Immediately after the riot at the kitchen garden, Ser Voyne (a war hero who is now a knight in the king’s guard) attends a council debate about what to do next. She feels increasingly hopeless about the fate of the Castle and its inhabitants. Various advisors to King Cardimir present their differing points of view; Ser Leodegardis proposes sending a messenger out of the castle in hopes of securing more supplies from the capital. Other messengers have been sent but none have returned, and no one knows what befell them. Prioress Jacynde suggests that earlier messengers may have reached the capital successfully but that Aymar has been deemed not worth rescuing, triggering uproar. 

Later, alone with Leodegardis, Voyne asks to be sent out as a messenger he refuses. Voyne attends a religious service honoring the Constant Lady (the deity of the kingdom). Afterward, Cardimir tells her that she will oversee Phosyne’s project of conjuring food. He reveals Phosyne was the one who purified the castle’s water source a month earlier (saving the lives of everyone under siege). Voyne is surprised to hear this because the official story is that Prioress Jacynde and her nuns were responsible for purifying the water. No one trusts Phyosyne (who is considered a “heretic” for unstated reasons) and yet she is now their last hope. Voyne reluctantly accepts her new duty.

Elsewhere in the besieged castle, a young woman named Treila catches rats and sells them as food. She maintains a secret food cache that will last her for a month. Later, as she listens to two boys gossiping about the riot and discussing Ser Voyne, Treila has a strong reaction. There is unspecified history between her and Voyne and Treila reflects that Voyne has not yet recognized her (implying the two know one another). Treila hears about the possibility of a messenger being sent out of the castle and wishes she could take on that role but concludes that it is safer to stay. 

Later, unable to sleep, Treila returns to her workroom. She detects an unusual smell of damp stone and water, investigates loose flagstones at the base of a wall, and finds crumbling mortar. By dawn, she has worked open a small hole.

The following day, Phosyne experiments unsuccessfully with regenerating a rotten piece of meat. She is comforted by the presence of Ornuo and Pneio, two magical creatures that she hides in her room and who function as pets and companions for her. Ser Voyne arrives and follows Phosyne upstairs, regarding the disordered workspace with contempt. Phosyne argues her work proceeds better unobserved; Voyne demands an account of progress and discovers the rotted meat. Phosyne explains her reasoning for the experiment; Voyne dismisses it as nonsense and calls her a waste of resources. When pressed to explain the water purification method, Phosyne cannot articulate it in systematic terms. Their argument escalates until they are distracted by the realization that the castle is under attack.

Voyne drags a protesting Phosyne to the castle’s lowest level for protection. She goes for her armor and finds Cardimir at his window, directing her attention to the castle walls, where Priory nuns are operating small catapults. The weapons launch projectiles that burst into flames on contact with the enemy’s siege engines, and most shots find their mark. The engines collapse one by one, and the expected assault on the gates never materializes. Cardimir, vindicated, reiterates that his plan for Phosyne to magically produce food is a viable hope. 

With the attack staved off, Voyne goes to help Leodegardis and the others clear debris and tend to the wounded. She catches sight of Phosyne running erratically, seemingly in pursuit of something. Voyne chases her, tackling Phosyne in the smithy yard just as the unseen thing she was chasing (one of Phosyne’s magical pets, which are not visible to anyone else) collides with and ignites the nearby charcoal pile. While Voyne frantically uses a shovel to move the coals and prevent a fire, Phosyne plunges her bare hands into the pile (hinting at magical or supernatural abilities). Leodegardis and Galleren arrive and stamp out the fire. Voyne angrily confronts Phosyne, pointing out the danger she has caused. Phosyne announces she has an idea for a miracle.

The next day, Treila reflects on the nature of grief and loss as the castle mourns those who died in the attack. Years earlier, King Cardimir declared her father, Lord de Batrolin, a traitor, and Ser Voyne executed him. Treila was expelled from her home, lost her wealth and title, and survived alone in the wilderness before making her way to Aymar. Days pass, and Treila secretly continues her project of removing stones and widening the tunnel (creating the possibility of an escape route out of the castle). A messenger is sent out to plead for help, after which Leodegardis quietly slaughters the remaining dogs for meat.

After four days, the tunnel is wide enough for Treila to attempt to enter it. She briefly hesitates because leaving the castle will mean abandoning her project of securing revenge on Voyne. She crawls slowly through the narrow tunnel, emerging in an underground cavern containing a water source. A narrow fissure in the rock wall lets in outside air but is too small to exit through. When Treila presses her face to it, a voice whispers, asking if she is lost.

Voyne supervises Phosyne constantly, as the latter struggles to work. Three days after the attack, while Voyne is briefly absent, Prioress Jacynde visits. The atmosphere is tense between the two women since Phosyne was once Jacynde’s subordinate but rebelled against her authority and religious dictates. Jacynde is also threatened by Phosyne’s magical abilities and success with purifying the water source: “[I]f Phosyne can [create food], it will not be by the Priory’s alchemy, and it will be, incontrovertibly, magic” (50). Jacynde states that the Priory will not give Phosyne any more supplies, creating a time constraint on Phosyne’s ability to continue experimenting. After Jacynde leaves, Phosyne contemplates a new strategy: Rather than producing food from nothing, she will find a way for people to be sustained by nothing.

Five days after the bombardment, Voyne reflects that Phosyne is running out of time and will soon have to concede failure and stop experimenting. Voyne is relieved by the prospect of no longer having to guard her. Voyne attends a religious service which turns out to be a funeral for one more victim of the bombardment. After the ceremony, only Voyne, Cardimir, Leodegardis, and Jacynde remain with the body. Jacynde produces a knife; Leodegardis begins dismembering the corpse. Voyne, realizing they intend to feed the flesh to the castle’s inhabitants without their knowledge, tries to stop it, arguing that the horses have not yet been slaughtered and that this is a line they cannot uncross. The king overrules her: His people must eat, and they need not know the source. 

When Voyne continues to object, Cardimir berates her and Phosyne for not yet having produced a miracle that would prevent them from resorting to cannibalism. Defeated, Voyne kneels and steps back.

Treila is terrified by the mysterious voice. She retreats back through the tunnel. Back in the castle, she sees Cardimir, Leodegardis, and Jacynde emerge from the chapel with a visibly devastated Ser Voyne trailing behind. Hoping to exploit Voyne’s vulnerability as part of her plan for revenge, Treila follows Voyne into the kitchen garden where she offers food and water. Since Treila prevents Voyne from seeing her face, Voyne assumes Treila is a servant and gradually confides her despair: Help does not seem to be coming to the castle. 

Treila allows her face to become partially visible, revealing her features and the scar beside her ear. Voyne asks if she knows her. Treila flees, knowing Voyne’s duties will keep her from following.

Phosyne is becoming ill and Voyne urges her to eat, offering her usual ration of meat, plus a piece of honeycomb. Honey has been forbidden to Phosyne since her break with the Priory. When Phosyne hesitates, Voyne insists and confirms she has seen men die from exactly this kind of nutritional deficiency. Voyne admits to feeling broken by recent events and mentions a chance encounter the day before with a starving, ghostlike figure who offered to share food with her. Then she goes cold again and pushes the plate forward. Phosyne picks up the honeycomb and prepares to eat it but is cut short by the sound of a commotion.