Chapter 5

Feign­ing night­mares about her trauma, Feysande manip­u­lates Tamlin's jeal­ousy by stage­ing an intimate scene with Lucien in his bed­room, know­ing Tamlin will discover them. The ploy suc­ceeds in plant­ing doubt about Lucien's loyalty and the strength of Tamlin's trust in his closest ally.

After the day's cere­mony, Feysande returns to the manor exhausted and asks Lucien to escort her, noting his disinter­est in female atten­tion due to his new mating bond with Elain. She retires to her bed­room but cannot sleep, plagued by memories of her trauma Under the Mountain—the Attor, the Weaver, her sisters in the Cauldron. She deliber­ately summons Lucien to her room in the middle of the night, feigning a vivid night­mare about being spiked to a wall. Lucien comforts her, and she cries seawater tears—a sign of her divine power—as he holds her. Tamlin appears at the door­way, claws drawn, and finds them in an embrace. Feysande explains it away as a nightmare and leads Tamlin back to his room, where he remains tense but does not act. The chapter then reveals Feysande's calculated deception: she had deliberately changed into a revealing night­gown, known Tamlin would come to her room after her shy touches all day, and left Lucien's door open while shield­ing the room so Tamlin would discover them in an apparently compro­mising position. She exploited Tamlin's old fear that she preferred Lucien, plant­ing seeds of doubt about his friend's loyalty—espe­cially given Lucien's kneeling before her that morning in fealty and his new mating bond with Elain. Feysande reflects that she is the nightmare, manipu­lating Tamlin's insecur­ities and trust, before dressing to continue her work.