Unable to get up to the water’s surface, Ivy panics and inhales water. Bram pulls her out, and she expels the water from her lungs. Greer helps Bram with Ivy, explaining that she and Ivy are old friends. All three of them get into a carriage. Bram thanks Ivy for getting him away from the event. He admits that Marion is favored in gambling clubs, but Ivy has the largest payout. Ivy jokes that this is a nice way for him to tell her that she is losing the contest.

At Bram’s request, Greer describes meeting Ivy on her fifth birthday. During this event, the young Ivy smashed her face into Greer’s cake, and Lydia tried to put the cake back together. Now, Greer speaks kindly about Lydia and Ivy, telling Bram that Ivy gives her a birthday cake every year. Ivy reflects that she didn’t get a cake for Greer this year because Lydia’s scandal has put distance between them. Bram says he’d like to meet Lydia, and Ivy explains that her sister has been ill and hasn’t attended many events recently.

Back at the cottage, Ivy changes, then has lunch with Greer. The two women recall how they used to hide during cotillion class. Greer admits that she has to win the contest, or her mother will disown her. She also mentions loving Joseph, the son of her cook; he became a stable boy.

At midnight, Ivy sneaks out to the garden to meet Emmett. He guides her to the orangery and through the secret tunnels. In Emmett’s room, Ivy mentions the cold and shows Emmett how to make a fire. She learned this skill because her family can no longer afford household staff. Emmett explains that he was hunting for a perfect bride for Bram when he first met Ivy.

Then, Emmett admits that Faith wanted to marry him, but he rejected her because he wasn’t in love with her. Faith’s parents have insisted that she get married, so he started helping Faith to win Bram. Now, he wants Ivy to win, so he tells her what Bram likes. Emmett admits to having hated Bram at first, but the two of them bonded after Bram helped Emmett to fight off some boys who teased him about being a child born out of wedlock.

Emmett insists that Bram is a good person, and he wants to teach Ivy how to flirt. He suggests that she try flirting with him for practice, and he coaches her on eye contact, hand contact, and compliments. Then, Emmett suggests telling Bram a secret to get close to him. Ivy tells Emmett that she secretly fears failing the competition and failing to save the country from Queen Mor’s machinations. Emmett is confident that Ivy can win.

When Ivy returns to her cottage bedroom, Faith threatens to tell Bram that Ivy snuck out. Ivy asks Faith what she wants. Faith replies that she wants Emmett back, and Ivy says Emmett is all hers. However, Ivy is unwilling to share the fact that she and Emmett are planning to unseat the queen. Ivy finds herself shivering uncontrollably.

In the morning, Faith tells Bolingbroke that Ivy was out all night. Bolingbroke, who notices that Ivy is sick with fever from falling into the Thames with open wounds, dismisses Faith’s accusations and tells her to fetch a doctor. Faith storms out, and Ivy falls asleep. When Ivy wakes up again, Lottie is nursing her. The next time Ivy wakes up, Greer is there, helping her to drink water. Ivy gulps water and falls asleep again.

Emmy is upset over the way that her maid styled her hair for her dinner with Bram. She goes into the kitchen, where Olive is baking. Olive fixes Emmy’s hair. Bram arrives and takes Emmy to the orangery for a candlelit dinner. An old woman, the Countess of Tribley, is their chaperone. Emmy and Bram talk about her family.

Emmy admits that she wants to travel across the sea. Privately, she reflects that she never wanted to marry; she wanted to be “a painter, or a pirate, or a poet” (156). Bram says he also wants to travel, which surprises Emmy because the queen is an isolationist. Emmy relays some stories that her grandparents told her about Kyoto. Next, she takes out a deck of tarot cards and pulls the devil card for Bram, saying it indicates a betrayal in his future. Then, she pulls the world card for herself; it means that she can attain her goals if she is brave enough to pursue them. When Bram walks Emmy back to the cottage, he kisses her hand. Behind Bram’s back, Emmy sees Emmett leaving the cottage.

Marion reads to Ivy as Greer changes Ivy’s bandages. Ivy has nightmares about being crowned, going to a tea party, and riding a horse. Dazed from these dreams and still feverish, she can only vaguely perceive a brown-haired boy comforting her. Later, when Ivy is fully awake, Olive says they thought Ivy was going to die. Emmy chastises Olive. The other girls come into the bedroom. Ivy was sick for three days, and she now feels that she is losing the contest because she has missed so many events.

Ivy must take one more day to recover. She forges friendships with all the girls, except for Faith. As Lottie prepares Ivy for a walk around the park, she slips a note into Ivy’s hand. At the park, Olive and Ivy walk together. Olive rambles about baking, and Ivy is glad to let her do all the talking. Faith and Marion walk ahead of Ivy, while Emmy and Greer walk behind her. Bram rides up on a horse, and the girls vie for his attention. Emmett, who is riding with Bram, tries to subtly signal that Ivy should faint. When she doesn’t follow his cue, Emmett suggests that Bram take Ivy back to the cottage because she looks wan.

