In the throne room, Vera sits with Matilda, Lancelot, and Arthur, awaiting Percival’s report. Guards now stand outside for Vera’s security. Lancelot checks that Vera is unharmed, kissing her hands while Arthur pays no attention. Arthur’s bandaged hand continues worsening, though he conceals his pain. Percival confirms that the harvest was partially salvaged but reports that the attacker’s accusations about Vera are widely shared. The public finds Vera too outspoken and standoffish. Rumors of infidelity with Lancelot stem from their constant companionship. People have also seen Arthur’s coldness toward Vera and are following his lead. Most dangerously, many believe that Vera is a witch, with the harvest’s destruction coinciding with her return.

Lancelot and Percival tell Arthur that the attacker, Joseph, intended to disfigure Vera. Arthur announces that he must execute Joseph for treason. Horrified, Vera begs him not to, starting to reveal that she’s not the real Guinevere. Lancelot talks over her confession to protect Vera’s secret. When Matilda points out that the cursed object would have killed the baby, Arthur furiously tells Vera that Joseph’s punishment is not about her but about protecting his rule.

Mage Gawain, a sullen man in a dingy brown robe, appears and offers to perform the execution. He first treats Arthur’s wound, revealing his rare healing gift. At the execution, Vera stands with Arthur on a platform. Seeing fear in his eyes, Vera reaches for his hand, and he grasps it tightly. He quietly asks her not to watch. Gawain stabs Joseph to death with a thin silver dagger.

That night, Matilda gives Vera a note from Merlin, asking her to meet him in his study. Vera waits for Arthur, but he never returns. The next morning, Vera and Matilda hear screaming from the throne room and find Helene and Roger with their gravely ill baby. As Gawain examines the child, Helene sees Vera and screams that she cursed the baby. As Matilda leads Vera away, they encounter a finely dressed man—Geneveive’s father (and thus Vera’s birth father), Lord Aballach.

Aballach grabs Vera, drags her into a corridor, and accuses her of shaming him. He crudely demands to know if the rumors are true and she has been unchaste. When Vera can’t meet his gaze, he slaps her across the face, his ring cutting her lip. Arthur intervenes with quiet fury, ordering Aballach never to touch his wife again. He sees Vera’s bleeding lip and tells her to go.

Vera flees to the chapel, where Arthur finds her. He confesses that his behavior caused the public’s turn against her and takes full responsibility. When Vera says that there may be some truth to the rumors about her being a witch since the baby fell sick after her touch, Arthur tells her that the baby’s illness was caused by fumes from the cursed object, called Venovum, and that Gawain’s treatment is working on her. Vera begins sobbing, and Arthur wraps his arms around her. He says that his care is not just a pretense; he is actually quite fond of her. Arthur proposes a public display of marital affection to protect her and offers that they be friends in private. Vera agrees, saying that’s all she wanted. She notices that his right knuckles are swollen. Arthur admits that he punched Aballach after he suggested that Arthur get Vera pregnant to tame her. Looking at her cut lip, Arthur says that punching him in the mouth only seemed fair.

Lancelot insists on accompanying Vera to Merlin’s study, where they find Gawain working. Merlin dismisses him, and Gawain leaves with a rectangular object resembling a cell phone. Merlin explains that he will use sensory deprivation with a magical potion to access Vera’s unconscious mind. Her first attempt ends with her screaming from a nightmare, but she insists on trying again.

During the second attempt, Vera becomes trapped in a traumatic loop, repeatedly witnessing a woman dying from a stomach wound—the woman’s face shifting from a stranger’s to her mother’s to her own. After half an hour of screaming, nothing can wake her until Arthur arrives and takes her hand. The loop breaks, and Vera experiences Guinevere’s memories: an early courtship walk with Arthur, a shared moment in the throne room, holding hands during a war council, and lying in bed in despair after the final battle. To her surprise, she also feels Guinevere’s intense disgust toward Lancelot.

When Vera surfaces, she recounts the memories. Arthur confirms their timeline. Lancelot sadly admits that Guinevere did not like him. Vera wants to try again, but Arthur refuses to allow another session until after Yule and Christmas, two weeks away, so that Merlin can research a safer method. Vera privately wonders if Arthur doesn’t want her memories to return.

