While practicing culture and accent with Matteo, Darrow’s datapad is seized by the Institute’s Board of Quality Control. He and Matteo hastily stage the penthouse for scrutiny before a Copper, Bondilus cu Tancrus, and three Whites arrive. Hooked to monitors, Darrow lies on the identity controls, denies cheating or biochemical aids, gives blood, and undergoes scans. Weeks later, he is cleared and learns he missed only one question, a near-perfect score that startles his handlers.

As a valet comes to escort him to the Institute, Darrow says goodbye. Dancer gifts a knifeRing reshaped as an L—outwardly Spartan, secretly for Lykos. Harmony tenderly kisses the spot where his Red Sigil once lay and reveals Evey will live with them. Matteo confiscates Darrow’s haemanthus flower but embeds a petal in a golden Andromedus sigil locket, warning him to master his temper: manners first, then burn their house down.

Nervous en route, Darrow wonders who helldives for Lambda now. On the shuttle he befriends the smiling Julian, who boasts of his older brother and explains Houses and the title Primus. A sharp, undersized initiate, Sevro, ridicules them, accepts a post-Passage duel with Julian, and hints the Passage is the last test. Hearing others’ lower scores and Sevro’s confidence, Darrow worries at what he doesn’t know.

They reach Agea at night and the Institute carved into the Valles Marineris. Darrow braces himself to see ArchGovernor Nero au Augustus again, rage simmering from old wounds. Above, the Fifth and Sixth Fleets glitter, a show of familial power that awes the crowd and underscores the Society’s reach.

Augustus delivers an indoctrinating speech on Savagery, Ascendance, and Decadence, denouncing equality and praising the Peerless Scarred. He mocks a Red martyr as a foolish girl who sang—a pointed slight at Eo—drawing blood in Darrow’s mouth as he restrains himself. Darrow masters his fury, resolves to play the long game, and awaits the trials he must pass before he can earn scars and strike back.