Blakely’s silence alarms Ryat as they head to Blackout. Ty gives him keys to a private upstairs suite, telling Ryat he is welcome as long as he needs the space. Ryat guides them into the shower, washing off blood and dirt. Blakely asks if he believes in an afterlife, believing “there has to be something better” than the “hate” and “deceit” of their world (412). Ryat denies faith in an afterlife, instead citing their relationship as his version of “heaven,” admitting that he loves her.

Blakely accepts the violence of the Lords’ world as it has given her Ryat’s “acceptance, love, [and] understanding,” which is “what [she] wanted. All along” (413). She confesses her love, and they kiss. They have sex while Blakely wishes she could demonstrate her love in the same clear fashion that Ryat has done by murdering Cindy and Ashley on her behalf. Later, they lie together in bed. Blakely insists she needs to return to the cabin for her textbooks, lamenting how far behind she will be in her classes. Ryat counters that she is “done with school” (415), as her three-week long absence led him to “[pay] someone to step in” for them (415). Blakely is shocked to learn that Ryat also skipped his classes while she was absent.