Lysander hosts Rhonna and Alexandar inside Glirastes’s museum, impatient to leave for the Hippodrome as his men move and Glirastes prepares a program. He notices unsettling cues: Alexandar no longer worries his new teeth and Rhonna’s holster-hand tic has ceased. Interpreting these tells with the Mind’s Eye, he suspects they are ready to act against him.

While they linger over models and banter about the Morning Star and Mercury’s mines, Lysander corrects Alexandar’s history and pointedly reminds both of their families’ complicity in Society economics. The conversation masks his mounting urgency and hardens his resolve to end the distraction before it endangers his schedule.

Lysander then attacks without warning. He seizes Rhonna’s wrist, shatters her jaw with a jab, strips her sidearm, and holds her at gunpoint. Alexandar’s whip flashes into a precise Willow Way posture, but he halts his strike to avoid harming Rhonna. Lysander recognizes Alexandar’s valor yet deems his loyalty to Darrow an unacceptable threat.

In the standoff, Alexandar invites an honorable duel to decide who is truly the Heir of Arcos. Lysander declines, citing lack of time over honor. He releases Rhonna to the floor unconscious, aims, and shoots Alexandar in the head, choosing ruthless expedience to clear his way to the Hippodrome and the next phase of Glirastes’s plan.