Lyria wakes up and finds that her injuries have been treated. Leaving her room, she finds Matteo Sun, the husband of Quicksilver, or Regulus. Lyria learns that the parasite in her head is a powerful artificial intelligence (AI) created by Sun Industries. Matteo offers to either fix or remove the AI. When Lyria hears that fixing the AI might impair memories of her family, she elects to have it removed: “I’d rather die than forget my sister, my pa, and my ma. My brothers. They already died once. If I don’t remember them…” (132). As Lyria prepares for surgery, Matteo says that they will not reenter the fight but that Darrow could change Quicksilver’s mind.

Virginia receives word that Lyria is at the secret Sun Industries location, and she sends a fleet of soldiers for Lyria. She talks to Kavax, who is ready for the impending Society attack. Virginia does not feel prepared. She and Kavax visit Pax, who has enrolled in the Darkstar Conservatory. Kavax is concerned about Virginia’s mysterious source of information.

Pax comes out, saluting rather than hugging Virginia. He has changed since enrolling—he’s become thinner since advancing to an accelerated program and has a shaved and tattooed head . Pax questions whether Virginia has news of Darrow or if she has pardoned Valdir, which she has not. She tells him that Lyria has found Quicksilver’s lab. Pax wants to go, arguing that the emissaries won’t be able to convince Quicksilver to help, but Virginia says no. Virginia apologizes for handing Pax a legacy of war, and they hug before Pax returns to the school building. Virginia, feeling an intense love for her son, is now prepared for battle.

Lysander—now without the burn scar on his face from Darrow’s boot—arrives on Earth and is met by Ajax. They argue and are joined by Atlas, and Lysander notes the differences between bulky Ajax and his lean, cold father. Atlas and Aja—two Olympic Knights—were “bred” to create Ajax. After Atlas leaves, Ajax warns Lysander to kneel before Atalantia and gives him Tharsus’s head to carry.

Lysander goes to Atalantia, who is holding a hunt. Atalantia is strengthening her allyships after upsetting the Carthii. She wants Lysander to attack Luna before the Society attacks Mars. Lysander argues that this will damage relationships with the Rim, but Atlas defends Atalantia’s point: Invading Luna first will help them strengthen their forces, and the time delay will weaken Mars. The uncertainty of Mars’s fate also protects Atalantia’s political power. Atalantia sends for Glirastes, who is naked and leashed like a dog. She warns that she will kill Glirastes if Lysander disobeys, and she hits him and scolds him for sending forces to Apollonius, pushing Lysander to kneel and apologize. Lysander agrees to publicly support Atalantia at the upcoming meeting of the Two Hundred, a council of Gold representatives of the most prominent families that remain loyal to the Society.

In the evening, Ajax visits Lysander, and they turn on a sound-canceling device called a JamField to talk privately. He does not believe Lysander when he says that Atalantia killed his parents.

The summit begins. The attendants are briefed on Volsung Fa and the attack on the Dockyards of Venus. Diomedes gives a report, and Atalantia makes a joke at his expense. He is replaced by his mother, Dido, who stands up to Atalantia, having lost her husband and daughter to the war against the Rising: “As you rebuild your cities, stack your spoils, polish your boots, the rest of us—fewer in bodies, poorer in monies—suffer to pay the bill” (166). Dido presses Atalantia to keep her word and attack Mars, but Atalantia declines. Lysander stands to speak.

Atalantia tries to prevent Lysander from speaking, but he is supported by an old rule allowing interjections. Lysander addresses the Two Hundred, publicly disagreeing with Atalantia and calling for the Rim and Core Golds to come to an agreement to prevent future conflict. He asserts that Apollonius should lead the war on Mars and reveals that he has repaired the divide between the Carthii and Rath —an agreement that gives control of the Dockyards of Venus back to the Carthii. Apollonius enters, seconding Lysander’s propositions, and numerous members of the Two Hundred agree. Atalantia does not impede their plans but states that she and the Core Society forces will not participate. Afterward, Atalantia learns that Lysander knows she helped kill his parents.

Virginia rushes to meet Harnassus, Char, Thraxa, and Screwface, who have just arrived on Mars. Victra tells Virginia that Darrow and Sevro are alive, and Char tells Virginia about the approaching armies. The four new arrivals, though exhausted, say that they are prepared to fight.

