Vigga sits through Alex's coronation in mounting boredom and irritation, mocking the long sermons and whispering complaints to Brother Diaz. As she watches the service, Vigga compares pagan gods' familiar vices with the Saviour's impossible standards and thinks about how little she resembles those ideals. She also measures the people beside her: Jakob as severe and self-denying, and Baron Rikard as the opposite, lounging and attracting attention even in church.

As the ceremony continues, Vigga watches Alex receive the symbols of rule. Attendants place a purple cloak and golden brooch on Alex, Lady Severa gives Alex a sheaf of wheat, and Duke Michael puts a gilded spear in Alex's hand. Although Vigga thinks hereditary rule is absurd, she recognizes that solemn ritual and spectacle make Alex's fragile claim look weighty and legitimate.

The Patriarch anoints Alex with oil and slowly lowers the crown onto Alex's head. The instant the crown settles, Vigga feels the inner pull that brought the Chapel to Troy shift back toward the sea, and Balthazar and Rikard clearly feel it too. Alex is then raised up on a golden shield for the kneeling crowd, and as bells ring through the basilica, Vigga is briefly swept up by the grandeur and wonders whether being saved might have something to offer after all.

Because the binding has been fulfilled, Jakob immediately leads the Chapel out before the celebrations go further. Vigga glances back at Alex, with Duke Michael and Lady Severa smiling up at the newly crowned queen, but knows she will not stay to see what follows. Outside, Vigga relieves herself while the others remain grim, and Balthazar states the consequence plainly: they must leave at once for the Holy City and return to captivity, contempt, and enslavement now that their purpose in Troy is finished.