Edmund takes the group to the Moonshine Mile, an exclusive commercial district reserved for high-citizens. As they stop at a cafe called The Tangerine Tree, Edmund explains that his Blue friends want to know if Loredana is “really his”; today, they will make her membership in his entourage official by introducing her to the broader Blue social circle. Inside, the high-citizen patrons react with hostility to her presence.

Edmund quickly sends Loredana, Jack, Charlotte, and Dickie into a soundproof private breakfast room while he remains in the main café to confront the other patrons alone. The group waits in tense silence, with an inebriated Jack growing so agitated that he nearly breaks the table. After several minutes, Edmund enters the private room. His suit jacket is missing, his shirt is untucked, and his face is bruised and streaked with blue blood, indicating that he has been in a violent fight. Visibly shaken, he sits, stating that he’s no longer hungry.

After the incident, Loredana watches a soundless surveillance video of Edmund’s fight on the gossip site Tattletale. The footage shows a Blue stepping forward and issuing him a challenge. Edmund quickly dispatches his first opponent. When a second Blue attacks without a formal challenge, Edmund activates his saber’s nanotech so that the blade splits into two. He then kills the man and smears his opponent’s blood on his face in defiance. A group of loyal Blues stands with him, preventing a larger brawl.

After watching the video, Loredana feels indebted to Edmund for risking his life, and she resolves to be more cooperative. To conceal her new allegiance, she avoids her father’s calls but finally answers one to ask about the blue-banded rings she saw Jack and Dickie wearing. Bruce identifies this type of ring as an Aegis: a Blood Ring that has been repurposed from the ring of a deceased Blue family member. An Aegis grants its low-citizen wearer extra privileges and boosted civil credits, placing them above ordinary low-citizens but below Blues. 

Later, Loredana is surprised when Sergeant Croft finally returns her stolen energy shield, including an apologetic note and his personal contact number. She had assumed that he would either sell the device or keep it for himself, but she’s now glad to have a potential ally. Feeling secure now that she’s in Edmund’s entourage, Loredana puts the shield back in its box and faces the day without it.

As people recover from Bliss withdrawal, the students’ general behavior improves, and Loredana finds herself fending off faux-friendly invites and attention. She also lends a few civil credits to a woman who’s close to expulsion. While attending a Green Fraternity meeting and watching the duels from the sidelines, a reformed Mr. Lee, or Vincent, approaches and asks her to forgive him for his earlier threats. Loredana privately notes that he looks much healthier now that he’s no longer taking Bliss, but she can’t bring herself to forgive him.

The video of Edmund’s duel goes viral, and his mother unsuccessfully tries to have it banned from the university networks. The incident solidifies Edmund’s fearsome reputation, causing other students to avoid him and his entourage. For the first time, Loredana feels completely safe on campus.

Loredana keeps in touch with her sisters, sending photos to Hillaire and talking to Vivian, but she continues to hide her new life from her family. Recalling her father’s demand that she stay away from the Prews, she avoids telling her family that she’s now in Edmund’s entourage. She deeply enjoys her Political Theory and Governance class but merely endures her boring Cloning Theory class, tolerating it only because she loathes the alternative—Introduction to Genetic Engineering, which emphasizes the genetic inferiority of low-citizens. 

In their free evenings, Loredana and Charlotte frequent their favorite tap-dancing club, Jolt & Jive, carefully avoiding any discussion of their respective secrets.

Following Edmund’s rules often means breaking minor behavior laws, and the infractions steadily eat away at Loredana’s civil-credit score until she’s dangerously close to expulsion. Worried, Loredana goes to Edmund’s suite early in the morning, intending to discuss the issue, and arrives to find him with his mother, Headmistress Phillipa Prew. Although Phillipa is welcoming, Edmund is enraged by Loredana’s unscheduled appearance. After his mother departs, he angrily forbids Loredana from ever visiting him alone or outside of their designated times. Loredana senses that underneath his anger is desperation and dread, but she can’t understand why he wouldn’t want her to meet his mother.

