Chapter Nine

Nesta visits a clothing shop run by Emerie, a scarred female with clipped wings, and discusses obtaining warmer leathers. Upon returning to the House of Wind, she works in the library's lower levels and encounters Gwyn, an acolyte priestess, who challenges her brusquely before they find an unexpected rapport.

Nesta enters a small clothing shop in the camp, seeking warmer garments than her fighting leathers provide. The shopkeeper, Emerie, a female with clipped wings from her father's cruelty, offers to make inquiries about fleece-lined leathers despite Nesta's admission that she has no money and is cut off from the Night Court. Emerie approves of Nesta killing the King of Hybern, offering her naked approval without judgment. After returning to the House of Wind following a trip where Cassian departs with Morrigan, Nesta begins work in the library at Clotho's direction, shelving books on Level Five. While taking a break, the House provides her with soup she refused, and an acolyte named Gwyn confronts her about work assignments. Gwyn, a High Fae with an unknown mixed heritage and invisible wounds from her own past, refuses to be pitied and demands to be spoken to as a person. Nesta responds with her characteristic bluntness, which Gwyn finds amusing rather than offensive, and they establish an unexpected connection. When Nesta later complains to Clotho about Gwyn's abruptness, Clotho defends the acolyte, noting her history of survival and bravery. Nesta experiences regret at this reminder. That evening, the House provides soup when Nesta asks politely, suggesting a shift in their dynamic.