though not fatally.

Atakan arrives just in time to stop Garran from killing Mildred. He announces his plan to marry Mildred the next day, then murders Garran. Mildred refuses to believe that this display was for her benefit. Atakan reveals that Queen Kalista is actually alive, and that she is his mother.

Atakan keeps Garran’s death a secret. Everyone in Cloud Castle is shocked that he intends to actually marry Mildred. Elion implies that he believes this is because Atakan cares for her, which Mildred doubts. She chides herself for feeling guilty for manipulating Atakan into marriage, which she sees as a survival strategy.

During the marriage ceremony, Mildred is strongly affected by the promises of “love.” Bernie’s husband Royce attends the wedding, as Bernie is too advanced in her pregnancy to travel. Mildred confirms that Unseelie, not Seelie, were behind the murders of her parents. Royce secretly promises to help her escape Ethermore if she ever desires to do so, no matter the political consequences.

As Atakan and Mildred pose for a portrait, a fae noble named Lord Nibbledon asks about Garran, implying that he knows something has happened to the late king.

Mildred cannot replicate her “little trick with the blood” (285) to find the second pytherion egg, as the search area is too large. She eventually finds one, while Atakan finds a third. He sees her use her “blood trick,” which he explains comes from her Unseelie heritage and the eggs’ Unseelie origins. They banter as they continue to search. Atakan argues that Mildred knew they were mated but pretended not to, but she rejects this argument. Mildred admits to being pleased that he killed Garran to protect her, though she dislikes the feeling. They kiss passionately, then have sex. Mildred prefers Atakan’s “honest […] cruelty” to Vane’s gentle dishonesty. Atakan admits his desire for Mildred’s love and insists that when Unseelie attacks, she must hide. Soon after, they see the pytherions flying toward them.