Feyre arrives near the shared studio space Ressina invited her to, hesitating while holding her supplies. Rhys senses her distress from afar and reminds Feyre that it is her choice to go to the group painting session. Feyre realizes that she knows what she wants and winnows, or transports herself, into the abandoned studio space she learned about from Ressina. She is nervous about painting in front of people and realizes that she needs to paint alone first. She sets up lights and prepares the space to work.

Feyre’s painting spills out of her as she allows herself to return to her passion. She spends hours in the studio working on this first painting since the war ended, and when she is done, she observes the final product. She draws her own monstrous “true self,” which she observed in the Ouroboros mirror that she stole in the previous novel to get the Bone Carver to fight for them in the war. She decides to let the image dry in the space overnight; she will return to claim it and then hide it away the next day.