Halla denies the accusation, and Mina punches her in the stomach. Zale intervenes, declaring that Halla is under Temple protection. To protect Sarkis, Halla lies, saying that she fired her guard for being useless. The bandit leader has them tied up and leads them to a camp in the woods. There, Zale explains to Halla that the Temple has standing arrangements to provide criminals with healing in exchange for safe passage. Halla worries that the highwaymen may prey on Bartholomew, who is traveling behind them.

The bandit leader questions Halla about her supposed powers, and she argues that invisibility would be a poor skill for highway robbery. Hours pass as the arguments continue, and Halla watches as two bandits examine their confiscated gear. One draws Sarkis’s sword from its scabbard.

Sarkis materializes instantly and kills both bandits with swift, silent efficiency. The camp alarm is belatedly raised, but Halla feels enormous relief and complete faith that Sarkis will save them all.

Sarkis kills the bandit by the campfire, then knocks a shrieking Mina unconscious with his sword’s pommel. He taunts the axeman with a bawdy insult, prompting Halla’s laughter. He feels intense relief that she is alive. After killing the axeman, Sarkis routs the remaining bandits, most of whom flee into the woods.

Sarkis frees Halla, Zale, and Brindle, then embraces Halla tightly. She says she knew he wouldn’t let anything happen to them. Her faith fills him with pride, but he also feels dread about the secret he is keeping. The group gathers their belongings and decides to leave the Motherhood priests’ equipment behind to implicate the bandits in the priests’ disappearance.

Halla examines Sarkis’s arrow wound and sees that it is healing strangely, with odd silver edges. That evening, Sarkis follows Halla too closely when she goes to relieve herself, leading to a tense interaction about his overprotectiveness. Later, Halla confides in Zale that she is “overfond” of Sarkis. Zale promises to speak to Sarkis about the matter.

The next day passes without incident, to Sarkis’s relief. When Halla goes to bathe in a stream, Sarkis insists that she sing constantly so he can monitor her safety from a distance. While she is away, Sarkis has a private conversation with Zale, who tells Sarkis that Halla has been “mooning after” him since before Zale met her. Sarkis explains that he is waiting to act on his feelings until Halla is secure with her inheritance; he does not want her to feel pressured to accept him out of fear that he might abandon her. Zale approves of Sarkis’s ethics.

While bathing, Halla reflects on her desire for Sarkis, her unsatisfying marriage, and her deep-seated fear of pregnancy. She tells herself that she must be practical and avoid giving in to foolish feelings for an unsuitable man. Returning to the fire, Halla sees Sarkis and Zale and realizes that she almost doesn’t want their journey to end.

The next day, Zale teaches Halla to use a crossbow while Sarkis watches nervously. As they approach Rutger’s Howe, Zale takes charge, loudly greeting Constable Michael at the gate and telling their side of the story in order to control the narrative before Halla’s relatives can interfere.

At the town clerk’s office, they confront Aunt Malva and Alver. Zale systematically dismantles Malva’s accusations of kidnapping and her challenge to the will. Zale then points out that in the event of a contested will, the property should have been sealed to prevent theft, forcing the embarrassed clerk to agree. This maneuver effectively evicts Malva and Alver from the house. Zale also requests that the final judgment be delayed until the witness, Bartholomew, can arrive from Amalcross. The clerk gratefully agrees, and Zale sweeps out with Halla and Sarkis, leaving Malva furious.

The group finds lodging with the local priest of the Four-Faced God, who is delighted to host Zale, a colleague from the capital.

Bartholomew arrives with the scholar Nolan, as well as the Squire’s bailiff, who will serve as the third judge. The judgment is held in the church, and Zale presents Halla’s case methodically. Bartholomew testifies that Silas was of sound mind and that Halla had no undue influence over him. Zale calls Sarkis to testify about Halla’s poverty during their journey, proving that she hadn’t schemed to gain Silas’s wealth. When Malva insults Halla’s respectability for traveling with a man, Sarkis puts his hand on his sword and threatens her, earning a rebuke from the priest. After brief deliberation, the triumvirate upholds the will, declaring Halla the rightful heir.

The group celebrates its legal victory. Bartholomew tries to claim the sword, citing his agreement with Halla that gave him first pick of the artifacts in the house. However, Halla insists that the sword belongs to Sarkis, claiming she gave it to him long ago. Sarkis refuses to sell it, inventing a story to justify his decision. The local priest returns Silas’s apocalyptic-minded pet bird to Halla, explaining that he found it in the church after the funeral.

