Young Elspeth is infected by the Spirit's mist and flees the Rowan King's Physicians, losing consciousness before waking safely in the forest.

Young Elspeth touches the Nightmare Card at her uncle's estate and wakes to find the Shepherd King's soul sealed inside her mind.

Two disguised highwaymen ambush Elspeth on the road, demanding answers about her uncle's Cards; she calls on the Nightmare's power to escape.

Emory Yew seizes Elspeth's arm at the Equinox feast, staring at her with yellow eyes as blood appears on her hands.

Ravyn Yew pulls Emory away and escorts Elspeth safely to her room, introducing himself as Captain of the Destriers.

Ravyn blindfolds Elspeth and tests her ability to name and identify Providence Cards by their hidden colors.

Elspeth proposes a deal: she will help Ravyn locate missing Cards if he keeps her infection and the Nightmare secret.

Ravyn's council interrogates Elspeth using the Scythe Card to force emotional compliance and verify her loyalty to the team.

Elspeth agrees to join the team, and the council arranges for her to move to Yew House under the cover of a false courtship.

During the carriage heist in the Black Forest, Hauth and a Destrier escort appear alongside the Pine family's carriage unexpectedly.

Hauth breaks Elspeth's wrist; she unleashes the Nightmare's power and leaves deep gashes across Hauth's body before escaping into the mist.

Hauth reveals he has poisoned the team's goblets with truth serum from the Chalice Card at the Spindle nameday celebration.

Elspeth resists the truth serum too long and is poisoned, collapsing and losing consciousness after vomiting blood.

The Nightmare takes full possession of Elspeth's body, kills Orithe, and maims Hauth before Elspeth is taken to the Rowan King's dungeon.

The Nightmare negotiates with the Rowan King, offering to find the Twin Alders Card in exchange for releasing Emory to his family.

Elspeth Spindle has hidden her infection and the dark creature in her mind — the Nightmare — since childhood, keeping to the fringes of Blunder society. When she is drawn into the Equinox celebration, a chance encounter with the infected Emory Yew and his brother Ravyn, Captain of the Destriers, changes everything. Ravyn tests her unique ability to see Providence Cards and recruits her into his secret mission to complete a Deck and save Emory from royal sacrifice. As Elspeth joins the team and takes part in dangerous heists, her reliance on the Nightmare's power grows and begins to cost her dearly. After a truth serum trap and a brutal betrayal by her own uncle, Elspeth surrenders her body to the Nightmare so that Ravyn's team is shielded from blame. The creature then strikes a dark bargain with the Rowan King, offering to find the final Card in exchange for Emory's life.

The core journey from Elspeth's infection to the Nightmare's final bargain.

The Rowan King announces at the Equinox feast that Tyrn has gifted him the Nightmare Card and Ione is betrothed to Hauth.

Elspeth and Ravyn overhear Orithe discussing Emory's dangerous erratic behavior and Ravyn's fierce protectiveness of his younger brother.

Ravyn brings Elspeth to a castle cellar to meet his full council, including Fenir, Morette, Jespyr, Elm, and Filick.

Ravyn reveals the team still needs three Cards — the Well, Iron Gate, and Twin Alders — to complete the Deck and spare Emory.

Ravyn and Elspeth find Emory in the Equinox crowd; Elm reveals to Elspeth that Ravyn is also infected.

Emory quotes the Nightmare Card's foreword directly at Elspeth, confirming he can perceive the dark creature living inside her mind.

Gerta Pine tells Elspeth her father owns the Iron Gate Card; Fenir reveals the team plans to use Orithe as the ritual sacrifice.

The team disguises themselves as highwaymen and rides into the Black Forest to intercept and rob the Pine family's carriage.

Elspeth throws a rock at her father Erik's head to save Elm during the heist and then overpowers Erik using the Nightmare's strength.

Jespyr loses her protective crow's foot charm in the mist during the escape and temporarily loses her senses to the Spirit.

Hauth uses his Scythe Card in the market square to strip two parents of their charms and order them to walk into the mist.

