Ruhn Danaan reports to the Autumn King’s study, where the king experiments with prisms and light. Ruhn relays Isaiah Tiberian’s visit and the news that Maximus Tertian was murdered like Danika. The king already knows; Ruhn has Fae Aux patrols heightened. Their exchange underscores the king’s detachment and control.

Isaiah had probed Bryce Quinlan’s whereabouts and Ruhn’s own. Ruhn explains Bryce met Maximus for business but that he walked her home and stayed, providing an alibi. The king derides Bryce as “that girl,” prompting Ruhn’s memories of Bryce’s disastrous first visit at thirteen and their later estrangement.

Ruhn asks to warn his mother; permission is curtly granted. He reflects on his mother’s constrained life and his own Avallen-derived shadow magic, which the king resents. The king demands a beam of Ruhn’s starlight for his device; Ruhn obliges with effort, the light fading and leaving him with a pounding head while the king takes notes.

Without warning, the king declares it is time for Ruhn to marry for alliance, citing a worsening overseas war. He targets newly crowned witch-queen Hypaxia Enador after Queen Hecuba’s death and her impending recognition at the Summit. Ruhn refuses, but the king insists, inflamed by a tense meeting where Micah belittled the Fae as fading.

Seeking to restore prestige, the king orders Ruhn to find Luna’s Horn—stolen two years prior—arguing symbols wield power and telling him to keep it quiet. He reveals he has searched for years and suggests “like calls to like,” as the Horn belonged to the first Starborn. Ruhn leaves seething, replaying the demands and recalling the Oracle’s true prophecy: “The royal bloodline shall end with you, Prince.”