When they move into Silas’s house, Halla is infuriated to find that Malva has been sleeping in Silas’s bed. Sarkis helps with household chores while Halla cleans and prepares rooms. Zale brings wine and a celebratory dinner. Over the meal, Halla says she wants to visit her nieces next. Sarkis agrees to accompany her wherever she goes. That evening, Halla gives Sarkis quilts to make a bedroll, planning for him to sleep on the floor outside her bedroom door as usual.

In her bedroom, after a tense conversation about whether they’re truly friends, Halla kisses Sarkis. The kiss becomes passionate, but when Sarkis pulls her onto the bed, Halla panics and pulls away, and Sarkis immediately stops. Halla explains that her hesitation isn’t rejection; it stems from her fear of pregnancy. She describes her unsatisfying marriage to a man who was indifferent to her pleasure and only married her for her “childbearing hips.” After his death, she avoided intimacy to prevent pregnancy, and she once tried herbal contraceptives with miserable results.

Sarkis reassures her, explaining that because he’s no longer entirely human, he doubts that he can father children. He adds that even so, there are many ways two people can give each other pleasure without risk of pregnancy. He offers to show her. After a humorous exchange in which Halla asks many awkward questions, they make love.

Sarkis holds Halla after they’ve made love, feeling pleased. He reflects on the pleasure of living as a man again rather than as a weapon. The lovemaking had been wonderful, despite her questions, and he felt unexpected tenderness and had to restrain himself from leaving visible love bites on her shoulders.

Sarkis struggles with a powerful wave of possessiveness, wanting to claim Halla as his own. He recognizes that this is foolish for an immortal who will outlive her. Realizing that his emotional attachment has only intensified, he hopes that Halla might not hate him for his immortality as she ages. However, his pleasure is ruined by his guilt over not having told Halla the truth about the sword’s inscription. He always meant to tell her before making love to her, but he let himself be carried away.

Halla wakes naked in Sarkis’s arms, feeling very warm. She reflects on the fact that Sarkis’s supposedly hard, unkind-looking hands have touched her in ways she never experienced, and she reflects that the north has its own share of “decadence” despite his complaints about the south.

Sarkis wakes and tells her he’s been wanting to touch her since the second day they met. They banter playfully, with Halla admitting that she had wanted to strangle him at times. She admits that she is embarrassed because he is obviously far more experienced than she is in bed, given the ineptitude of her husband in such matters. Sarkis reassures her that lovemaking is a skill that can be learned; he offers to make amends on behalf of all men for her previous experiences, then seduces her again.

At breakfast, Sarkis is overcome with guilt and decides to tell Halla the truth about the sword immediately. He takes her to Nolan, the scholar, and asks him to read the inscription on the blade. Nolan translates it aloud, revealing that Sarkis was punished for being faithless in life and is doomed to being faithful to his wielders “until steel crumbles and all sins fade away” (345).

Halla stares at Sarkis, incredulous. When he says nothing, she asks why he didn’t tell her. Sarkis confesses that he was a mercenary captain who betrayed his employer by changing sides during a war. He believed that surrender would save his men, but reinforcements arrived two days later, making him a traitor instead of a hero. Most of his men were hanged, and he and his two captains were cursed into enchanted swords. Sarkis belatedly realizes that Nolan is still present and has heard his entire confession. Halla feels like a fool and says she believed he was a hero and trusted him. Heartbroken, she tells Sarkis that he is free; she gives him to himself, then throws the sword onto the table. The sword slides into its sheath, and Sarkis vanishes in blue light as Halla flees the room.

Sarkis materializes when Bartholomew draws the sword and is dismayed to find himself bound to a new wielder. Bartholomew dismisses Halla as unimportant and says that her cousin Alver will take care of her. Enraged, Sarkis tries to attack Bartholomew, but the sword’s magic stops him, forcing him to wound his own arm and slam his head against the floor.

Bartholomew confirms that he is the new wielder, stating that Halla’s act of throwing the sword down and declaring Sarkis free constituted giving the sword away. Nolan enters and reveals that he is part of the plot, explaining that his scholarly order wants to acquire the sword. Furious that Bartholomew drew the sword early, Nolan worries that Sarkis will die and delay delivery. Sarkis attacks Nolan, getting his hands around the scholar’s throat, but Bartholomew sheathes the sword, causing Sarkis to vanish.

Halla returns from a long walk, having decided that Sarkis’s kindness is genuine even if he lied about his past. She finds the house cold and empty; Bartholomew, Nolan, and the sword are gone. She is confronted by her cousin Alver.