Meanwhile, beneath Ombria, Faey, a sorceress who can wear any face she likes, and her assistant Mag, who helped Lydea survive her flight from the castle, work on magical potions and charms for the wealthy of the city, including Domina Pearl.

In the castle Ducon Greve, Royce's bastard nephew, tries to support Kyel against the machinations of Domina Pearl in an increasingly paranoid climate.

Unwilling to go down such a dangerous route and concerned that it could have dire consequences for Kyel, Ducon manages to foist them off, escaping through the vast network of secret passageways and rooms that permeate the castle.

However, she becomes trapped in the castle, eventually freed by the historian Camas Erl on the promise that she will bring him to meet Faey, who has been alive for ages, and whose history is entwined with the city's.

With Ducon and Faey's help, Lydea is able to return to the castle where she works as Kyel's tutor alongside Camas Erl, who is obsessed with discovering the secret to Ombria's shadowy underworld.

Domina, enraged by what she considers Faey's betrayal, captures Ducon and Lydea along with Mag, bringing them to the secret room where she keeps her regenerative bed, the reason that she has lived so long.