Harrison’s appointment as Grandmaster shocks everyone, as Grandmasters are almost always sixth-years. Loredana suspects that Lily Burton arranged the promotion for him. During the swearing-in, Harrison looks at Loredana only once, wearing an expression of shame. He then announces a duel between Vincent’s younger brother, William Lee, and Jack in order to decide which fencer will represent the Greens in the upcoming Mensur (a formal inter-fraternity duel in which the losing faction forfeits standing privileges for the semester). Loredana is stunned to see that Jack is sober and is fighting with incredible skill; he easily defeats the reckless and hotheaded William. 

After the meeting, Harrison asks to speak with Loredana alone. He apologizes for Lily’s prohibition and explains that as Grandmaster, he can speak to her during Fraternity meetings. Because Lily’s entourage doesn’t meet until the following morning, Harrison invites her to ride hoverboards over the piranha-filled Luminescent Lake. Loredana regards the deadly fish with dread, as several students have lost their lives in the lake. However, she agrees and enjoys speeding across the open water. Partway through the trip, their reunion is cut short when Harrison suddenly grows anxious and abruptly leaves the lake. Loredana assumes that Lily has summoned him via his Bond.

With the executions over, life on campus settles into a routine. Loredana finds herself growing closer to Edmund, Jack, and Dickie, as well as Charlotte. However, Charlotte reminds her that their arrangement is temporary, as Edmund is engaged to Irene, who will force him to take on a different entourage if she marries him. Loredana also develops a genuine interest in politics and considers emulating her father’s career path. Although she knows her current peace is a temporary illusion, she resolves to enjoy this time as best she can.

During a rock-climbing trip with Edmund and Dickie, Edmund criticizes her for giving away her civil credits to help others, claiming that they wouldn’t do the same for her. However, she defends her belief in kindness, taking him aback. Later, the entourage goes surfing at night, and Edmund generously shares his own superior night vision with her via their Bonds, letting her see the ocean floor through his eyes. She looks into the water and expresses amazement at the beauty of a seashell she couldn’t quite reach. However, she grows distant when she realizes the gulf that separates them, especially given the Blues’ greater access to genetically engineered advantages. When they drift too far from shore, Edmund pulls her onto his board and catches a massive wave, treating her to an intense ride back to shore. As the entourage lounges on the beach, Loredana notices deep scratches on Edmund’s back and wonders what inflicted them. 

A few days later, she learns from another student that Edmund has secretly begun giving away civil credits to low-citizens in need. As time passes, the two continue to grow closer. During a poker game, Loredana realizes that Edmund has taken her lost hair ribbon as a keepsake, and she begins to suspect that he may have romantic feelings for her.

Loredana wakes to find her room filled with seashells, along with an affectionate note from Edmund. Later, a blizzard traps the entourage in Edmund’s suite for a week, and Loredana amuses herself with the novelty of the luxurious surroundings. To manage her intense feelings for Edmund, she avoids him and works off her energy by boxing in his exercise room. Upon exploring the suite, she surreptitiously enters his bedroom and discovers a life-size statue of his grandfather, dressed in a uniform he wore during the Shield War. The Vanguard badge is pinned to it. Dickie catches her there, and when she asks him not to tell Edmund about her intrusion, he blackmails her into playing a complex card game with him every week. 

Later, Loredana watches Edmund and Jack fencing and is disturbed to see that Edmund’s style is identical to that of Charles Blackwell. When Dickie exposes her past as a fencer, she tells the group a half-truth, claiming that she quit because she had a bad temper just like William Lee does. After noting that Loredana is missing an earring, Edmund encourages her not to quit fencing and gives her a gift before returning to his sparring match with Jack. Just then, Loredana receives an urgent call from her sister Hillaire.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, Loredana slips out to the balcony to take Hillaire’s call. Hillaire reveals that their father plans to run for Governor of the Rainbow District, a move she believes will get him killed by the Blues. She begs Loredana to dissuade him, and Loredana promises to do so the next time she speaks to their father. Before they can finish the conversation, Edmund’s mother arrives, and Loredana sees the rest of the entourage leaving below. Just then, Hillaire spots the distinctive architecture of the Blue Dormitory and demands to know where on campus Loredana is. To avoid answering, Loredana hangs up. 

Not wanting to interrupt Edmund and Phillipa, she hides on the balcony. Charlotte texts to ask where she is, and she evades. Loredana then witnesses Phillipa berating Edmund for neglecting his engagement to Irene. She demands that he abandon his sympathies for low-citizens, but Edmund refuses, stating that he will protect Loredana, who’s the key witness in Irene’s trial. Enraged, Phillipa locks the door and attacks Edmund, violently scratching his face and chest. Edmund doesn’t defend himself. Phillipa tells him that he’s now her greatest shame and then leaves. Edmund limps to the mirror and examines his injuries. Horrified by Phillipa’s abuse, Loredana stays hidden on the balcony until Edmund withdraws and then sneaks unseen out of the Blue Dormitory.

Loredana grows concerned when Edmund misses a week of classes. Jack and Dickie cover for him, claiming that he’s on “vacation” in his suite. Loredana finally opens Edmund’s gift to find a Florence Engine (a palm-sized mechanical device used to visually display a person’s emotional state). She uses the device frequently to practice controlling her anger. 

