Kel wakes in a locked carriage with a dagger at his throat and realizes his captors are not ordinary robbers. The Ragpicker King reveals that he knows Kel is Conor’s Sword Catcher, not a noble, and that Kel serves as the prince’s magically aided double. The Ragpicker King says Palace business and street business intersect, then proposes a partnership: Kel should use his access to the Hill to discover who is funding Prosper Beck, a new criminal rival who is rapidly taking control of the Maze.

As the Ragpicker King questions Kel about the royal family and King Markus’s condition, Kel recognizes the pressure in his throat as the effect of scopolia, a truth drug he once trained to resist. Kel deliberately grabs Ji-An’s knife, using pain to clear his mind, and refuses to reveal palace secrets. The Ragpicker King admits he was testing Kel, offers him future access to the Black Mansion with the password Morettus, and releases him outside the Caravel, confident Kel will eventually return.

Kel reenters the Caravel shaken and suspicious of Merren, Alys, and Hadja, wondering who knew about the trap. He finds the party half-dissolved into drink, performance, and private pleasures. Silla approaches Kel, and Kel tries to distract himself from the kidnapping by going with Silla to a curtained alcove, partly while aware that Antonetta Alleyne is watching him.

Antonetta interrupts Kel and Silla, embarrassed but urgent, saying Falconet sent her because something is wrong with Conor. Kel follows Antonetta upstairs and finds Conor sitting outside Audeta’s room, very drunk and bleeding from a hand injury after striking a window. Kel sends Antonetta away, asks Falconet to manage Audeta and the others, and wraps Conor’s wound with the same black handkerchief he used on his own cut.

Conor refuses to return to the Palace at first and speaks disjointedly, saying he tried to forget but could not, that he has made bad mistakes, and that not all of Castellane’s people love him. Alys helps Kel get Conor out through the back entrance, but Kel no longer trusts her enough to ask what she knows. As Kel escorts Conor home, Kel tries to dismiss both the Ragpicker King’s words about freedom and Conor’s ominous confession, though both unsettle him.

The chapter closes with a historical note explaining that during the Sorcerer-Kings’ era, High Magic was restricted to academy-trained users of the One Word, while limited Low Magic flourished among common people through amulets made with words and numbers.