SummaryElara, armed with the visceral memory of Silas's pain, attempts to resist the portrait's influence. She covers it with a sheet, but its presence seeps into her mind, whispering corrosive doubts and echoing the ballroom's laughter. She tries to leave the apartment, but a psychic pull, a "hook in her soul," drags her back. In a final act of defiance, she prepares to douse the canvas in turpentine, a substance that could destroy the oil paint itself. The chapter ends on a cliffhanger as she stands before the unveiled portrait, bottle in hand, the air crackling with impending confrontation.---The Laughing