In a private conversation with Dickie, Loredana learns how the entourage formed. He and Jack had been living at a Civilized Youth House (an orphanage) and had known each other for a year before they both met Edmund, who visited the facility with his parents. Edmund was initially arrogant until Jack and Dickie humbled him. He eventually used his inheritance money to take them in despite Phillipa’s disapproval. 

Finally, Edmund returns to class with his injuries fully healed, and Loredana is pained to see him greet her with a smile, as if nothing is wrong.

Loredana tells Charlotte a half-truth about the night of Phillipa’s attack, claiming that she needed to be alone because she was upset about her father’s political ambitions. Weighed down by Edmund’s secret and her own growing feelings for him, she begins to avoid him. However, Edmund refuses to be put off and pursues her. One day in the library, they share a moment of intense closeness that nearly breaks her resolve to resist his charms. 

Frightened by her lack of control, Loredana tries to date another Green student named Andrés, but when she finds that she can only compare him to Edmund, she backs away. Realizing that avoiding Edmund is futile, she rejoins the entourage more fully. Edmund confronts her, asking what he did wrong. Believing that she’s concerned for her own safety on campus, he changes their arrangement, insisting that she now spend evenings with him for her own protection as Irene’s trial approaches. Abandoning her caution, Loredana agrees.

In the hovercar on the way to the stables, Edmund reveals that Irene found Loredana’s missing earring in his bedroom and is now certain that he’s having an affair. Aghast, Loredana apologizes. She asks why he keeps breaking his own rules about being alone with her and touching her, and he promises to answer her later. 

At the stables, he arranges for the rest of the group to take a separate trail to the rendezvous while he and Loredana ride a different route. While the two stop at a creek, a rattlesnake attacks Loredana, but Edmund intercepts it and is bitten. She tries to give him first aid, but he explains that Blues are immune to the venom. The faux crisis dissolves their remaining inhibitions, prompting Edmund to confess that he has fallen in love with her because she saw him as a person, not just as a Blue. Despite their fears about being punished as “Vulgars” (those who fraternize with other castes), they share their first kiss and then quickly move into the woods to avoid being seen by a passing group of Blues.

Edmund and Loredana begin meeting in secret, their relationship deepening in the forests and hidden coves around campus. He brings her small gifts from nature and stops using her formal title, though he has yet to say her first name. He also expresses his hope that Irene will be convicted so that he will be “free” of her. One night, Loredana whistles his favorite military song, which soothes his characteristic restlessness. On another night, he dives to the ocean floor to bring her a handful of mud, fulfilling her wish to touch the bottom. However, their feelings become increasingly difficult to hide from their friends, and during a dinner, Charlotte nearly catches them kissing. One evening, when Edmund falls asleep in Loredana’s lap, she notices a fresh scratch on his neck, characteristic of Phillipa’s abuse, and resolves to tell her father that she’s in Edmund’s entourage.

Loredana and her father agree to have a talk on Saturday. Meanwhile, during a Green Fraternity meeting, Coppers storm the hall to arrest the short-tempered William, whose myriad behavior violations have brought his civil-credit score below the arrest threshold. As they beat him and carry him away, his brother Vincent tries to intervene and is also beaten. Horrified that no one is helping, Loredana acts, hurriedly transferring 200 of her own civil credits to William and agreeing to the contractual obligations without reading the fine print. The transfer immediately invalidates the arrest warrant, and the Coppers release William. The lead sergeant glares at Loredana, making it clear that he knows what she did. A battered William thanks her profusely, and the incident breaks the tension between Loredana and Vincent, who shake hands in a tearful reconciliation. Afterward, Jack warns her that her act of kindness comes with a great risk, as such transfers can create a debt that is “rigged never to clear” (449).

William and Vincent leave a vase of daffodils, Loredana’s favorite flower, outside her door as a thank you. The violent arrest continues to haunt her, shattering her perception of the campus’s peaceful façade. One day, civil credits are deducted from her account even though she committed no infraction. An official notice from the Office of Civility informs her that she has essentially vouched for William’s “virtuous” character and is now legally liable for all of his future civil-credit deductions. As William’s small but steady infractions eat away at her own civil-credit score, Loredana is horrified but remains unwilling to condemn William to prison. She grimly accepts her new reality, but this injustice makes her decide to support her father’s political ambitions despite her promise to Hillaire that she would dissuade Bruce from running for governor of the Rainbow District. When she and Edmund discuss the consequences of her decision to save William, Edmund offers his full support and promises to protect her.

That Saturday, Loredana calls her father and affirms her support for his campaign. She then cautiously admits to being in a Blue’s entourage. He accepts her decision with equanimity, understanding that she did this to survive, but when she tells him that the Blue in question is Edmund Prew, he’s furious. He tells her that he forbade contact with the Prews because Charles Blackwell was Edmund’s cousin. Loredana is devastated, but Bruce instructs her not to leave the entourage abruptly. He advises slowly distancing herself over the summer to avoid rousing suspicion. She demands to know why he never told her about Charles’s family connections, and Bruce admits that he assumed she would obey him and that her ignorance would keep her safe. As the call ends, Loredana realizes that she has unknowingly broken Edmund’s one rule—not to betray him. She’s taken aback to realize that she’s in love with the cousin of the man who assaulted her.