On her wedding night, Alex is overwhelmed by the speed of her transformation from impostor and survivor into Empress of Troy. Lady Severa and the handmaidens prepare her for Arcadius’s arrival while Alex dreads both rule and marriage. When Arcadius enters, however, he proves courteous rather than threatening, easing Alex’s fear enough for them to talk honestly.

Over wine, Arcadius tells Alex that he never wanted the throne for himself and hopes their marriage can help restore Troy instead of continuing the empire’s self-destructive power struggles. Alex, wary because Arcadius’s brothers tried to kill her, tests his sincerity and comes to believe him. The two discover they are sexually unsuited to each other, joke about it, and begin to imagine a workable alliance based on friendship, political cooperation, and practical arrangements for producing heirs.

The mood breaks when the serving women reveal themselves as enemies. Placidia uses freezing magic on Arcadius, while Zenonis shows herself to be a fire-wielder. Arcadius realizes the danger too late and urges Alex to run. Alex escapes through the hidden chapel passage just before Placidia shatters Arcadius’s frozen body, killing him.

Alone and panicked, Alex flees through the secret corridors, first thinking of Sunny and the Chapel, then of Duke Michael below, but sounds from beneath suggest the attackers are already spreading through the palace. She reaches the throne room and then climbs to Saint Natalia’s Flame. With no safe option left, Alex pulls the alarm chain and turns the beacon blue, the signal for an elf invasion, in order to warn the city and summon help.

At the docks, the departing Chapel sees the blue flame and understands that something is terribly wrong. Sunny immediately decides Alex is in danger and heads back, and Jakob, Vigga, Baptiste, and Brother Diaz follow despite the risks. Balthazar argues against returning, but Baron Rikard reveals that the binding never truly controlled him because, as a vampire, he has no soul for it to affect; he stayed with the Chapel by choice. Rikard also goes back to help, leaving Balthazar behind as the crisis in Troy begins anew.