Violet, Rhiannon, Ridoc, and Sawyer are each given classified information to protect during a weekend of interrogation. They are offered a patch if they manage to escape without breaking, which no squad has done in over a decade. Until the scenario begins, they are urged to eat and drink while sharing a secret that no one else knows. Violet struggles to find a secret that won’t get them killed but settles on revealing that their “infantry is killing Poromish civilians at the border” (223). When they all lift their mugs to drink, Violet recognizes the smell of the elixir that severs the link to their dragons and signets. They dispose of the liquid and agree to fake the disconnect when their interrogators arrive. For several hours, each of them is beaten for information, but no one breaks. Eventually, Varrish—who specializes in torture—arrives with Dain.

Violet fears which memories Dain might take and deliver to Varrish, who is already suspicious of her and Xaden. Varrish orders Dain to use his classified signet to pry information from Violet’s mind, but Dain refuses. Varrish decides to extend the interrogation another day and take the torture into his own hands. When Nolon is brought in to heal them, he leaves the window to the torture chamber door unlocked.