Emory escapes from Stone and arrives at Yew House dangerously ill after walking through the mist without any protection.

Erik Spindle gives Elspeth her late mother's Well Card as a personal gift before Ravyn's team departs Spindle House on patrol.

Tyrn willingly betrays Elspeth to Hauth, leading Hauth and Orithe to beat and interrogate her in the upper room of Spindle House.

The Nightmare, inhabiting Elspeth's body, is escorted to the Rowan King's dungeon after killing Orithe and maiming Hauth.

While Elspeth's central arc unfolds, a series of significant secondary events deepens the stakes of Ravyn's secret mission against the Rowan King. At the Equinox feast, the team learns Tyrn has surrendered his Nightmare Card and Ione has been betrothed to Hauth, reshaping the alliances around Elspeth. Reconnaissance leads the team to identify the Iron Gate Card's location and plan a dangerous carriage heist, which spirals out of control when unexpected family members appear in the crossfire. On Market Day, Hauth's public cruelty forces Elspeth to intervene and lose control to the Nightmare, deepening her terror of degeneration. The mission at Spindle House brings a tender moment when Erik gives Elspeth her late mother's Well Card, quickly overshadowed by Tyrn's deliberate betrayal. The novel closes with the Nightmare imprisoned in the royal dungeon, poised to bargain for Emory's freedom.

Key missions, alliances, and confrontations that drive the rebellion forward.

On her nameday, Elspeth visits Spindle House and is coldly dismissed by her stepmother Nerium, leaving alone and unnoticed by her father.

Elspeth confronts Ione at the Equinox celebration about the Maiden Card and pleads with her to refuse Hauth's betrothal.

Elspeth recognizes Ravyn's ivory-hilted dagger in the forest and realizes he is one of the highwaymen who attacked her on the road.

Ravyn discovers the black ink marks on Elspeth's skin that identify her as infected and assures her he intends no harm.

Elm enters the meeting room and Elspeth sees his Scythe Card, realizing he was the second highwayman; she refuses to answer any more questions.

Ravyn tours Elspeth through the ancient Yew castle ruins, and the Nightmare hints that the surviving chamber was built as an altar for the Spirit.

Ravyn reveals that Hauth reported his infection to the Rowan King at age thirteen, explaining the bitter hostility between the two men.

Elspeth and Ravyn share a first kiss at the altar chamber; she opens her eyes to see a vision of an armored old man demanding to be freed.

The Nightmare tells Elspeth that the old man in gold armor she keeps seeing is who he once was, revealing he is the Shepherd King's soul.

Filick tells Elspeth that Physicians once treated infected rather than hunted them, exposing how the Rowans corrupted their ancient tradition.

Elspeth realizes her degeneration is not physical illness but loss of bodily control, as the Nightmare increasingly inhabits her body during sleep.

Destrier Linden pursues Elspeth through the mist; the Nightmare takes partial control of her body and maims him, horrifying Elspeth.

Elspeth wakes at Spindle House with Ravyn beside her and invites him to use his Nightmare Card to properly meet the Shepherd King.

Elspeth asks the Nightmare to take possession of her body to shield Ravyn's team from blame, knowing she may lose herself permanently.

With yellow eyes marking their merger, Elspeth warns Ravyn to find the Twin Alders Card and save Emory before she fades away.

Beneath the main plot, a series of revelations steadily dismantles Elspeth's understanding of herself, her allies, and the corrupt world she inhabits. From recognizing Ravyn as one of her attackers to learning that Physicians once healed rather than hunted the infected, each discovery exposes another layer of the Rowan King's falsified history. The most shattering revelation comes at the ancient Yew ruins, where Elspeth learns the Nightmare is not merely a monster — he is the soul of the Shepherd King himself, seeking revenge against those who usurped his throne. As Elspeth's degeneration shifts from a distant fear to a present reality, her choices narrow until she must decide whether to surrender her body entirely to protect those she loves. Her final act — willingly giving the Nightmare full control — is both sacrifice and transformation. The novel closes on an uncertain, haunting note as the Shepherd King's soul steps into the world wearing Elspeth's face.