After the Barca boarders break off, knights escort Lyria through rain to the Citadel of Light. She is brought before Daxo au Telemanus and Theodora, then Niobe arrives, furious and exhausted, revealing Kavax is barely alive. Daxo warns Lyria her life depends on truth.

Lyria confirms Pax and Electra are alive and describes their captors: mainly Obsidians and Grays with a Pink leader, Lunese accents, and no Golds. Daxo and Theodora debate notifying Sefi and freezing traffic, but secrecy is required before the upcoming vote and to avoid alerting the Vox Populi. Using a city map, Lyria narrows the site to an industrial zone near a broken tramway around station 17; Holiday dispatches forensics and requests satellite footage.

The tone turns accusatory. Daxo cites the sophisticated device used on the shuttle and questions why Philippe spared Lyria, suggesting Society manipulation or conditioning. Theodora presses empathetically on Lyria’s grief and anger at the Republic’s failures. Lyria denies all complicity, vents her resentment at the Sovereign’s broken promises, and insists she would never harm a child.

Theodora urges using the Oracle. Holiday restrains Lyria as Daxo applies the blood-sucking creature to compel answers. Lyria panics but cannot stop them.

Virginia enters, halting the interrogation. She kills the Oracle, castigates Daxo, Niobe, and Theodora for resorting to torture and for defying earlier orders, even exposing Theodora’s role in aiding Darrow’s Deepgrave operation. Reasserting authority, Virginia dismisses the others to speak with Lyria alone.