Chapter 14

Raeve wakes from a nightmare to discover that Essi has been stabbed and is dying. As Essi's life slips away, Raeve holds her and learns she was attacked in the Undercity by a hooded assailant. After Essi dies, Raeve honors her final wish by cremating her body, then discovers a blood-written summons on the murder weapon from Rekk Zharos—revealing he orchestrated the attack. Overwhelmed by guilt and rage, Raeve undergoes a violent transformation as an icy power within her awakens.

Raeve jolts awake from a terrifying dream and finds Nee frantically trying to rouse her. After calming herself, she notices a noise from upstairs and discovers Essi bleeding heavily from a stab wound to her abdomen, lying on the seater. Despite Raeve's attempts to comfort her and plan to get her to Sereme, a Fleshthread healer, Essi's condition worsens. Essi reveals she was attacked in the Undercity by a hooded assailant she couldn't identify, though she notes he smelled of leather and smoke sticks, and wore clattering boots. She asks Raeve to hold her as she dies, expressing her fear of being left in the cold or buried. Raeve confesses her love and promises to find whoever did this. After Essi dies in her arms, Raeve sends Nee back to her sender via an activation fold, then decides to honor Essi's final request to be cremated rather than buried. While gathering supplies, she discovers Essi's blood-stained satchel containing a book from the Undercity library and a frosted jar with the final ingredient for a diamond cap Essi had made to protect Raeve's tooth. On the murder weapon itself, Essi's congealed blood forms a message: a summons from Rekk Zharos. Raeve realizes with crushing guilt that the attack was orchestrated as bait to draw her out, and that Essi's death is her fault. As despair and rage consume her, Raeve undergoes a violent internal transformation—her body temperature plummets and an icy, savage power within her awakens, leaving her in a state of numb, frigid rage.