Willow is attacked and beaten unconscious by a group of students who blame her for the recent deaths. When she regains consciousness, she crawls up the remaining steps to Gray’s rooms. He offers her his blood again, strips her, and puts her in the shower. Gray wants to punish those who hurt her, but she insists that not all battles are worth fighting. When she suggests that only Ash would care if she died, Gray insists that he would care and kisses her tenderly.

Willow knows that Gray brings out the worst in her, but she also turns to him when she is hurt. She gets up from his bed to leave, finding him fresh from the shower. She asks why the Covenant ended pair bonds between witches and Vessels, and he says that these bonds created addictions and clandestine relationships; a Vessel who feeds on only one witch will acquire some of her powers. He admits that he was the Vessel who fed on her during the Reaping, and he says that he can now feel her magic within him. He claims that he has “known exactly what [she is] for quite some time” (229).