Chapter Seventeen

Nesta proposes training for the priestesses and begins intensive physical training with Cassian, but no one signs up. Elain visits and confronts Nesta about her behavior, leading to a devastating argument where Nesta blames Elain for their father's death—a lie born from her own guilt and self-loathing. After Elain leaves upset, Cassian confronts Nesta, and their heated exchange ends with Nesta retreating to the House's mysterious stairwell.

Nesta approaches Clotho with a proposal to train interested priestesses each morning, offering both physical conditioning and mental clarity. Clotho blesses the idea, but when Nesta posts a sign-up sheet, no one volunteers despite her daily checks. She begins training with Cassian, who teaches her proper punching form and footwork while she performs increasingly demanding exercises—planks, weighted lunges, and climbing the House's ten thousand stairs. Her physical progress is tangible, but doubts plague her about whether the training matters if the priestesses won't participate. Elain visits the private library, radiant and healthy, which sparks painful comparisons in Nesta's mind. Their conversation turns hostile when Nesta accuses Elain of not caring about their father's death. Nesta escalates by blaming Elain for failing to save him—a cruel lie rooted in Nesta's own paralyzing guilt over her inability to prevent their father's death during Hybern's attack. Elain holds firm, correctly identifying that only the King of Hybern bears blame, but Nesta forces her to leave. When Cassian arrives to investigate, Nesta becomes defensive and hostile, even rejecting the House's fire when it ignites. The chapter ends with Nesta descending the mysterious stairwell as Cassian follows, their conflict unresolved and Nesta's emotional state deteriorating into a deadened numbness.