At a private meeting, a man offers Princess Alexia an alliance and hands her a letter accusing Prince Jaxon Pikewell of treason. He urges her to betray her husband and marry him despite admitting he is paralyzed; Alexia accepts and gives her word. Moments later, Yoric collapses—his hair whitening and skin ice-cold—with clear symptoms of Frostfire Bane. He cries for people to leave as others recall the disease's internal, burning agony. The deal is instantly imperiled: with Yoric struck by Frostfire Bane and near death, their freshly sealed pact hangs on a razor's edge.