Lyria attends Quicksilver’s lavish birthday as a Telemanus valet, observing servants enjoying gifts and the elite gathering behind guarded doors. Guided in, she overhears Virginia, Victra, Kavax, Daxo, Niobe, and Quicksilver debate the Senate math: Dancer likely secures a majority as Sefi stays silent, and Virginia plans to veto the peace, banking on senators breaking before she does. Spotted, Lyria is excused to walk Sophocles, unsettled by the power on display.

In the corridors a polite security drone sprays Sophocles, adding farce to her nerves. In the garden, Pax invites Lyria to watch a ship race and chats earnestly, but when Pax asks about the mines, Lyria’s anger erupts; she rejects his claim to Red identity and storms off, later ashamed and fearing she’ll be dismissed.

Departing Hyperion with the Telemanuses, Lyria sits in the staff cabin, fretting and messaging Philippe. Philippe’s Bacchus pendant on her neck begins blinking; it splits to release a small disk that jets forward and emits paralysis gas. Servants and Lionguards collapse. Kavax futilely smashes at the device before a pulse kills systems and the shuttle plummets. After violent lurches and a brief weightless moment, the craft is drawn into a construction site and sealed from the city.

Silence follows until tools engage the servants’ door and a teardrop of light appears in the metal, signaling imminent boarding. Lyria realizes the pendant was the vector, and the Telemanus party has been deliberately disabled and captured.