Chapter Thirteen

Nesta shelves books in the House's library while recovering from grueling physical training with Cassian. She encounters Gwyn, a priestess, who recruits her help to secretly swap a misplaced book before her demanding supervisor Merrill discovers the mistake. Nesta successfully completes the task and begins to form a connection with Gwyn.

Nesta spends her day shelving books in the House library, physically exhausted from recent training sessions. She encounters Gwyn, a cheerful priestess with coppery hair, who desperately needs to find volume seven of The Great War by Lavinia. Gwyn had mistakenly given Merrill volume eight instead and fears the demanding priestess's wrath if the error is discovered. When Nesta learns the book is missing from its shelf, she asks the House itself for help, and it produces the volume. She then visits Merrill's office under the pretense of delivering books and discovers Merrill is a stunningly beautiful priestess obsessed with research—currently compiling a comprehensive history of the Valkyries, female warriors from another territory who were nearly wiped out five hundred years ago. Merrill becomes suspicious when Nesta lingers, so Nesta executes a careful swap, replacing volume eight with the correct volume seven on Merrill's shelf. She then finds Gwyn in the first-level reading area, singing in an unknown language, and gives her the corrected book. Gwyn expresses gratitude and explains that Merrill studies various subjects including theories about overlapping worlds and realms. After the exchange, Nesta returns to her room where the House has prepared a hot meal and bath. She sleeps deeply, though she senses someone—presumably Cassian—entering her room at night, bringing a familiar scent before departing.