As the Chapel pushes toward the Palace under Saint Natalia’s blue alarm, Vigga cuts down more guards with brutal efficiency. While fighting, Vigga is hit by memories of her violent life before the bite: raids, killings, burned nuns, dead shipmates, and the hollow rewards that followed. The memories leave Vigga wondering whether life was ever truly better, or whether she herself was always bad, but Vigga buries the doubt and keeps moving.

At the Palace entrance, Brother Diaz, Baptiste, and Vigga prepare to hold off more incoming guards while Jakob goes inside to find Alex. Vigga, energized by the chaos and by a sense of rough comradeship, jokes with the others and throws herself into the fight. Brother Diaz notices how blurred the line has become between monsters and allies, and prays over the dead even as the battle continues.

Inside the Palace, Alex follows Sunny through servant passages and down into the kitchens, where they discover murdered staff. Cleofa and Athenais appear and attack with sorcery, exposing Sunny despite her stealth. Alex and Sunny flee through storerooms and corridors as Zenonis joins the pursuit with fire magic, setting shelves and doors ablaze. Burned, cut, and exhausted, Alex and Sunny escape through a hidden panel into a secret passage, only to realize their pursuers know the tunnels too.

Outside, Lady Severa stumbles from the Palace appearing injured and desperate, warning that the handmaidens have turned traitor and that Alex is in danger. When Severa touches Vigga, however, Severa reveals a hidden attack: a rune-marked needle fixed into Vigga’s forehead. Severa then speaks through Vigga, using Vigga’s voice and body to command Brother Diaz and Baptiste to lay down their weapons, exposing Severa as another dangerous enemy.

Elsewhere in the Palace, Jakob forces himself up the endless stairs despite severe pain, driven by habit, duty, and the need to reach Alex. Meanwhile Sunny leads Alex through the private chapel and bedchamber, where they find Arcadius reduced to bloody remains from the murder already committed there. Alex puts on Arcadius’s tunic rather than die half-dressed, and the pair try for the main staircase, only to hear the handmaidens below and Duke Michael directing the hunt. Realizing the enemy is driving them into a trap, Alex and Sunny retreat upward toward the throne room because there is nowhere else left to go.