Sorsha immediately pulls our attention to her plight as she stares out the back of the tent, wishing to be free like the sky, only to be dragged back to her place by her rough father, who has turned her into a human-sized pseudo-fairy to draw in more visitors. To make matters worse, he also bound her to be perfectly obedient with magical tattoos.
While she plays her part, the main attraction, she catches her lover’s eye in the crowd and rushes to meet him when her part is done. They share a kiss, and she bears the burning in her tattoos to ask him to break the spell that has been placed upon her. Reluctantly, he agrees.
Sorsha waits for him by the stables, but instead of her lover, she’s met with searing pain in her side. Once the white-hot pain passes, she finds a handprint burned across her tattoos.
She runs to find him, but instead stumbles into her wretched father. His hands are covered in blood, and one holds his neck. When he drops his hand, the same hand is burned into his tattoos, and the blood on his hands is not his.
Her father taunts that she was smart to use love to her gain, which she denies, but when Sorsha is given the choice to stay and try to save her lover or run away with her freedom paid for in blood, she chooses to run.
