Matthias watches the Church of Barter descend into disorder after the Council of Tides stops the auction. The Merchant Council argues, Van Eck sits satisfied, and Pekka Rollins positions himself where Kaz can see him. Matthias notices the Fjerdan drüskelle in the crowd, including a furious young soldier, and reflects that his hatred of Grisha is an old instinct he must keep fighting.

The Tidemakers use the water flooding the church to force silence and announce that the auction has been compromised. Van Eck quietly gloats to Kaz that Wylan gave up Kaz's Ravkan scheme under beating, then publicly tries to blame the Ravkans for secretly receiving money from a false fund. Instead, the Tidemaker declares that the money was transferred to the Shu and that the false fund was created by Johannus Rietveld and Jan Van Eck.

Van Eck's confidence collapses as the Council questions him. Radmakker denies knowing Rietveld, and Van Eck insists Kaz must be behind the fraud. Van Eck then accuses Kaz of kidnapping Alys, but Kaz calmly claims he merely retrieved her; Alys confirms she was blindfolded and cannot identify her captors, leaving Van Eck without proof.

When Radmakker presses Van Eck about Wylan's disappearance, Wylan appears at the stage archway bloodied and weak. Wylan says he escaped from Pekka Rollins, not Kaz, and when Van Eck demands that Wylan expose the Ravkan plot, Wylan replies that he will say whatever his father wants if Van Eck stops letting them hurt him. Matthias realizes Kaz staged Wylan's apparent Dime Lion captivity using disguised Dregs, knowing Van Eck would believe what he expected to see.

Kaz then turns the Council's suspicion further against Van Eck by saying Van Eck invited the crew to his house under false pretenses and had Pekka waiting to ambush them. The merchants connect Van Eck to the reward notice for Kuwei and to Rietveld's fund, and Karl Dryden realizes Van Eck was also the secret buyer of jurda farms in Novyi Zem. Radmakker declares the auction compromised and halts it until the Council determines whether its own members knowingly funneled money to a bidder.

Before the conflict can settle, drüskelle, stadwatch, Shu soldiers, and Tidemakers all surge into motion. Then the plague siren begins to wail, terrifying the entire church with memories of Ketterdam's past epidemic. Panic erupts as people shove toward the doors, and amid the screaming, the first shot is fired.