Chapter 33

Raeve follows Kaan back up the mountain where she secretly acquires a Sabersythe scale. They arrive at Kaan's mother's abandoned dwelling in the mountains, where Kaan prepares a meal and Raeve exchanges her name for shelter. Kaan removes her ankle cuffs but leaves one wrist bound, and Raeve discovers he possesses moonshards in his satchel.

Raeve climbs the red-stone stairs behind Kaan, spotting copper grass and discovering a Sabersythe scale among the vegetation. She pockets the scale between her bound wrists as she observes Rygun leap from the plateau. Kaan reveals he removed a tick from under Rygun's scales—a parasite that causes rabid behavior and madness in dragons, requiring merciful death as the only cure. This troubles Raeve given rumors of the king's dragon torching cities. Kaan leads her down a path through dense foliage to a small, crooked stone dwelling that belonged to his mother. The house is warm and homely, filled with organic furnishings in warm tones, stone Sabersythe carvings, and family memorabilia. Raeve feels uncomfortable entering a space tied to someone she has fantasized about killing. Kaan begins preparing vegetable soup, and when Raeve mentions she has nothing to offer in exchange for shelter under his mother's roof, he asks for her name. After hesitation, she reveals it as "Raeve," suppressing another name that burns through her. Kaan handles her name with unexpected care. Inside the dwelling, they interact with tension—Raeve deflects his observation about her disliking fire with sharp words about men. Kaan then uses tools from a leather roll to remove her ankle cuffs, leaving one wrist cuff bound. When Raeve catches sight of something silver and shimmery in his satchel, she questions him about a moonshard. Kaan refuses to explain, and Raeve, understanding the significance of Moonplume shards, chooses to let the matter rest.