Queen Sabran prepares for her first public appearance in Ascalon in fourteen years, a royal progress through the capital. Ead conceals multiple blades on her person, anticipating danger. As the ladies-in-waiting dress Sabran, an intimate moment passes between Ead and the queen—Sabran takes Ead's hand and remarks on how Ead always knows how to comfort her. Sabran confides her wish to announce her pregnancy but has been advised to wait until the child quickens. Roslain gives Sabran a seahorse pendant that belonged to her mother, and the queen departs for the city.

The royal procession visits the Sanctuary of Our Lady, believed to house the tomb of Cleolind, where Sabran prays for the safe delivery of her daughter. Ead holds Sabran's hand during the prayer, knowing the tomb is empty. Afterward, the party proceeds on foot through the city. A tinker heckles Lievelyn, and Sabran defiantly takes her companion's hand. As Sabran pauses in a market ward, Ead spots a figure with a pistol on a balcony shouting "Death to the House of Berethnet." Ead tackles Sabran to the ground just as the shot fires, striking an old man instead.

Chaos erupts as masked doomsingers—followers of the Nameless One—attack the royal party from the crowd, wearing plague masks. Ead fights with lethal skill, momentarily dropping her pretense of being merely a lady-in-waiting. Lady Linora is killed when two attackers slit her throat. Roslain stabs one attacker but is struck unconscious. Lievelyn kills an assailant with his broadsword. Sir Grance Lambren, a Knight of the Body, leads Sabran, Lievelyn, Roslain, and Ead to a ruined sanctuary for shelter.

Inside the sanctuary, Lievelyn wants to return to help fight, but Sabran reveals her pregnancy to him to keep him from leaving. He is overjoyed, and the two share a tender moment. Then a voice imitating Katryen calls from outside, asking to be let in. Ead warns it is a trick, but Sabran overrules her and orders Lambren to open the doors. A cutthroat bursts in, shoots Lambren dead, and confronts the group. The attacker speaks of "the Cupbearer" who wishes Sabran no ill except when she leads Inys toward sin. When the cutthroat turns the pistol on the royals, Ead throws her last knife and kills her—but the pistol fires, and the bullet strikes Lievelyn.

Sabran rushes to Lievelyn as he bleeds out and dies in her arms. A second cutthroat enters, and Ead pins them to the wall. When the mask is removed, the face beneath belongs to Truyde utt Zeedeur, who whispers that she never meant for Lievelyn to die—she only wanted to help the queen and make her listen.