Ten years after Kel becomes Crown Prince Conor Aurelian’s Sword Catcher, Kel rides with Conor, Legate Jolivet, and Counselor Mayesh Bensimon in a blacked-out carriage toward Valerian Square for the annual Speech of Independence. Conor complains about pressure to marry, while Jolivet and Mayesh argue that a political marriage could strengthen Castellane’s alliances and help keep war away.

Mayesh presents possible spouses from Sarthe, Malgasi, Gelstaadt, and Kutani. Conor rejects several candidates with theatrical disdain, while Kel lightly undercuts the seriousness of the discussion to keep Conor amused. Kel notices that Mayesh has likely maneuvered Conor by presenting undesirable choices before revealing Princess Anjelica of Kutani, whose beauty and political value finally interest him.

As the carriage reaches the Convocat, Kel reflects on Castellane’s imperial past, the city’s contradictory pride in independence and Callatian heritage, and his own longing to travel beyond the harbor. Outside, Kel gives a coin to ragged children who speak fearfully of the mysterious Ragpicker King, a powerful criminal figure whose influence the Palace tolerates because removing him could create worse disorder.

Inside the Convocat, Benaset of the Arrow Squadron reports that a dockworker has been found in the crowd with a crossbow. Though Conor objects that this may be harmless, Jolivet insists that Kel must take Conor’s place. Kel dons Conor’s real crown, receives Conor’s habitual reassurance after reciting the Sword Catcher’s vow, and goes out before the crowd as the Prince of Castellane.

From the Grieving Stairs, Kel sees all classes of Castellane gathered, the Charter Families on their dais, the Hierophant at the High Temple, and a black-clad figure near a carriage with scarlet wheels who may be the Ragpicker King. Kel begins the speech, recovers the words, and is swept up by the crowd’s adoration, feeling the dangerous exhilaration of being loved as Conor even though the love is not truly his.

Afterward, Kel returns inside overheated and exhausted, as he often is after impersonating Conor. Conor wants to continue the day’s celebrations at Joss Falconet’s party in the Caravel, a pleasure house in the Temple District. Kel would rather rest, but Conor’s disappointment and need for protection persuade him to go, and the two depart despite Mayesh and Jolivet’s disapproval.