As Bram takes Ivy to the cottage, they talk about his horse. Emmett told her Bram loves horses and fruit, so Ivy takes an apple out of her pocket, slices it, and feeds a slice to Bram. He talks about the different fruits in the Otherworld, admitting that he prefers human fruits. Ivy assumes that Bram is the brown-haired boy who visited her while she was sick, so she thanks him. He says he wasn’t the one who visited, and he regrets not coming. She says it must have been a dream.

Bram admits that his magic isn’t strong enough to heal a fever—only small cuts. He explains that his magic is innate, then demonstrates his abilities by turning dandelions into tulips, which then become ash. He also manifests a coin that turns into water when he puts it in Ivy’s hand. However, to perform larger magical acts like his mother’s, he would have to study magic for many years. The queen refuses to teach him, and no one else in the human world can do it.

Ivy admits to being obsessed with faeries and reading Faeries of the British Isles as a child. Belatedly remembering that the book is illegal, she explains that her mother burned it. Bram is happy that someone is interested in his culture. He explains that his mother tried to take the throne from his father, who defeated her with iron and banished her to the human world. Ivy has never heard of iron because the queen has hidden all information about it.

Then, Bram lies, claiming that his father banished Bram to the human world to prevent him from taking the throne, then sealed the door between the worlds. This causes Ivy to doubt that Lydia went to the Otherworld during her disappearance. Ivy apologizes and cries, admitting her assumption that Lydia went to the Otherworld. Bram turns one of her tears into a snowflake and apologizes as well, then gives her a pearl ring. Ivy is afraid that Bram will kiss her, so she slices more of the apple and feeds it to him.

Later, when Ivy gets a moment alone, she reads the note that Lottie gave her, in which Emmett has written that he believes in her. He has also drawn a shrimp with a heart in its head.

Marion has a crush on Faith. While they walk around the park, Faith asks if she and Olive can swap rooms, as this would make Marion her roommate. Faith explains that she is angry that Ivy snuck off with Emmett; she also explains her own history with Emmett, including the fact that Emmett doesn’t love her. Faith’s father has pressured her into her social debut, and Faith figured that Bram would be the next best choice after Emmett.

Marion’s family in Ghana hates Queen Moryen. However, her father’s land there was destroyed by drought, so he gained English citizenship via a bargain, receiving fabric and a sewing machine in exchange for losing the ability to dream. He then became a huge success in the West End shopping district. Marion’s tutors taught her and her sister Este how to run a household and how to dance.

At 15, Marion kissed a girl named Penny, who later married a man and abandoned her friendship with Marion. Then, Marion was pressured into attending the Pact Parade; she now hopes to lose the competition so that she can avoid ever having to marry a man. Her narrative reveals that she lied about the details of her bargain; when she met the queen, Marion really asked to be a great writer in exchange for losing her happiest memory (which is revealed to be the first time that she met Faith).

Now, Marion agrees to switch rooms, promising to do anything for Faith.

The next morning, Olive moves into Ivy’s room. Ivy chastises Faith and Marion for not including her in the decision to switch rooms. Faith didn’t think it was necessary to include Ivy, and Ivy dwells on her envy of Faith. The debutantes go to Queen Mor’s latest lesson, which takes place in a sitting room with a variety of stations, including a music station and an embroidery station. A footman explains that the women must work at each station for 10 minutes, then switch when they hear a bell ring. The last person to remain is the winner.

Ivy goes to the sewing station first. The embroidery design that she must follow declares that Ivy is “Brash and unrefined. A less pretty version of her mad, ruined sister” (179). The other embroidery hoops have equally negative messages about the other girls. Ivy asks Bolingbroke about this. Bolingbroke explains that Bram’s wife must be able to endure criticism. Everyone takes their stations and begins. When Marion makes a mistake while playing the piano, she exclaims in pain. Ivy is startled into missing a stitch, upon which she is magically stabbed by an invisible needle.

Ivy manages to finish sewing without making further mistakes. When the bell rings, she moves to the piano. When she plays an incorrect note, her finger is burned. She hears Olive cry out while sewing. Ivy’s third station requires her to create a seating chart for high-ranking guests. When she makes a mistake, a shooting pain goes up her leg and into her hip. Ivy’s fourth station requires her to listen attentively while a footman tells a boring story. Whenever she looks away or slouches, a shooting pain travels down her back. At Ivy’s fifth station, she must walk while balancing plates on her head. Queen Mor trips Ivy, forcing her to hold the sharp shards of the broken plate as she continues the task. Furious, Ivy drops another plate, and she has to carry yet more shards.

Ivy’s final station involves performing a dance solo. When she misses a step, her knees give out, and she falls. This happens four times. Then, Marion shouts “Enough!” (182) and knocks over the pile of plates. Everyone else stops to look. Marion says that Bram knows where to find her, then storms out of the room.

The remaining girls look at one another. Ivy and Emmy collapse into seats, and Olive sucks on her bleeding finger. The footman rings the bell for them to switch stations. Greer suggests that they all call the event a tie. Emmy, Ivy, and Faith agree, but as they all leave, Olive claims to have lost her bracelet inside, rushes back in, and comes back after a few minutes. When the others return to the cottage, Marion is already there. She is touched that the others agreed with her about ending the lesson. However, the girls worry they will be punished for showing each other such solidarity.

