Chapter Five

After Anton decides Lore’s muddy clothes are unsuitable for meeting King August, Gabriel escorts Lore to a donation closet in the Church. Lore mocks the extravagant castoff gowns as useless to poor Auverrani citizens, while Gabriel reveals a bitter familiarity with court habits. Lore chooses a tight dark-green velvet dress and teases Gabriel for politely keeping his back turned while she changes.

Anton leads Lore, Gabriel, and Malcolm from the Church into the Citadel grounds. Lore observes the overwhelming wealth and defensive design of the Church-Citadel complex, including gardens, turrets, sanctuaries divided by class, and a statue of Apollius surrounded by empty plinths for the dead gods and Nyxara. Gabriel warns Lore to keep her head down because a new face at court will attract rumors, but Lore notices an unidentified dark-haired man flirting intimately with a woman under a rose arbor; the man catches Lore watching and winks.

Inside the Citadel, Lore studies its opulent religious and royal symbolism, including iron bars set into the floor to represent the containment of Mortem and the Arceneaux line’s divine right. A tapestry of the Godsfall shows Apollius casting down Nyxara over the Burnt Isles, reminding Lore of the mythic origins of the islands’ riches and the enduring ash around the Golden Mount. Gabriel urges Lore onward when Anton and Malcolm continue toward the throne room.

In the throne room, Lore meets King August Arceneaux, Anton’s twin brother. August questions Lore about her past with poison runners and acknowledges Val’s claim that Lore is an accomplished spy. Lore answers evasively, making clear she knows how to withhold information, while privately resenting the Citadel’s wealth and the casual way the king discusses scarcity outside its walls.

August explains that he believes Kirythea is using some form of lesser magic to destroy villages along the border, and that a second village was eliminated two nights earlier. August wants Lore to help uncover what is happening before the threat reaches more valuable targets, a phrasing that angers Lore and appears to trouble Gabriel and Malcolm. August also confirms Lore’s second task: she must stay in the Citadel, get close to Sun Prince Bastian, and determine whether Bastian is spying for Emperor Jax.

When Lore asks how she can enter court without seeming suspicious, August reveals the cover story: Lore will be presented as the cousin of the Duke of Balgia. This shocks Gabriel, and August then addresses him as Gabriel Remaut, telling Gabriel it is time to take up his title again. The revelation shows that Gabriel has a noble identity tied to fallen Balgia and that Lore’s infiltration will depend on his return to courtly status.