After another evening visit with Valka, Hadrian walks alone through Castle Borosevo. He reflects that the palace has begun to feel familiar despite being a kind of prison, and that his bold exchange with Grand Prior Ligeia Vas has made him briefly popular among people who dislike the Chantry elite.

Hadrian thinks about Valka with growing affection and uncertainty. Their shared studies, wine, and laughter have softened their relationship, and Hadrian privately hopes that, if his plan to leave Emesh succeeds, Valka might choose to travel with him. He also considers his escape scheme with Pallino and Switch, noting that their bond contracts delay any attempt to buy a starship.

Near the entrance to Sunglass Hall, Gilliam Vas stops Hadrian and shoves him against a lamppost. Gilliam is furious over Hadrian's public insult to Ligeia and warns Hadrian not to threaten his family's dignity. Hadrian, constrained by his false identity as Hadrian Gibson, cannot answer the priest as a palatine nobleman might and tries to keep the confrontation verbal.

Gilliam strikes Hadrian repeatedly, using his rank, strength, and social power to humiliate him. Hadrian recognizes that fighting back would endanger his position in the palace, so he absorbs the blows while needling Gilliam with insults. The encounter makes Hadrian reflect uneasily on palatine cruelty and wonder whether this is how Switch once saw Hadrian himself.

Gilliam then reveals the deeper reason for his hostility: he suspects Hadrian of conspiring with Valka, whom he calls a Demarchist witch, and sees Hadrian's alien sympathies and defiance of the Chantry as signs of heresy. Hadrian denies being Gilliam's enemy and backs toward the hall, hoping witnesses will restrain the priest's performance. Gilliam finally warns Hadrian never to insult Ligeia again and threatens to have him thrown naked into the fighting pits.