That night, Arthur finds Vera reading The Hobbit in bed. He reveals that he has read all the books Merlin provided from her time. When she mentions reading this one aloud with her parents at Christmas, Arthur asks if they can read together. He sits shoulder-to-shoulder with her. Examining her bookmark—a photograph of Vera with Allison and Martin—Arthur is fascinated by the technology. Vera grows sad thinking of her father’s undetected cancer on the day the photo was taken.

They take turns reading aloud. Vera delights in Arthur’s voice for Gollum. As he reads, she falls asleep with her head on his shoulder, feeling comfort reminiscent of Vincent. Arthur gently lays her down, returns her bookmark, lowers the lights, and covers her. Vera realizes that Arthur, not Matilda, may have been tucking her in all along.

Arthur and Vera begin publicly displaying affection, holding hands and sharing jokes. The people notice. For Vera, the affection is genuine. Two days before Yule, Arthur joins her chopping vegetables in the kitchen. She teaches him proper technique. They laugh when onions make him cry. Vera is swept up but pained by the thought that the laughter is merely a public show for Arthur.

Meanwhile, the celebratory boar hunt is going on outside the castle walls. Suddenly, the boar horn sounds wrong, stopping mid-blast. Lancelot senses danger; the boar has broken loose inside the walls. The massive beast charges through the square. A terrified horse throws Grady, leaving him cornered. Arthur and Lancelot are too far to intervene. As the boar charges, a disk of blue-white light explodes from Grady’s chest, throwing the animal backward. Loose wood flies to form a protective wall. Lancelot and Percival kill the stunned boar. Grady realizes that he caused the magic and demonstrates his new power. Percival is shocked—magical gifts are supposed to be present from birth, not appear suddenly.

The horn crier was gored by the boar, cutting his warning short, and he was saved by Gawain. Arthur sends for Gawain the next morning before departing for Glastonbury for Yule festivities, but Gawain refuses, claiming to be too busy. Percival, Arthur, and Vera find Gawain crawling near the training pit, studying where Grady’s magic manifested. Gawain explains that he studies magic breaks—the moment a gift first appears—and that magic leaves a temporary trace. He collects dirt from the site and reveals that he once witnessed a similar break during a battlefield execution. He expresses regret at not witnessing Grady’s moment of terror, a statement that unnerves Vera. Arthur tells Gawain that even though his task is important, he must answer the king’s summons in the future. Gawain apologizes and agrees.

Gawain joins the expedition to Glastonbury. Percival gives Arthur a mysterious parcel from Merlin. Randall tells Vera that he has made a new gown for her. On the road, Vera sees the easy affection between Arthur and Matilda and feels jealous. Feeling empathy for the isolated Gawain, she offers him alcohol and rides alongside him. Gawain invents a false relative to test Vera’s memory. When she falls for it, he confirms that her amnesia is real, admitting that he previously assumed she was faking. He reveals that magic has behaved strangely since before the wars, possibly since the Massacre of Dorchester, a magical extermination of non-magic people. The magical birth rate has been declining for a decade. He warns Vera not to trust anyone, especially Lancelot, whom he claims “reeks of lies” (233). When Vera relays this insult, Lancelot finds it hilarious and rides off to annoy Gawain.

The party arrives in Glastonbury on a rainy afternoon. Maria, the festival master, leads them to stone lodgings. Arthur explains that Yule tradition requires firelight only, no magic. He and Vera are assigned a shared room. He offers to sleep elsewhere, but Vera tells him it is fine.

At the Yule Eve festival on the grounds of the future abbey, Vera is stunned to see a grand stone cathedral unrecorded in her time’s history. They watch a performance of Percival’s heroic deed and knighting. Percival is mortified by the dramatized retelling, in which he saves Arthur by taking the blow intended for him; it is the blow that led to Percival’s scar. Percival later tells Vera that he didn’t receive the full force of the sword because an unknown person’s magic deflected the sword blow. Vera and Arthur spend the evening as the beloved royal couple. When Vera mentions wanting to climb the Tor for sunrise, a drunk Lancelot offers to accompany her, but she refuses. Arthur, who has never been to the top, offers to go with her—a gentle contrast to his former coldness.