Still bloody from the massacre, Evander travels to the city of Caelestis to see Zephyr, a god is who is also a spymaster, and commissions a combat wardrobe for Bryony. Back at his tower, Evander finds Bryony wandering the halls. When she tries to open a forbidden, sealed door, he furiously stops her. He then sensually hand-feeds her sweets, which leads to a charged confrontation between them. He impulsively invites her to his private library, a sanctuary of his people’s history. The moment sours when Bryony refers to the past war as the “Godkiller Crusades,” enraging Evander, who harshly corrects her usage of these particular words and leaves.

Bryony examines the clothes Evander brought her, admiring the practical combat gear and scorning the revealing silk nightgown. There is a note along with the clothes, in which Evander refers to Bryony as his “Dear Nemesis” and tells her the dagger he has gifted her along with the clothes is just for practice, not for her to keep. 

Bryony’s first training with Amara begins with Amara brutally beating and taunting her for her weakness. Pushed past her limit by a crude insult, Bryony’s suppressed rage erupts, and she attacks Amara with wild ferocity, managing to gain the upper hand. A pleased Amara reveals she let Bryony win to give her a taste for victory. As they part, Amara calls Bryony “little sister” and tells her to wear her bruises with pride. Despite the pain, Bryony feels exhilaratingly alive.

Evander is in Hellevig on Alexios’s command. However, before carrying out his mission, he invisibly observes the city mourning Bryony’s death. Leaving the procession, Evander flies to investigate an old tannery. He discovers evidence that demigod fleshtraders are now being supplied with fresh kills. He communicates the findings to Alexios, wondering if they should involve Severin, the Dark King of Nyholm, but Alexios asks Evander to wait for Zephyr’s report.

Meanwhile, Alexios tasks Evander with publicly flying above Hellevig to intimidate the populace. After, Evander makes a public appearance at the palace, where he is confronted by Bryony’s sister, Theodora. Theo accuses Evander of murdering her sister, but Evander informs her that Bryony is not dead. She is safe and with him by her own choice. Surprised, Theo asks Evander to tell Bryony she loves her. 

Back at his tower, where it is snowing, Evander finds Bryony badly beaten from her training with Amara. He uses his magic to heal her injuries while humming a lullaby from his past. Bryony reveals she has never seen snow and asks him to act as a courier for letters to her sister. She needs Theo to have something of hers before she loses Bryony forever. Bryony confesses that her trips to the Void have always hurt intensely, and she loses a part of herself with each death. Evander agrees to deliver the letters, but when he reveals his desire for her, she demands he stop pretending to care about her. Rebuffed, Evander cruelly states that she is merely an amusement for him, causing her to retreat and leaving him to reflect on his past.

Bryony falls into a routine, training relentlessly with Amara, getting injured in the process, and letting Evander heal her at the end of the day. However, she maintains a strict silence around him, to his visible frustration. When the tension eventually boils over, Evander calls Bryony a “toy” and threatens to magically Claim her to gain complete control over her. This threat provokes Bryony, who warns him never to mention Claiming her again before ordering him out. Later, Evander observes a training session. Amara insists Bryony needs throwing knives, which he agrees to consider. After he leaves, Amara advises Bryony to use the god’s obvious desire for her as a form of power.

Evander, Elias, and Arcadia raid a suspected fleshtrader warehouse in Hellevig, which they quickly realize is a trap. The building is rigged with bombs laced with Turpori steel, a substance deadly to demis. Evander orders his team to retreat and discovers a horrific butchering room containing the mutilated bodies of three demis. He contains the massive explosion with his own power, destroying the site while sustaining injuries. In the rubble, he finds a partially burned ledger. Zephyr reads an entry that mentions a delivery to a “BC contact,” revealing a connection to the resurrected Bloody Court fighting pits. The Bloody Courts were arenas where demigods were made to destroy each other for human entertainment. 

Deeply disturbed by the discovery and his resurfacing war trauma, Evander returns home and finds Bryony near the door he forbade her from entering. Angry at her defiance, he cruelly provokes her into a physical confrontation. He wants her to hurt him, but she instead sees his agony and responds with compassion, asking why he wants her to be violent. Evander rejects her kindness, claims they are both equally twisted, and storms off. Alone in his room, he succumbs to the horror of the night and retches violently.

Reflecting on a Vartenan tale about everyone being born with two snakes coiled around the heart—one fed by rage, the other by love—Bryony believes she is feeding her dark side. She wants to stop giving into her fury and violence but does not know how. She aggressively weeds Evander’s overgrown rose garden, welcoming the pain from the thorns as a distraction. Evander finds her bleeding and stops her, criticizing her anger. He embraces her from behind, caging her between his arms to guide her hands, demonstrating how the magical roses respond to patience and gentleness, not force. Bryony begins to comment on the irony of Evander teaching her to be gentle but stops, deciding not to fuel her anger for now.

Evander offers a veiled apology for his aggressive behavior the previous night, admitting he was lashing out from his own pain. Bryony relates to this, recalling her own trauma, and makes him promise not to use her to hurt himself again. He agrees. Before leaving, he gives her a tool for the garden and two daggers made of Turpori steel, challenging her to earn the other knives she needs.

Bryony finds Evander in the armory and proposes a wager for the remaining daggers she needs. If she wins a throwing contest, she gets the knives and the right to draw first blood when he hunts her. If he wins, she will be his for the night with no restrictions. The Wolf confidently accepts and lands three perfect throws while blindfolded. Bryony reveals a loophole in the terms, using a bow and her archery skills to win the competition. After the Wolf gives her the daggers, he cuts her chest and licks her blood, admitting his desperation for her. Bryony retaliates by cutting him and tasting his blood in turn. Their confrontation escalates into a heated physical encounter where she accuses him of hiding an all-consuming desire behind cruelty. She leaves him aroused and enraged, having won both the knives and their psychological battle.

With Bryony gone, Theo has been serving as the Anchor for the Shroud. After lasting a sacrificial ritual, she leaves the temple to find the city in turmoil. The public is restless and skeptical over the official story of Bryony’s death, as no corpse was produced for a traditional pyre. In private, Theodora receives and destroys letters from the Wolf that confirm Bryony is still alive.

After her carriage is mobbed by the angry crowd, Theodora confronts her uncle, Emperor Idris, finding him drunk and neglectful of his duties. She accuses him of failing to manage the city’s unrest and reveals she knows he was the one who attacked Bryony on the mountain, not the Wolf. Their argument escalates, and Idris tries to strangle her. Theodora fights back and taunts him, stating that she and Bryony were the only reason the people tolerated his rule. Realizing the kingdom is on the brink of collapse due to Idris’s incompetence, Theodora orders her guard, Kas, to compile a list of all her loyalists in the palace, preparing to make a move against her uncle.