After swearing to kill Ortus the First, Harrowhark finds that life on the Mithraeum continues almost unchanged. Harrowhark tells God that she saw the Saint of Duty kissing Cytherea the First's corpse, but God reacts with surprise and discomfort rather than action, insisting Ortus has always been notably unromantic. God urges Harrowhark to do something normal, such as cook, read, and rest, and asks whether Harrowhark has slept.

Harrowhark realizes God does not understand her terror. Still convinced that Ortus the First is hunting her, Harrowhark obeys God's advice by asking Ianthe how to make soup, reading recipe books, and cooking repeatedly. Harrowhark does not sleep; instead, Harrowhark hides beneath the bed, prays, and waits for another attack that does not come.

Meanwhile, Augustine gives Ianthe a five-day ultimatum to improve her sword arm or lose his instruction. The pressure unsettles the Mithraeum, though Ianthe remains breezy and Harrowhark remains dissociated. Two days before Ianthe's deadline, God asks Harrowhark to make dinner for everyone, and Harrowhark prepares soup carefully after spending a long time alone in the bathroom.

At dinner, the Lyctors criticize the soup as watery and needing salt. When Augustine asks what meat flavored the broth, Harrowhark answers that it is marrow. Harrowhark has used her own tibial marrow in the soup as a delivery method, then transforms the cells inside Ortus the First into a bone construct that tears outward from his abdomen and attacks his organs.

God commands everyone to stop, freezing the room before Harrowhark can kill Ortus the First. God is horrified to learn that Harrowhark used her own marrow and refuses to let either Lyctor kill the other in front of him. Harrowhark finally pleads openly that Ortus the First attacked her and that she cannot live while hunted; when Harrowhark admits she has not slept in six days, God ends dinner, orders Ianthe to take Harrowhark to bed, and keeps Mercymorn behind for a severe reckoning. In the corridor, Ortus the First shows no anger or injury and silently salutes Harrowhark with Augustine's lit cigarette.