When Loredana explains that she’s on the verge of expulsion due to the entourage’s activities, Edmund abruptly transfers the daily limit of 200 civil credits to her name. He states that her expulsion would damage his reputation and offers to transfer more credits the following day. He also informs her that she and Charlotte will be let off of their usual entourage duties a bit early next Saturday due to his and Rosamund’s birthday party. During the conversation, Edmund repeatedly thwarts Loredana’s efforts to pour herself a cup of coffee, but when the tense meeting concludes with Loredana sincerely thanking him for the credits and for having saved her life, he acknowledges her sentiments and finally pours her a cup of coffee.

On Monday, the Civilized World mourns the deaths of 63 people who have been killed in the latest Heretic bombing; Loredana is incensed by the Heretics’ tactics and collateral damage, as only 19 of the victims were Blues. Following the memorial, a high-citizen student named Stratton confronts Jack for suggesting that negotiation with the Heretics would be a viable option. When Stratton nearly draws his saber, Edmund intervenes to defend Jack, and Loredana begins to wonder about his true beliefs. 

The tragedy is quickly overshadowed by excitement for Edmund’s upcoming birthday party, to which Loredana and Charlotte are not invited. Feeling indebted to Edmund, Loredana resolves to find him the perfect gift to lessen the imbalance in their power dynamic.

After discovering that Edmund is training to be a pilot, she decides to acquire the Vanguard flight badge of his grandfather Ernest “The Hellion” Prew, whose heroic legacy is tarnished by rumors that he fled the scene of his final battle and died a coward. She contacts Vivian, who keeps a lavish collection of Vanguard badges, including Ernest’s. Vivian agrees to give up the badge, but only if Loredana will give her own most meaningful possession in exchange: her one-of-a-kind designer “Coquette” gown, which she has vowed to wear only when she’s allowed to fence again. Vivian is unaware of how closely Loredana associates the dress with her identity as a fencer, so she grows angry when Loredana refuses to part with the dress, canceling the deal and leaving Loredana without a gift for Edmund.

Feeling guilty for ignoring Vivian’s calls, Loredana still refuses to give up the Coquette dress. One day, Edmund is absent because he must attend a twice-monthly supervised meeting with the imprisoned Irene, arranged by her lawyer. Left on her own, Loredana attends a history lecture and observes the strained politeness of Jack and Charlotte’s exchange when Charlotte asks Jack for a significant loan. Loredana questions Dickie, who reveals that the once-inseparable trio of Edmund, Jack, and Charlotte had their friendship destroyed during a single, unknown incident at the Royce Club; he adds that before that incident, Edmund and Charlotte had been extremely close. 

In class, Rosamund appears and acts overly familiar with Jack while simultaneously ignoring Loredana and Charlotte. Professor Yates reviews the history of the Civilized World. The review covers the fact that the Civilized World was founded 200 years ago due to “an international dispute” over the issue of genetic engineering (287). The shield wall was created to harbor those who were committed to such scientific progress. After 100 years of isolation and peace, the “Rangers” of the Open Range beyond the shield’s borders attacked; the Shield War lasted 30 years, and the Vanguards patrolled the borders of the Civilized World, keeping its inhabitants safe. The professor displays a recovered Ranger artifact—a steel spur. The sight of it makes Loredana reflect on the lingering threat of the Rangers and the internal danger of the Heretics who are plotting to destroy the shield and expose everyone to danger.

While her classmates examine the Rangers’ spur, a suspicious Rosamund, who’s high on the now-illegal Bliss, confronts Loredana and questions her about her arrangement with Edmund. Coddling her pet monkey, Rosamund also warns Loredana that if Irene walks free and marries Edmund as planned, she will then have the power to evict Loredana and Charlotte from Edmund’s entourage. The conversation grows tense as Rosamund accuses Loredana of “thievery” in usurping a closer place with Edmund; she also lets slip that Edmund’s marriage to Irene is arranged. Enraged, Rosamund physically attacks Loredana, scratching her wrist until it bleeds and then insulting her father. 

Loredana flees and runs into Edmund, who notices her injury. When he learns that Rosamund is responsible, Edmund promises his protection, but Loredana points out that the law forbids him from dueling his own sister. Shaken, Loredana returns to her suite to find a package from Vivian containing Ernest Prew’s Vanguard badge. A note states simply, “Because my sister asked” (298). Overcome with guilt and gratitude, Loredana decides to send her treasured Coquette gown to her sister, sacrificing her own plans for the dress.

