After the bodies of the Fourth are put in the morgue with the Fifth, Gideon drifts through a haze of post-traumatic stress and “survivor’s guilt.” She goes to Dulcinea for comfort and accidentally outs herself as a pretend cavalier. Gideon does not recognize that the phrase “one flesh, one end” is one every cavalier should know by heart. Dulcinea thinks Gideon is an incredibly worthy cavalier, even if she wasn’t raised as one. Gideon leaves when Palamedes shows up, then runs into the Eighth outside of Dulcinea’s room. Silas tells her she is a “victim of the Ninth House” and wants to talk to her on friendly terms over tea (276). Gideon mulls it over for a few days as she deals with nightmares due to her inability to save the Fourth.

Gideon finds herself in the Sixth’s chambers while Harrow and Palamedes discuss their theories over the Lyctor trials. Palamedes proposes they team up to open the rest of the Lyctor doors to get the theorems they need, and Harrow agrees. Palamedes suggests they pick the lock on a door that corresponds with the one Lyctor door key the Eighth took from Dulcinea. They go to see the door and find its lock stopped up with magically regenerating bone ash.