Iris uses the typewriter to urgently tell Roman that she has found a door to the underworld inside the Kitt estate. Roman replies that he did not know there was an active threshold in his parents’ house, but Lieutenant Shane interrupts before Roman can finish, summoning him to Dacre. Roman hides Iris’s letter, senses something unusual about the summons, and goes to Dacre’s office with Luz’s grave and the threshold key still on his mind.

When Roman enters the office, he finds Dacre asleep on a divan rather than waiting for him. Tempted by the god’s vulnerability, Roman briefly considers killing Dacre but realizes he has neither a weapon nor any certainty about how to destroy a god. Instead, Roman studies the illuminated underworld map on Dacre’s desk and confirms that the active route into Oath leads directly to the Kitt estate, just as Iris suspected. Roman also notices other marked circles that may be additional thresholds, quickly memorizes what he can, and sketches a rough map for himself before Dacre wakes from a troubled dream and murmurs Enva’s name.

Dacre wakes in obvious distress and orders Roman out. Hours later, Shane summons Roman again, this time telling him to leave his typewriter behind. In Dacre’s office, Roman meets Val, a cold stranger who can apparently escort travelers through the underworld. Dacre explains that he has changed course: instead of merely answering Iris’s article, he wants Roman to go to Oath, meet Iris Winnow in public, and persuade her to write for him rather than for Enva, because Dacre believes Enva is influencing Iris’s words against him.

Dacre gives Roman a letter for Iris and a second letter for Roman’s father, Ronald M. Kitt, making it clear that Roman will see his family as well. Roman is thrilled by the chance to return to Oath and reunite with Iris, but he immediately suspects this freedom is really a test of his loyalty now that his memories have returned. When Roman asks to spend one night with his family, Dacre agrees and warns him to remember what is true and false, reinforcing the threat beneath the favor. Roman leaves with Val for the underworld route to Oath, hopeful about seeing Iris again but haunted by the warning not to mistake this controlled release for real freedom.