Hadrian and Crispin attend the opening day of the Colosso season in Lord Alistair's place while Alistair is away in Artemia with Hadrian's grandmother on state business. From the lord's box, Hadrian watches douleters subdue an alien azhdarch after it has killed slave fighters, and the spectacle reinforces Hadrian's disgust with public blood sport.

Crispin is excited because Alistair has allowed Crispin to fight in the arena after the first bout. Hadrian tries to distract himself by drawing Lieutenant Kyra, but Crispin's eagerness and armor sharpen Hadrian's resentment. Hadrian reflects that he does not want his father's throne so much as he wants Crispin not to receive what Hadrian had assumed would be his.

The main performance begins as the Meidua Devils reenact the 617th Centaurine Legion's stand on Bellos. Thirty mutilated felon-slaves, painted and altered to resemble Cielcin, are forced into combat against seven armored performers with shields, plasma rifles, and lances. Hadrian recognizes the contest as theatrical slaughter, while the crowd treats it as heroic entertainment.

Crispin cheers wildly and draws his sword in the box, while Hadrian grows increasingly sickened by the killing below. A douleter arrives to take Crispin to his bout, and Sir Roban asks whether Hadrian will come. Hadrian refuses, sending Roban with Crispin and remaining alone in the lord's box.

Left by himself, Hadrian turns inward and considers why drawing matters to him: unlike photographs or recordings, art captures a deeper truth through human imperfection. As the dead slaves are removed and Crispin enters the field to public cheers, Hadrian senses a profound emptiness beneath the crowd's excitement. Unable to watch any longer, Hadrian leaves the box, rejecting the world Crispin is so eager to inherit.