Cold palace hunting court at dusk after the staged royal hunt; dead game and formal applause create a brutal prelude to supper.

Royal kitchens preparing the hunt supper, revealing that the rustic meal is carefully controlled performance.

The hunt supper begins in a candlelit hall made to look rustic but ruled by court procedure.

The first courses pass safely, establishing Iseren's ritual and the court's watchfulness.

Wine and stew are tested, keeping the rhythm controlled before the unknown danger appears.

The venison course arrives with a dark sauce that will expose Iseren's limitation.

Iseren tastes the sauce and immediately recognizes that it fits none of her trained poisons.

The rule that protects the king also traps Iseren because she cannot identify the danger.

Galen requires the second confirmation taste, and Iseren has no legal way to refuse.

The second taste confirms nothing except that the substance is outside Iseren's training.

Iseren must give a technically true answer that does not actually mean the dish is safe.

Caelan realizes that Iseren is hiding danger inside lawful wording, while the court waits for him to eat.

Caelan chooses to protect Iseren's uncertainty with a socially acceptable lie.

The dish is removed under the excuse of seasoning, sparing Iseren from making an accusation she cannot prove.

The court reacts to the king's obvious intervention while Iseren's symptoms begin to worsen.

Ten minutes of waiting begin, with Iseren trapped in public as the unknown poison tests her body.

Caelan seeks medical confirmation, but Mael's answer only proves how little anyone knows.

Iseren silently endures the unknown compound while understanding the battlefield has changed.

The dose proves too small to kill Iseren, but not harmless enough to hide what happened from Caelan.

Caelan ends the meal early, turning a private fear into a public insult no one can safely challenge.

Away from the hall but not truly private, Caelan demands the truth of what happened.

Caelan demands the list of the nineteen trained poisons, thinking information will solve the danger.

Iseren explains that speaking the list in a corridor would protect the poisoner more than the king.

Caelan understands that Iseren's disobedience was protection, not defiance, and that her skill has a hard limit.