Darrow endures rehab aboard the stolen Nessus as the crew nears Gold space. Pebble alerts him to an extra heat signature; a sweep of the engine room reveals stowaway Rhonna, Darrow’s niece. Sevro has Alexandar subdue her with a nonlethal spider round and assigns menial duty.

In the brig, Min-Min stands watch while Tongueless silently observes Apollonius, who performs a phantom violin. Darrow and Sevro confront Apollonius about war and atrocity; Apollonius recounts the Ash Lord’s betrayal at Luna and his own reinvention in prison. Darrow then offers revenge and reveals Tharsus is alive and complicit, coercing Apollonius with a cranial bomb to accept.

Over a carefully prepared meal, Apollonius provokes Alexandar and deduces the Nessus’s class. Darrow outlines House Valii-Rath’s reduction, Atalantia’s bloody message to a defected lawyer, and Venus’s militarized isolation. He notes Mercury has fallen via Iron Rain, but Venus cannot be landed on without inside help.

Darrow’s plan: exploit Tharsus’s black-market appetites through a broker, aided by a facial construct and com access. Apollonius confirms the Ash Lord’s fortress on Gorgon Isle in the darkzone. Darrow proposes landing on Apollonius’s island, rallying his legion, leveraging noble hostages, killing the Ash Lord, and leaving Apollonius to rule Venus and issue a conditional surrender.

After Apollonius agrees, Darrow and Sevro admit the Golds will not unite behind him; either he fractures Venus in civil war or they leak his collusion to destroy him. They reaffirm the mission’s cost as Darrow shares Pax’s parting key and Sevro insists the choice to come was his.