Acting on misinformation from Dondo, Teidez destroys the menagerie and severely injures Umegat, but a wound he sustains in the process becomes infected and proves fatal. Orico collapses, leaving Iselle soon to assume the throne, but her power is constrained by Martou, who spreads rumors that she is unstable like her mother. Cazaril informs Iselle of the curse, and his belief that since Ista married into the curse, Iselle could marry out of it. She dispatches him in secret to arrange her marriage to the heir of Ibra, a neighbouring country. He speaks to Ista on the way, and learns of a prophecy that the curse can be broken by a man "willing to lay down his life three times for the House of Chalion." Cazaril has done so once, but because of the demon, his next death must be final.