At the top of the Pharos, Alex realizes Placidia and Zenonis are coming for her and that the silent nun with her cannot save her. With no safe route inside, Alex climbs over the parapet and lowers herself down the outside of the lighthouse, using carved stonework as handholds above a lethal drop. While Alex clings to the wall, Placidia and Zenonis reach the eyrie, murder the nun by burning and throwing her over, and reveal that they mean to find Alex and kill anyone in the palace who might remain loyal to her.

Alex inches along the exterior, is nearly knocked off by nesting birds, and finally reaches a window into the throne room. From outside, Alex sees Placidia and Zenonis clearly and realizes that two members of Eudoxia's missing coven have been beside her all along. Alex overhears Placidia order the palace searched and loyalists slaughtered, which makes clear that Arcadius's murder is part of a broader seizure of power. Knowing she needs help, Alex decides to reach Duke Michael and warn him.

Meanwhile, Jakob reads the mood around the blue alarm flame and immediately recognizes that violence is brewing in the city. When Brother Diaz, Jakob, Vigga, Baptiste, and the others are allowed onto the lift with Palace Guard, Jakob notices all the signs of an ambush and strikes first, counting on Sunny's invisibility to tip the balance. A savage close-quarters fight follows: Jakob, Baptiste, Vigga, and Sunny kill or throw off the guards, while Brother Diaz futilely tries to preserve a prisoner's life. By the end of the fight, the Chapel knows the palace itself has turned hostile.

Sunny wastes no time after the lift battle because Alex needs her. She slips past more guards, moves through a city and palace already sliding toward civil war, and avoids choosing sides in fights she does not understand. Inside the palace, Sunny uses the secret passages Alex showed her earlier, both to move unseen and to get closer to Alex before the conspirators do.

Alex reaches Duke Michael's rooms by climbing in through his window, but before Michael can play the rescuer, Alex finds and reads a letter from Cardinal Zizka. The letter reveals that Zizka and Michael planned to use Alex as bait, arranged for Eudoxia's students to kill Arcadius, and intended Alex's reign to be only long enough for Michael to claim the throne. When Michael realizes Alex knows the truth, he drops all pretense, admits that he used Alex as a decoy and despises the idea of her ruling, then draws his sword to kill her. Sunny intervenes invisibly, disrupts Michael's attack, locks him in the room, and pulls Alex to safety, confirming both the depth of the conspiracy and Sunny's loyalty to Alex.