Six weeks after Aza’s arrival at Gnome Caverns, the armorers return from the castle. They report that the king has regained consciousness but cannot speak, and Ivi remains in charge but accepts the council’s guidance. Although the court believes Uju’s story that Aza died saving him from ogres, they still think she used illusing to attain the rank of lady-in-waiting.

Master zhamM’s responsibilities take him away from Gnome Caverns, and he and Aza feel a sense of foreboding at this parting. She goes to the market to buy a gift for him, and a vendor tempts her with a tray of human food, a rarity in the caverns. When she bites into an apple, the fruit tastes “bitter and searingly sharp” (267). A chunk of the poisoned apple wedges in Aza’s throat, and she collapses. Her spirit is wrenched away from her body and sucked into Ivi’s hand mirror.

Aza is trapped inside a sparsely furnished beige room with Skulni. He reveals that Ivi used a potion to disguise herself as the gnome who sold her the apple. He tells Aza that her body is dying and that she will gain his powers when she takes his place. Ivi received Skulni and the potions as wedding presents from the fairy Lucinda. When someone who has drunk the potions dies, they go into the mirror so that Skulni can have a break from his labors until the hand mirror gains a new owner. Skulni used Aza’s beautiful reflection to lure her into drinking the potion so he could be free. However, Aza’s body is still alive, so Skulni can’t escape. He plots to bring about Ivi’s death instead.

Skulni plots to persuade Ivi to kill Uju, the king, or the prince so that she’ll be executed. Aza struggles to find a way to thwart him and weeps as she thinks longingly of Ijori. She reflects on how people mistreated her because they deemed her ugly and how her desire to be beautiful has created dire problems for her.

Skulni says that he will allow Aza to sit in his chair if she sings to him, so she sings about virtues like “friendship, love, humor, kindness, self-sacrifice” (283). Skulni doesn’t honor their deal, and she struggles in vain to remove him from the chair.

During her conversations with Skulni, Aza learns that his machinations are “behind every tragedy and catastrophe in [Ayorthian] history” (285). With each day, Aza feels her body grow closer to death. On her third day in the mirror, Ivi returns to the castle and weeps as she tells Skulni that she killed Aza. Skulni advises the queen to take action against Uju, claiming that the guard will expose her secrets because she failed to knight him. 

However, Aza’s illusing allows her to communicate with the queen even though she isn’t in Skulni’s chair. She tells the queen that she’s trapped in the mirror and warns her that Skulni is conspiring against her. The queen demands to know if Aza is still beautiful, and she attempts to destroy the mirror when Aza reveals that she is. The jealous queen decides to die by suicide so that she can be with Skulni, who has convinced her that he worships her beauty. As the queen prepares a draught of poison, Aza sings and launches herself at the mirror.

Aza breaks the mirror, causing Ivi to drop the poison, Skulni to vanish, and herself to be pulled back into her body. The effects of the beauty potion have worn off. Aza feels her heartbeat slow and stop, but someone saves her by making her cough up the apple. The next day, she awakens and studies her natural reflection in a mirror. She resolves to learn to accept her appearance and marvels at the beauty of her htun hair.

Ijori visits Aza and kisses her. Uju told him the truth after seeing how grief-stricken the prince was at the news of her death. He blames himself for the perils she faced: “If I had believed you, if I had argued for you, they might not have imprisoned you, and you wouldn’t have run away” (297). Aza tells Ijori and zhamM about Skulni, Ivi, and the threat to Uju’s life. She insists on returning to the castle despite their concerns for her safety. The next day, Aza and Ijori begin their journey to the castle. A party of gnomes, including Master zhamM, accompanies them on the first leg of their journey. When she parts ways with zhamM, Aza sings a song of farewell and gratitude, telling him that he has “a chamber in [her] heart” (302).

Aza plans to warn Uju, stay away from the queen, and hope the king awakens soon so that she can explain everything to him. Ijori lifts Aza’s self-esteem when he tells her that he has always admired her grandeur and dignity.

When Aza and Ijori arrive at the castle, everyone is astonished because Uju said that she was dead. The beauty potion stops working for Ivi after the mirror broke, and she secludes herself in her chambers. The king’s condition worsens without his wife’s visits. Aza persuades Ivi to go to him by reminding her how much Oscaro loves her and by assuring her that she is still pretty even without the potion. The king and queen embrace.

The council confines Aza to her chamber until the king is well enough to judge her case. She’s visited by Ijori and a growing group of loyal friends drawn to her lovely singing voice and kind nature. When the king regains his ability to speak, his first words are directed to his wife: “My…dear…beautiful…love” (311). Aza is summoned before the king, and she tells Oscaro how Skulni manipulated Ivi. He believes her but refuses to punish his queen because he loves her, and she was instrumental to his recovery. Sir Uellu apologizes for ever thinking that someone with a voice as beautiful as Aza’s could be capable of evil, and she corrects him, saying, “Voices and faces aren’t manifestations of good or bad” (314).

Ijori proposes to Aza, and she gladly accepts. As Aza prepares for the first Sing since the king’s recovery, she reminds herself of the grandeur Ijori sees in her and quiets her inner critic. At the Sing, the king announces that although Ivi saved him from his coma, she’ll live in another castle, and he will abdicate his throne in favor of Ijori in three years. Ivi performs a song in which she apologizes to the people for her actions. 

To Aza’s surprise, her family, zhamM, and the duchess attend the Sing. Ijori reveals that the event will double as their wedding ceremony because they want to evade Lucinda and her perilous gifts. Prince Ijori and Aza sing of their love for one another and promise to serve their kingdom well. Aza delights the crowd with her illusing, and everyone applauds for the newlyweds.

Skulni is never seen in Ayortha again after the mirror breaks. King Ijori and Queen Aza defend their kingdom from ogres, and her illusing helps with this. The Featherbed Inn prospers, and Aza’s parents and sister move to the court, leaving the inn in her brothers’ care. Areida becomes a gifted physician and remains close to a friend she met at finishing school, Ella of Frell. Aza and Ijori have three children, and they all inherit her htun hair and ability to illuse. She never attempts to alter her appearance again, but Ayorthian beauty standards shift and come to regard her as stately. Aza, her family, and the kingdom of Ayortha live happily ever after.