After Gorthaus collapses, the palace guards confine Din and Malo to their chamber and refuse to let them join the search for the killer. Malo stubbornly tries to save Gorthaus despite Ana's certainty that the wound is already fatal, but after a long effort Malo admits defeat and prepares the body for death rites. The failure matters because Gorthaus was their one direct link to the smuggling conspiracy inside the Treasury and the court.

A captain then brings in the guard who escorted Gorthaus to the chamber. Through Malo's translation, the guard explains that Satrap Darhi sent him to fetch Gorthaus, and that on the way a second guard in a steel cap and cloak bumped into her, apologized, and hurried on. Ana immediately realizes this brief contact was enough for the assassin to prick Gorthaus with kerel poison, and the vague detail of a light-colored beard convinces her the killer was disguised and had been watching closely for the moment when Gorthaus might talk.

Later, Din, Ana, and Malo are brought to the main hall, where Prince Camak, Darhi, and Pavitar report that no unknown guard has been found. The palace begins reviewing servants as well, while Ana asks each court figure where he was during the attack, but none offers a useful lead. Din and Malo then inspect the guards and servants themselves, studying faces and scents for any sign of Pyktis or an impostor, yet they find no match and no clear trail.

By dawn, the delegation prepares to leave the palace. Prince Camak asks what can be done, but Ana explains that even bringing in imperial wardens and Apoths would be politically impossible for him and might still fail against an enemy so skilled at changing his appearance. Kardas, still only partly conscious, is carried out with the others, and the group leaves under the weight of Gorthaus's death and the answers it has stolen from them.

During the carriage ride back, Din reports Darhi's earlier reaction to questions about Treasury negotiations, and Ana notes that Darhi is hiding something, though she cannot yet tell whether it connects to Pyktis. Ana then recalls an old murder case in which extra concealment revealed a personal relationship between killer and victim, and she applies that logic to the current mystery: Pyktis has worked unusually hard to hide his movements around the king's poisoning, which may mean Pyktis has a personal connection to Yarrow's king. Back in the city, Ana orders Din and Malo to search everything Gorthaus possessed for clues to the missing poison crates, while Ana plans to wait for Kardas to wake and then meet with Din, Malo, and Thelenai about the dangerous path ahead.