As the Council of Tides enters the cathedral and disrupts Van Eck’s auction, Jesper slips away from the Zemeni delegation toward the thumb nave. Jesper thinks uneasily of Wylan, who may finally get justice for his mother, and of Jesper’s unresolved fight with his own father, Colm, waiting at the bakery.

Jesper pretends to be a sick foreign tourist who has eaten at Sten’s Stockpot, winning a stadwatch guard’s sympathy and getting escorted toward a chapel exit. Once alone, Jesper chokes the guard unconscious, binds and gags the guard, and heads for the stairs that should take him to the upper arcade, where Jesper plans to cover Kuwei with a rifle that Inej is supposed to deliver at four bells.

Before Jesper can climb, a Kherguud soldier ambushes him. The Shu soldier, who had caught Jesper’s scent on West Stave, attacks with overwhelming strength and metal-reinforced fists. Jesper realizes the soldier intends to capture him for the Shu, likely to force Jesper to make more Kherguud under the influence of parem.

Cornered and nearly crushed, Jesper remembers Wylan’s warning that the chemical weevil reacts to sweat, blood, or saliva. Jesper pretends to take parem, distracting the soldier long enough to smash a vial of the weevil into the soldier’s mouth. After a terrifying delay, the substance takes effect: the Kherguud convulses, foams blood and bile, and collapses dead or incapacitated.

Jesper rushes back but has missed the rendezvous; Inej appears with the rifle because Inej has realized Jesper is in trouble. The siren sounds before Jesper can reach the arcade, meaning the planned shot on Kuwei is no longer possible from the proper position. Facing the disastrous consequences if Kuwei is sold and parem spreads, Jesper decides to attempt the impossible from the chapel.

Remembering his mother’s words about aiming and embracing the zowa power that Jesper has long treated as a curse, Jesper focuses on the single nonlethal wax-and-rubber bullet in his altered rifle. Jesper fires around the corner, trying to guide the bullet toward the second button of Kuwei’s shirt, and tells Inej that he simply took a shot.