Later that day, Ivy gets a package containing a copy of Faeries of the British Isles, along with a note from Bram. The previous owner’s initials and address are written inside the front cover. That evening, the debutantes must attend the Welbys’ masquerade ball. Olive wears butterfly wings, and Greer has peacock feathers. Ivy has a dress that looks like the night sky with constellations, and the others sport equally fantastical costumes. Faith is dressed as Shakespeare’s Juliet.

When they arrive at the ball, the girls cannot dance with anyone but Bram. Lydia also attends the ball, along with Ivy’s parents. Ivy hugs her family and feels homesick. She can’t tell them about the queen’s lessons, so she claims that everything is lovely. When Bram and Emmett enter, Ivy feels attracted to Emmett, but she knows she must pursue Bram to improve her family’s reputation and finances. Bram is dressed as a pirate and dances with Olive first. When he dances with Ivy, he notices that her skills have improved.

After Bolingbroke falls asleep, Ivy goes to the garden to look for Lydia but finds Emmett instead. He compliments her outfit and leads her to Bram, who is in the hidden poison garden. When Emmett is gone, Bram notes that Ivy is still wearing his pearl ring. He kisses her. This is Ivy’s first kiss, and she worries that she is no good at kissing.

When Bram pulls away, Ivy says she has to find Lydia. Her sister is sitting on a bench near the house. When Bram greets her, Lydia vomits on his shoes and on the hem of Ivy’s dress. Bram offers a handkerchief that Lydia refuses to take. She runs into the house, saying she is looking for her mother. Ivy chases after Lydia, calling back over her shoulder to apologize to Bram and thank him for the book. Inside, Ivy finds Lydia with their mother and explains what just happened. Her mother promises to send news about Lydia’s health, and Lydia apologizes for humiliating Ivy. Ivy’s family leaves. Ivy storms out of the ball and takes a carriage to the cottage. Queen Mor appears as Ivy arrives, and they go inside together. Mor refuses to say why she is visiting.

Ivy once again asks what Lydia’s bargain was, but Queen Mor refuses to say. The other girls arrive, and the queen commands them all to sit in the drawing room. Faith is wearing Marion’s seashell tiara. Mor chastises them for being “poor sports” (198) about the lesson earlier that day. Then, Mor declares that the family of the debutante who has the lowest score at the end of the contest will be stripped of all titles and land. Ivy fears that the queen will kill anyone who breaks the rules.

At the queen’s words, Marion jumps out of her seat. Greer turns red in the face, Olive starts crying, Emmy laughs, and Faith says nothing. Queen Mor hands out their embroidery, which is labeled with their rankings. Olive is now in first place, and the others are all tied in sixth place. Ivy realizes that Olive slipped back into the room to finish her lesson and win that installment of the contest. The queen says that their upcoming events involve Count Doncaster’s ball and a hunting expedition. She then leaves the cottage.

Greer attacks Olive and is restrained by Faith and Emmy. Olive claims that she loves Bram and would do anything to be with him; she says that she only played one more song on the piano. Furious at the queen’s latest rulings, Faith and Marion joke about stabbing Mor. Olive suggests that whoever wins the contest should use their royal power to restore the losing debutantes’ family titles and lands. Ivy privately reflects that it is important to unseat the queen so that she can’t keep destroying people’s lives. Everyone makes a pact to help the debutante who comes in last place.

At the Doncaster’s ball, Ivy sneaks off to look for Emmett. She opens a door to find Faith and Emmett kissing; they don’t see her. Ivy runs out to the garden, where Bram finds her. Visibly upset, she claims to have twisted her ankle. Ivy admits that the ball is boring and asks if they can go somewhere else. Bram says he’s going to the gentlemen’s club, Kendall’s, and Ivy volunteers to accompany him.

In the carriage, Ivy thanks Bram for the book, which he claims to have obtained from an old friend. When they enter the club, Ivy is the only woman there, but no one challenges her presence, because she’s with Bram. Ivy asks Bram to teach her how to play poker. As they enter, many people thank him for various deeds. The two sit at a poker table, and Bram orders drinks for everyone. He magically fills one glass with wine, but when the owner says the wine is sour, Bram admits that his magic is limited.

A man comes to the table and begs Bram to talk to the queen about a bargain. Bram says this isn’t “the time nor the place” (206). Guards drag the man outside. Bram tells Ivy that he doesn’t always agree with his mother, but he asserts that every human makes bargains of their own free will. Ivy touches Bram’s knee under the table. Another man at the table, Lord Hambleton, asks who Ivy is, and Bram introduces her. Hambleton says the other girls in the contest are prettier, including Emmett’s ballerina.

They all play poker, and when Ivy calls, Hambleton says that her father’s credit is no good. Bram says that Ivy can use his credit. Ivy bluffs, raises during the next round, and folds during the round after that. Hambleton wins, but Ivy notices an ace in his sleeve and calls him out for cheating. When Hambleton calls her a “bitch,” Bram punches him.