Harrow wakes beneath a makeshift sheeted shelter in a larger clearing, beside Camilla Hect and a battered, non-House shuttle. Harrow tells Camilla that Palamedes is still inside the skull fragments, confirming that the Sixth necromancer's revenant survived in some form. Camilla is visibly relieved and asks what comes next.

Harrow removes the chemical glue from Palamedes's skull fragments and reshapes the thanergy-rich bone into articulated hand bones, fulfilling Palamedes's request for movement without making a full skeleton. Camilla stops Harrow from creating anything more, warning that it would get Camilla in trouble with someone other than Palamedes.

Harrow investigates the shuttle and finds Judith Deuteros, alive but gravely weakened; Coronabeth Tridentarius, alive and armed with a Ninth House rapier; and a terrifying portrait of an unknown red-haired woman. Harrow's letters from Harrow's former self activate her instructions: silence Judith, kill her if necessary, and protect Coronabeth at all costs. Harrow fuses both women's mouths shut, prompting Coronabeth to defend Judith while Camilla orders Harrow to stop.

Judith forces Harrow to release her mouth long enough to warn that the Emperor has been infiltrated and that a traitor has already acted, but Coronabeth silences Judith before the message is completed. Camilla then invokes the phrase of the rock that is never rolled away, compelling Harrow not to detain them, question them further, or reveal their presence. In exchange for one answer, Camilla admits that she, Judith, and Coronabeth are with the group the Nine Houses call Blood of Eden.

Later, Mercymorn retrieves Harrow from the surface of the planet Harrow has killed as part of the Lyctoral task. Harrow feels almost nothing about the murder of the planet, while Mercy notices only that Harrow smells like dirt. As they return to the Mithraeum, Harrow watches the doomed world recede and feels inwardly rotten.