Chapter 3

Summary

• The chapter describes the protagonist's journey from home to the market with her sisters, Elain and Nesta, avoiding filthy snow and hints at recent familial tension.
• The sisters encounter members of a religious group, the Children of the Blessed, who venerate the High Fae, causing discomfort and disdain among the villagers.
• Nesta confronts the acolytes aggressively, flaunting her iron bracelet as a symbol of their defiance against the High Fae and their followers.
• The protagonist considers the struggles of their poverty-stricken village and her family's need as she enters the market with hopes of selling hides for a good price.
• The protagonist weighs selling options, ultimately approaching a scarred, seasoned mercenary who pays a generous price for her hides.
• The mercenary offers the protagonist unsolicited advice about the dangers of the woods and the growing threat of faeries encroaching past the wall that separates their lands.
• The mercenary's stories and scars from a battle with a poisoned, faerie beast leave the protagonist unsettled and concerned for her family's safety.
• After the sale, Nesta warns the protagonist about the dangers of interacting with mercenaries, revealing a past negative encounter.
• Isaac, the protagonist's lover, indicates he's waiting for her at their usual rendezvous point, an old barn outside of town.
• The protagonist reflects on her secretive relationship with Isaac, its future, and its implications as he prepares to marry another.
• The protagonist gives Elain some money, and they part ways, each sister contemplating how it will be spent.
• The sisters spend their earnings, avoid further conflict, and enjoy a peaceful moment in front of the fire before bed, indicating a potential softening of familial strife.
• The chapter concludes with a shocking, abrupt encounter with a growling beast bursting into the family home, disrupting the previously tranquil scene.