Chapter Ten

Nesta eats ravenously in the library and encounters Cassian, who teases her about cake and training. After a restless night plagued by nightmares about Elain's abduction and her father's death, Nesta descends the ten thousand steps to get drunk but falls catastrophically, stopping herself with an unknown power that leaves handprints burned into the stone. The next morning, Cassian confronts her about the fall and urges her to train, but she refuses, causing tension between them.

Nesta indulges in multiple servings of soup and chocolate cake in the family library, which the House has provided without being asked. Cassian arrives and remarks on her eating in the library, eventually stealing bites of her cake despite her protests. He suggests she could learn combat skills from him, implying her threats would be more effective if backed by actual ability. Later, Nesta reads an erotic romance before bed and falls asleep in her clothes. She wakes freezing, strips, and the House warms her through magic. She then experiences vivid nightmares: Elain being stolen by Hybern and the Cauldron, her father's twisted neck and fading eyes, and the Cauldron dragging her into itself. The nightmare triggers panic and causes her power to surge dangerously. Desperate to escape, Nesta dresses and heads down the ten thousand steps to the pleasure hall to drink. Consumed by memories of the Cauldron pulling her down, she loses her footing and falls down roughly thirty steps, her body careening and crashing. As she plummets, she instinctively reaches out, and her fingers embed themselves in the stone with glowing force, stopping her fall completely. Dazed and bleeding, she notices her fingers have left furrows and a thumbprint burned into the stone itself. Terrified, she runs back upstairs. The next morning at the sparring ring, Cassian references her fall with casual knowledge, revealing he watched her descend but did not intervene, trusting she would stop herself. He encourages her to train so her bruises can be credited to combat rather than a "pathetic tumble" and reveals she fell sixty-six stairs. When he extends his hand and says "please"—a word she's never heard from him—Nesta feels the weight of his plea but cannot bring herself to accept. She notes his physical beauty and recalls her long-standing desire to be close to him, but his disappointment as he lowers his hand devastates her. He withdraws emotionally, declining to speak to her for the remainder of the day.