Chapter 89

The narrator, disguised as a servant named Ayda using an appearance-altering bangle, infiltrates Tyroth Vaegor's palace in Arithia to retrieve the diary of Elluin Raeve Neván. After a tense encounter with Tyroth himself, the narrator searches his chambers and discovers Elluin's hidden diary beneath his bed, then reads the final entries and learns devastating truths about Elluin's pregnancy, her deception regarding the child's paternity, and her premonition of her own death.

The narrator arrives at Arithia's Imperial Palace disguised as a servant after incapacitating the real Ayda. She navigates the labyrinthine palace, climbing toward the king's chambers while struggling with the cold. Another servant named Ayda briefly intercepts her, providing a duster and directions to the thirty-fourth level where Tyroth awaits. When the narrator enters Tyroth's sleepsuite, he confronts her about being late, reveals he knows she is carrying his bastard child, and threatens her with death if she becomes useless. A message-lark arrives, which the narrator recognizes as using invisible ink readable only by dragonflame—communication between herself and Kaan. Tyroth destroys the lark and leaves for business. The narrator suppresses her violent urges toward her brother and begins searching the chambers. After realizing Elluin would have hidden the diary within reach of the bed where she was bedridden, the narrator finds it concealed beneath the mattress. Reading the final entries, she discovers that Elluin was pregnant with Kaan's child, not Tyroth's; that Elluin deliberately deceived Tyroth about the paternity; that Elluin knew a Bloodlace would arrive to test the child's blood and expose the truth; and that Elluin had a premonition she would not survive childbirth. The narrator realizes the diary's contents could destabilize the world and that Elluin sacrificed everything for Kaan's daughter, Kyzari.