From the Lady Beatrice, Lysander surveys Heliopolis and grapples with new knowledge: Cassius lives and now aids the Rising. He fears Atalantia learning Cassius’s sabotage at the Mound. Glirastes orchestrates pageantry for the Triumph, even outfitting Praetorians in new livery, while Lysander avoids visiting the dying Kalindora, poisoned by Darrow’s blade. Atlas, newly freed after the Long Night blackout, arrives to escort him, and Pytha returns to watch over Lysander.

At the staging ground, a diverse crowd of loyalists gathers alongside tens of thousands of prisoners. Lysander privately honors Rhone’s steadfastness by making him Dux, signaling loyalty to the Grays. Atlas cautions him about choices, and Lysander activates his chariot’s shield as the procession begins. During the raucous parade, the reconstituted Praetorians appear, snipers take futile shots at his shield, and the Triumph proceeds to the Mound of Votum where Atalantia and the assembled houses await.

On the steps, Atalantia testingly grants Lysander his Peerless scar while probing whether he will kneel. She hints at a sniper poised to kill him during the crowning. Lysander counters by kneeling and proposing a formal union—Lune bound to Grimmus—to present unity and deny the carrion ambitions of other houses. Atalantia signals acceptance while maintaining dominance. The White crowns Lysander with the laurel; no shot comes, and the crowd erupts.

As celebrations continue, Atalantia spirits Lysander away. Over the desert, she reveals lines of impaled enemies to demonstrate her rule by fear; Lysander stays silent to preserve her trust. Aboard the Annihilo, she tasks him to lead Tyche’s reconstruction, with Glirastes as Master Maker, so that her “husband” will be loved while she is feared.

The political alliance turns intimate as Atalantia takes Lysander as her lover. Meanwhile, Atlas remains close, Ajax stews, the Praetorians rally around Rhone as Dux, and Lysander’s conscience is burdened by Kalindora’s decline and the knowledge that Cassius fights for the Rising.