Auren wakes in Commander Rip’s tent, noting her magical ribbons have improved overnight and now move without pain. She observes Rip sleeping peacefully, his threatening demeanor softened. Reflecting that he never touched or chained her during the night, she dresses quietly with her ribbons’ help and slips outside into the pre-dawn cold.

Following the scent of food, Auren arrives at a breakfast fire where Keg, a cook from the Fourth Kingdom with wooden pieces adorning his long hair, serves porridge to a line of soldiers. He notices her and calls her forward, serving her first despite protests from waiting soldiers who recognize her as Midas’s gilded woman. Keg jokes about his family’s brewery and the names of his siblings, making Auren smile. She quickly eats the watery porridge. When some soldiers make crude sexual remarks about Auren, Commander Rip interrupts from across the fire, silencing them.

Rip tells his second-in-command, Osrik, to teach the soldiers a lesson for their conduct. Rip tells Auren to come to the carriage, and they walk through camp together. Soldiers scatter from his path, showing deference. Auren asks what punishment the two soldiers who insulted her will receive. Rip explains they will face latrine duty, not execution, and insists his earlier claim of trusting his soldiers stands. He assures her the men will not touch her unless ordered and that she is safe from them, though basic manners are not guaranteed.

Rip then confronts Auren about Osrik’s report that she acted suspicious the previous night. She denies it, listing reasons she cannot escape. He points out she refused to let the army’s mender, Hojat, examine her ribs. When she questions why he cares, he states it would be rude to return Midas’s “pet” in poor condition. Auren bristles at being called a “pet” and insists she is Midas’s favored. Rip dismisses the distinction as semantics.

Rip orders Auren to the carriage before the army marches. When she demands to see the other “saddles”—other Midas captives held by the army—and their guards, he leans close and tells her she must earn what she wants. He leaves, and Auren fears what earning will entail.

In Highbell, Queen Malina commissions new gowns in white with ice-blue embroidery and fur trim—the old royal colors—rejecting King Midas’s decree that all court wear gold. Her elderly dressmaker warns her of this violation, but Malina dismisses her. She instructs her handmaiden to avoid gold glitter and selects her mother’s crown from a silver box bearing a bell-and-icicle sigil: a white opal carved to look like icicles.

Dressed entirely in white without a hint of gold, Malina enters the throne room for the monthly open forum. The gold-clothed nobles and courtiers gasp in surprise at her appearance. She walks past the smaller queen’s throne and sits in the larger king’s throne meant for Highbell’s true ruler.

Sir Dorrie approaches and points out she is in the king’s throne. Malina firmly states she sits where she belongs as Highbell’s ruler since King Midas is absent. When Dorrie hesitates, she threatens to have him escorted out. He quickly backs down and asks her to hear his concerns. No other nobles object. Malina envisions news of her control over the court spreading across the kingdom and resolves to freeze Midas out, making him regret marrying her.

Auren rides alone in the carriage all day, finding solitude both safe and dangerous as memories resurface. She recalls being six years old and begging under Zakir, the man who controlled the beggar children, in a rainy market city. After presenting only two copper coins, Zakir berated her and demanded six more or she would sleep outside. She begged unsuccessfully all day and night, then spent the night on his doorstep in a puddle while another child refused to share warmth.

Returning to the present, Auren reflects on her years with Zakir from ages five to 15 until Midas rescued her. She recognizes the danger: Midas does not know she has been taken, so Fourth’s army could surprise and slaughter Fifth Kingdom. She resolves to get a warning message to him.

At dusk, the carriage stops at a camp built within a bright blue ice cave hollowed into a snow hill. Osrik retrieves her and leads her through the camp. When she nearly trips over firewood, she accuses him of choosing the worst path. He confirms it and explains he dislikes Midas, and she represents Midas’s power, wealth, and greed. Auren angrily tells him not to look at her. Osrik laughs, agrees, and chooses an easier path for the rest of the walk.

Osrik leads Auren to the large command tent, where Rip dismisses three soldiers meeting with him. He tells Auren to sit; she chooses the farthest stool. Osrik gathers papers and maps from the table. A young boy in brown leathers named Twig brings dinner. Auren protests that King Ravinger of the Fourth Kingdom forces children into the army, but Rip dismisses her concern.

Rip and Osrik begin eating while Auren watches hungrily, having lied about not being hungry. Rip questions her about the gilded cage, asking what was in it for her. She grows defensive, accusing him of searching for weaknesses to use as leverage. She insists Midas loves her. Rip derides this love, noting he keeps her caged.

Auren snaps that she wanted the cage, then challenges Rip by asking if Osrik and King Ravinger know what he truly is. Both men freeze. Rip invites the conversation but demands Auren speak first, offering a truth-for-truth exchange. Auren is tempted to reveal her secrets but recognizes the danger and stays silent.

Rip smirks victoriously. Auren thanks them for dinner, stands, and says she will find her own way back to her kennel like a good “pet.” She leaves without dismissal; neither man stops her.

Auren hides in a shallow notch in the blue ice cave, observing soldiers gathered around the central bonfire. She notes they do not match the monstrous narrative she expected—they seem like ordinary people. She believes Rip’s conversations are calculated manipulation meant to turn her against Midas and resolves to not let him under her skin.

Leaving her hiding spot, Auren walks through camp past tents, horses, and a launder station. The scent of wet leather triggers disturbing memories. She mutters insults about Rip. Hojat, stirring a foul-smelling pot at his campfire, responds as if she might mean him. He lists ingredients including wormwood, cattle cartilage, and boiled intestines, explaining he is making an experimental aches-and-pains ointment. Auren politely declines to be his test subject.

Hojat comments that the cut on her belly has improved but scolds her for not properly icing her bruised side. He offers another tonic if she lets him check her ribs; she refuses. He remarks that the Midas captives are distrustful. Auren realizes Hojat has seen the others and lies that she is visiting them, offering to help convince them to accept treatment. Hojat refuses, saying she needs Rip’s permission.

A woman soldier suddenly appears and offers to escort Auren to see the “saddles.” She has dark skin, short hair shaved in dagger designs, and a wood-and-gem lip piercing. Hojat hesitates, but the woman insists she can handle it. Auren follows warily, her need to see the others outweighing her reservations.