Robin lies awake after Griffin’s departure for Glasgow. Morning brings the Hermes team together in the Old Library: tea, a quick breakfast, and assignments. Anthony instructs messaging for pamphlets—avoid race and morality; stress scandal and corruption—to sway public opinion without triggering xenophobic backlash. Letty appears shaken but participates.

Anthony and Robin debate strategy, with Anthony arguing that British reform follows self-interest, not ethics; the goal is a cross-class coalition against silver-driven imperial expansion. Meanwhile, Cathy and Vimal craft match-pairs to scatter pamphlets citywide, and Ilse lines up Fleet Street access. A plan coalesces: expose Jardine, lobby waffling Whigs, blast pamphlets, and support Griffin’s Glasgow efforts. Anthony entrusts the students with a sealed envelope of Hermes contacts as a last resort.

Letty, distressed, steps out “for air.” As Anthony reviews precautions and arms are mentioned, they realize she has been gone too long. A piercing alarm rises; the front door smashes open; Oxford police pour in. The Hermes postgraduates counter with shelves and silver, urging Robin, Ramy, and Victoire to the Reading Room.

Letty enters with a revolver, revealing her betrayal and demanding surrender while police secure the library. As Victoire moves to destroy the contact envelope, Letty aims; in the scramble Ramy shoves Robin aside and Letty fires, striking Ramy, who dies moments later. Victoire succeeds in burning the contacts; Letty is stunned by what she’s done.

Robin, consumed by rage, lunges but is overwhelmed by constables. Hooded, gagged, and cuffed, he is dragged through the wrecked Old Library to a waiting cab. The Hermes defenders’ outcomes are unseen; Victoire’s fate is unclear. The group’s plans are shattered by the raid and Letty’s fatal betrayal.