Chapter 79

The narrator confronts her fiancé Tyroth's inappropriate behavior and King Ostern's cruelty toward Veya during a feast, defying court expectations by removing her veil and speaking freely. King Ostern announces that Kaan and Veya will leave after The Great Flurrt to help rebuild a village, forcing the narrator and Kaan to spend their remaining time together in denial of the upcoming binding ceremony.

King Ostern returns with his sons Cadok and Tyroth for The Great Flurrt celebration. The narrator, prepared with a dragonscale blade, is accosted by Tyroth in a hallway; she threatens him and he dismisses her defiance. At the feast, she is forced to sit beside Tyroth, veiled and silent as per custom, unable to eat the unsuitable food served to her. She witnesses King Ostern verbally attacking Veya, telling her he regrets her existence. The narrator snaps, tears off her veil, climbs on the table, and deliberately eats with her mouth open while taunting Tyroth about his rule of her kingdom. King Ostern announces that Kaan and Veya will depart after The Great Flurrt to help rebuild a village destroyed by a rabid Sabersythe—news that shocks everyone. Kaan spends The Great Flurrt with the narrator, and they remain together beneath the sheets as the aurora rises. The narrator reflects that in thirty cycles she turns twenty-one, and preparations for her binding ceremony to Tyroth in Arithia are underway, though she and Kaan attempt to ignore this impending future.