Loredana awakens to find a full marching band performing in front of the Blue Dormitory in honor of Edmund and Rosamund’s birthday. From her balcony, she observes the twins enjoying a lavish breakfast with Jack and Dickie before witnessing a massive procession of Pinkies who deliver a multitude of gifts. This display of power makes her worry that her own hard-won gift will be lost in the shuffle.

As she and Charlotte prepare to attend a birthday lunch with Edmund, Charlotte confesses that she couldn’t afford a gift, as her father has financially cut her off. Loredana immediately offers to help. At her friend’s urging, Charlotte finally reveals the true source of her conflict with Edmund and Jack, explaining that she cheated on Jack as a way of coping with a full year of Rosamund’s psychological warfare and Jack’s inaction. One evening, she took a bad batch of Bliss, which amplified her anger and led to her infidelity.

Consumed by guilt, Charlotte confesses that she hates herself more than Jack or Edmund ever could and feels like she’s sinking even as Jack begins to move on. Loredana comforts her, reaffirming their friendship and stressing her forgiveness over their past conflict. Loredana finally understands that Charlotte’s physical transformation is her attempt to escape the person she was when she betrayed Jack.

Loredana and Charlotte attend Edmund’s birthday breakfast at the Tangerine Tree, where Loredana intends to give him the Hellion badge. However, before Edmund can open it, Rosamund arrives and buries Loredana’s gift under several of her own. While taking a call from Vivian, Loredana learns that Edmund has been obsessively searching for the Hellion badge for years. She returns to the booth just in time to witness Rosamund claiming the credit for finding the badge. As she fawns over her brother, Rosamund silently texts a threat to Loredana.

Furious, Loredana prepares to confront Rosamund, but Edmund surreptitiously restrains her arm under the table. Later, in the snowy parking lot, he explains that he knows she’s the one who really gave him the badge; he stopped Loredana earlier in order to prevent her from triggering a death duel that she would lose. He states that his father auctioned off Ernest’s uniform years ago as a political publicity stunt, just before being assassinated on election day. Edmund has been reacquiring the pieces of the uniform; the badge and flight jacket are two of the final missing pieces. His engagement to Irene is a means to the flight jacket, which her family currently possesses. He hopes that an examination of the damage to the jacket will prove that his grandfather died honorably: shot in the chest, not from the back. Loredana and Edmund strike a truce as he sincerely thanks her for the gift and she begins to see him as a man, not just as a Blue.

While contemplating her recent friendly conversation with Edmund, Loredana questions whether she can trust him. She asks Charlotte for advice, and Charlotte confirms that Edmund is a trustworthy friend; however, she also warns that he’s completely unforgiving of those who betray him. Deciding not to attend Edmund’s party, Loredana and Charlotte spend the evening together, ending up at a nearly empty dance club. There, Loredana receives two bottles of wine from an anonymous admirer whom she suspects is Edmund, along with a note offering to deliver a third bottle himself. After a night of dancing, they return to their dormitory to find it surrounded by Brasscoats, the secret police who hunt Heretics; there’s a serious arrest in progress.

At a late breakfast in Edmund’s suite, Charlotte reveals that the recently arrested Heretic is Eve Weathers, the Grandmaster (lead student) for the Green Fraternity’s first-years. Tattletale claims that Eve is part of a larger Heretic network on campus. While Edmund’s entourage makes plans to watch the mandatory televised execution on Bloody Sunday, Loredana is filled with dread. She privately messages Edmund and is surprised when he expresses his disagreement with the daily executions of low-citizens; he has objected to this practice since he was about 14, when he first became friends with Jack and Dickie. He only supports the death penalty for traitors like Heretics. Sensing her distress over the prospect of watching Bloody Sunday, Edmund excuses her from watching the broadcast and uses his influence to add her to an official exemption list so that she can skip attendance at all future on-campus executions. Overwhelmed with gratitude for his unexpected kindness and principled stance, Loredana reconsiders her deep-seated mistrust, contemplating the possibility of building a real friendship with him.