Maithanet is unimpressed, pointing out that whatever Inrilatas can see, his father has already seen. He declares the interrogation yet another example of Esmenet’s failing reason. “Mother?” Inrilatas asks, surprising both his brother and uncle. “You think Mother arranged this?”
Kelmomas stands horrified as Inrilatas reveals his crimes to their uncle, how he first murdered Samarmas and then Sharacinth. Why would his brother betray him this way? Maithanet, genuinely surprised, turns to the eight-year-old, demanding to know what he has done. This is when Inrilatas strikes, whipping his chains about his uncle’s throat, strangling him. But Maithanet employs a blade concealed upon his elbow to stab the adolescent, killing him.
The door is battered down, and Esmenet enters to find her son dead. Kelmomas accuses Maithanet of murdering Inrilatas after he revealed his intent to usurp her. Uncle Holy storms from the palace, which has been thrown into uproar.
Later that night, Esmenet calls Lord Sankas to her chambers, asks him to contract an assassin.
So she finds herself stealing through the streets of Momemn in disguise several days following. Imhailas, Exalt-Captain of the Eothic Guard, leads her to a derelict tenement in a district not unlike the one she had lived in during her days as a prostitute. She meets with the Narindar alone in his room to spare any of her servants the threat of damnation, not knowing that the assassin Sankas had contracted in truth lies murdered underneath the bed—not knowing that she parlays with the White-Luck Warrior.
Even as the man agrees to murder Maithanet, horns ring out over the city … battlehorns. She races back to the palace in terror, only to discover that her home has been taken by the Shrial Knights. Maithanet has finally struck. Imhailas has to drag her away, such is her terror for Kelmomas and Theliopa. The Exalt-Captain takes her to Naree, a Nilnameshi prostitute who has become his lover, and demands that she shelter the Empress.
And so Esmenet finds herself a fugitive in the very Empire she ruled, reliving her own past. Naree wants no part in the affair, but harbours the Empress for the love she bears Imhailas. For weeks Esmenet hides thus, fretting for her surviving children, raging for impotence, and bearing sundry indignities at the hands of her reluctant host. Imhailas is her sole source of information regarding the outside world, and his tidings never fail to dismay her. No matter how hard he pressures her, she refuses to flee her city.
Kelmomas witnesses the violent fall of the Andiamine Heights to the Shrial Knights through the innumerable spy-holes his father has installed throughout the palace. He takes the hidden network of passages as his new home, mourns the loss of his mother almost as much as the loss of his secret. As his hunger gets the better of him, he begins to ambush solitary Knights, dragging them into his hidden lair, devouring them until they spoil.
Malowebi, meanwhile, confers via sorcerous dreams with the Satakhan of High Holy Zeum on the matter of Fanayal, Meppa, and the manifest weakness of the New Empire. The Mbimayu emissary counsels caution: the fact that Kellhus has emptied the Imperial larder in his mad quest to destroy Golgotterath suggests that he genuinely believes the Second Apocalypse is upon them. Nganka’kull, however, sees opportunity, commands Malowebi to promise the support of Zeum should Fanayal succeed in his daring plan.
Imhailas returns to Naree’s room after a long sojourn bearing news that no one knows what has come of Kelmomas. Esmenet fairly swoons, but her Exalt-Captain catches her, once again begs her to flee the city and raise an army from elsewhere across the Three Seas. But Esmenet suddenly recalls the secrets of her palace home. So long as Kelmomas remains hiding in the Andiamine Heights, there is no way she can leave Momemn. Imhailas relents, obviously exasperated.
Naree makes love to Imhailas that night—to spite her, Esmenet realizes. The indignity of listening combined with her terror for her son is too much, and she begins weeping. The Gods do war against her! At that moment the door is kicked open and Shrial Knights surge into the room. Esmenet is thrust to her knees, watches horrified as Imhailas is beaten to death before her. A Collegian throws five gold kellics at the shrieking Naree, then leaves one silver kellic as well, as a memento, he says, of the Empress she betrayed.