Five hours after the planning begins, Nona is remade as Harrowhark Nonagesimus for the operation. Camilla cuts off Nona’s braids, dresses Nona in black clothes, and drills Nona to answer to “Nonagesimus,” stand stiffly, avoid smiling, and remember that Harrow is supposed to be blind. We Suffer applies cloudy eye films and dye, while Camilla explains that Varun’s effects may be transmitted through light and that the eyes are especially dangerous.

The Blood of Eden base becomes frantic as soldiers bring reports, supplies, and food through the meeting room. Many of them fear Nona and Camilla, so Pash builds a flimsy barricade while mocking their cowardice. Palamedes, acting through Camilla, helps refine Nona’s imitation of Harrow, then writes at length; the effort strains Camilla, and Camilla rests beside Nona.

After Nona wakes and has to have the eye disguise reapplied, Camilla gives Nona the rules for the meeting: answer only yes or no, refuse Ianthe’s attempts at conversation, be rude if necessary, and pretend to suffer attacks of the blue madness whenever a difficult question arises. Camilla’s plan depends on Nona serving as a distraction while Camilla gets a single chance to act against the Lyctor. We Suffer agrees to provide the getaway, having already created a crisis by breaching one of Merv Wing’s cells, and assigns Pash to accompany Aim, who wants to oversee the operation from safety.

Pash drives Nona, Camilla, Aim, and Noodle toward the barracks. Nona struggles with the eye films and with a growing sense that Nona is becoming detached from Nona’s own body. Camilla orders Pash to stop short of the barracks, and Pash warns that Blood of Eden will destroy the barracks if they are betrayed. When Pash asks the odds, Camilla says the operation is fifty-fifty and that failure means Camilla dies.

Before entering, Camilla retrieves hidden weapons from boxes taken from home: a sword, a shorter blade, knives, and other gear. Pash criticizes House devotion to swords, but grudgingly gives Camilla a farewell, while still refusing to shake Camilla’s hand. Nona and Camilla then proceed on foot through the damaged streets and into the barracks, where the gates open for them without resistance.

Inside the foul, ruined building, Nona follows Camilla into a lit hall. On the dais sits the Prince from the broadcast, with Pyrrha behind and Crown seated nearby. Along the walls stand dozens of dead uniformed bodies, motionless until the Prince rises and they all twitch. The Prince greets Nona as “Harry,” revealing that the disguise has brought Nona face-to-face with Ianthe’s trap.