Content Warning: This section of the guide describes sexual content and death.

The Prince of Envy receives a missive from Lennox, the king of the Unseelie (dark fae or fairies), telling him to be ready for a new game. Envy is impatient to start the game and take his revenge on Lennox, who has caused members of his court to lose their memories—a fact Envy has concealed from his brothers, the other Princes of Hell. 

Decades later, one of Envy’s courtiers is set on fire on Envy’s throne. The flames only burn half the chair, evoking images of the Hexed Throne. The courtier yells, “Same lie, Lilac,” until he dies (15).

Lennox sends an oath to his game’s participants. His game has rules: players cannot use magical persuasion, and at each clue, they will have only three chances to earn the next one. 

Elsewhere, in a town called Waverly Green, Camilla Antonius, an artist and gallery owner, is fending off Lord Philip Vexley. He demands she continue to make forgeries for him, extorting her with the forgery she made of her deceased father’s famous painting. Vexley wants to marry her, but she refuses.