After the bullet hits Kuwei in the cathedral, Kaz reaches the Shu boy first and secretly injects him with a syringe while hiding his hand. The church erupts into confusion: panicked gunfire breaks out, Ravkan and Fjerdan forces clash, and the Merchant Council surrounds Van Eck with stadwatch guards. Kaz summons the medik, and Matthias drags the frightened man over.

Inej and Jesper push through the crowd to Kaz. Kaz sends Jesper to stay with the injured Wylan so Wylan can answer questions, while Matthias follows the medik and the stretcher carrying Kuwei through a side exit, ensuring there are no suspicious questions about Kuwei’s survival. Before leaving, Inej looks back at Van Eck and silently fulfills her earlier warning that he would see her only once more.

Kaz and Inej reach the chapel, but the outer door is locked and Pekka Rollins enters with four Dime Lions. Pekka expects a fight, but Kaz says he anticipated the ambush and offers a trade instead. Kaz produces a dirty crocheted lion and reveals that he knows about Pekka’s young son, using the threat of the boy’s death to force Pekka to listen.

Kaz demands that Pekka remember the con he ran seven years earlier as Jakob Hertzoon, when Pekka swindled Kaz and Kaz’s brother out of their money and left them to die on the streets. Pekka recalls pieces of the scheme but cannot remember Kaz’s brother’s name. Kaz cruelly claims he buried Pekka’s son alive and will only reveal the location if Pekka speaks the name, while Inej begs Kaz not to become that monstrous.

Pekka finally drops to his knees and begs for his son’s life, sacrificing his pride in front of his own men. Kaz gives him a location in Tarmakker’s Field, and Pekka rushes away with orders for horses and a medik, leaving his reputation weakened. Afterward, Kaz tells Inej the kidnapping was a bluff: he has never seen Pekka’s child, guessed at the lion and the boy’s habits, and only wanted Pekka out of the city and unable to support Van Eck.

Kaz explains that Nina’s fake plague sites were all Pekka-owned businesses, including the Kaelish Prince, the Emerald Palace, and the Sweet Shop, and that he also had Nina stop at the Menagerie. The quarantine panic should damage Pekka financially and politically while also making his sudden flight look incriminating. Inej praises Kaz for showing mercy, but Kaz insists his choice was not merciful because forcing Pekka to imagine his son’s death will punish him far more than a single murder could.