Chapter 20: Parisa — Summary, Analysis, and Key Moments

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Parisa opens the chapter by revealing her unusual ability to track Dalton Ellery's whereabouts throughout the house. She can sense the dense knots of magic that surround him, and because he often works alone, his thoughts are less guarded than usual. She reflects on her earlier seduction of him: during their first kiss, she slipped a mental invitation into the latch of his thoughts, giving herself permanent access to his mind. Since then, she has deliberately kept her distance, letting the summer stretch long enough for him to grow preoccupied with her. She has been cultivating his desire, brushing against him in hallways, sitting silently across the room while sipping champagne, and letting the tension build until he can barely concentrate.

Tonight, she finds him alone in the reading room. He warns her that her presence is inadvisable, possibly wrong, and that she has enemies. He urges her to find someone from her initiation class, someone reliable, or to make herself indispensable. When she asks what he wants from her, he offers to give her anything if she'll work harder at playing the game. She deflects, claiming she might simply be intrigued by him. When she mentions Callum, Dalton reveals that he witnessed the woman's death—and that she killed herself. Callum didn't lift a finger; he simply convinced her to turn the gun on herself.

The two become intimate, and during the encounter Parisa accesses Dalton's mind. She finds fragments of fear, traces of guilt, and a memory of a dead sapling he once brought back to life only to watch it wither. He repeatedly asks her to promise him something, but he can't articulate what he wants. At the moment of climax, she perceives his thought: he wants her not to die. She asks who will kill her, and he answers, choked, that everyone will.

Key Events

Parisa reveals her ability to track Dalton through his magic and unguarded thoughts, and reflects on the mental invitation she planted during their first kiss.
Dalton warns Parisa that she has enemies and that her presence is inadvisable, urging her to find someone from her initiation class or make herself indispensable.
Dalton reveals he witnessed the woman's death and clarifies that she killed herself—Callum convinced her to turn the gun on herself without lifting a finger.
Parisa and Dalton become intimate; during the encounter, she accesses his mind and finds fragments of fear, guilt, and a memory of a dead sapling.
Dalton repeatedly asks Parisa to promise him something but cannot articulate what he wants.
At the moment of climax, Parisa perceives Dalton's thought that he wants her not to die.
Parisa asks who will kill her, and Dalton answers,