Augustine’s plan to help Harrow attack Ortus the First is unexpectedly simple: turn dinner into a long, lavish drinking session. Harrow eats and drinks far more than she wants while Augustine continually refills glasses, God urges her to drink water, and Ianthe watches with delighted amusement.

The dinner becomes increasingly loose and sentimental as Augustine, Mercymorn, God, Ianthe, Harrow, and Ortus trade toasts. They drink to absent friends and dead cavaliers, prompting old grief and resentment over Alfred, Cristabel, Pyrrha, Loveday, Naberius, and others. The toasts expose strained histories among the elder Lyctors and show Harrow a far messier, more intimate version of divinity than she expected.

Ianthe suggests a toast to enemies, and Augustine turns the conversation to Blood of Eden. God explains that, about twenty-five years earlier, Blood of Eden learned of the Resurrection Beasts, killed a Herald, and turned its remains into weapons. When Augustine proposes drinking to Commander Wake, Ortus abruptly stands and leaves, making clear that the subject has touched something dangerous or painful.

After Ortus leaves, Mercymorn rebukes Augustine, while God tries to keep the evening from collapsing because Augustine and Mercymorn are speaking more amicably than they have in decades. The drinking continues with toasts to sisters, women left behind, and God himself. Harrow’s reverence erodes as she sees God and his Lyctors behave with drunken, irreverent familiarity.

Mercymorn returns to the old wound of Cristabel, accusing Augustine of still hating her cavalier. Augustine denies it, first solemnly and then tenderly, and says he barely hates Mercymorn. Instead of fighting, Mercymorn kisses Augustine; Augustine kisses her back, then kisses God, and Mercymorn kisses God as well. With the three distracted and physically entangled, Ianthe finally pulls the mortified Harrow out of the room, ending the chapter with the murder plan’s distraction apparently achieved.