After John notices tampering in Harrowhark's temporal lobe, Harrow begins to accept that death is approaching with the Resurrection Beast. The Body, Harrow's longtime apparition and companion since Lyctorhood, disappears, leaving Harrow more isolated and uncertain whether the Body ever existed outside Harrow's mind.

During the final days before the Beast's arrival, Harrow moves through routine tasks numbly and considers writing farewell instructions, but finds no meaningful recipient and abandons the idea. On the penultimate night, while retrieving a dropped glove, Harrow discovers Cytherea's missing corpse hidden beneath Harrow's bed, preserved by John's necromancy and apparently inert.

Harrow clamps Cytherea's wrists and ankles with bone and drags Ianthe to the room as a witness. Ianthe looks under the bed but says she sees nothing, treating Harrow with embarrassed tact rather than alarm. After Ianthe leaves, Harrow checks again and finds that Cytherea's body has vanished, leaving only the bone cuffs glued to the floor and no sign that Harrow's wards were breached.

On the last day before the Resurrection Beast is due, Harrow visits the empty tomb where Cytherea's corpse once lay, then heads toward the kitchen. Ortus, the Saint of Duty, ambushes Harrow in the corridor and tackles Harrow into the wall, prompting Harrow to defend with bone and assess why Ortus would still try to kill Harrow when death already seems imminent.

Ortus tells Harrow that Harrow remains a liability and advises Harrow not to go to the River when the Beast breaches, but to end Harrow's own life first to avoid suffering. Ortus admits he feels he failed Harrow by holding back and says the suggestion was not his idea. His warning and the unanswered question of who ordered it anger Harrow, and that anger restores enough will for Harrow to eat and resolve to live rather than submit.