The remaining Republic forces on Mars prepare for war, and Deanna gives a motivational speech in Lykos. The forces perform the Fading Dirge, pounding their chests and covering their sigils with mud. Thraxa leads the powerful Pegasus Legion, which will be held back until a critical moment of battle. Everyone departs for their stations.

Victra leads the fleet over the north pole, Niobe covers the south pole, and Char defends the moon Phobos, from which Virginia commands the battle from the Nucleus. Virginia is upset at seeing the Lightbringer. The ship slows unexpectedly, and Virginia is frustrated and confused.

The enemy ships circle Mars at a distance for hours and then release massive bombs on Victra’s fleet, which Victra survives, though half of her fleet is lost. Virginia sends Niobe and Char to defend the north pole.

Before dropping an Iron Rain, a mass invasion tactic of the Golds, on Phobos, Lysander gives his cloak to a Red soldier, who is part of a fleet of Red driving ClawDrills, 40-meter drills, in the attack. Ajax tells Lysander that he will not forgive Atalantia for killing Lysander’s parents. Lysander waits in the SpitTube, a large railgun that will launch his ship for the Iron Rain: “I’m terrified. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to be here” (200). He suppresses his fear.

Lysander’s forces attack Phobos, sacrificing several smaller ships to get closer to the Martian moon. Virginia orders the shield to be disabled to prevent a system overload. Soldiers and ClawDrills fall on Phobos. Virginia orders a fleet to stop the drills from penetrating the surface. She then orders engineers to enter an irradiated area to restore the shield, a mission that will kill them. Kavax leaves to join the fighting, leaving his anxious fox, Sophocles, in the Nucleus.

Lysander falls in the Iron Rain, successfully making it through the clouds of debris. He lands on the surface and finds his ClawDrill. He watches the drill tear through an inhabited apartment building and then finds Ajax and Rhone.

Virginia wears a prism showing her multiple perspectives of the ongoing fighting, and though she offers suggestions, she leaves most of the orders to her officers. Virginia sees Ajax and sends him a thousand members of her Lionguard soldiers. She receives word that Diomedes is on Phobos. While the Republic initially appears to have the upper hand, the Society forces gain traction, and Kavax stops replying as Apollonius’s fleet attacks.

Virginia orders a retreat but refuses to evacuate, continuing to give battle orders. Apollonius calls on Kavax’s comms.

Virginia orders the evacuation drop of the Nucleus, but the drop shaft broke in the attack. The enemy begins drilling into the Nucleus, raising the temperature and burning the unarmored people inside. Virginia and others escape the Nucleus but are surrounded by enemies. She orders her surrounding soldiers to stand together against the fractured Society forces.

Virginia and others run from Apollonius’s soldiers, hiding in a rec room. Holiday joins them with battle updates, including news that Kavax is alive and imprisoned. Cicero addresses Virginia on the intercom, calling for her to surrender. They leave the rec room and find that Apollonius has set a trap for them; Virginia makes a plan to take Apollonius to trade for Kavax. For a moment, they net Apollonius, but he breaks free, and Virginia and her surviving fighters retreat.

Apollonius chases Virginia as she and the others retreat. They move through the sanitation system, and Virginia parts from her guards to free Valdir, who agrees to fight for her when he learns that Darrow is alive. Virginia frees and arms the other Obsidians, reflecting on Darrow’s psychological approach to war while she listens to the Obsidians fight. They kill Apollonius’s men, taking several losses and losing Apollonius, who fled. Valdir says that they will not win a second fight: “We must flee now” (235). Rejoining the remaining Lionguard, Virginia and the survivors escape through a fertilizer plant.

Lysander is satisfied with the progression of the battle. Kyber shoots a medicus tending Ajax, correctly intuiting that the medicus has a bomb. Victra and her remaining forces arrive to defend Phobos. Lysander calls for Cicero to provide backup, but he refuses to stop pursuing Virginia. Ajax and a group of soldiers depart to fight Victra.

As they move forward, Virginia notes that the Obsidians seem to be enjoying themselves. Valdir explains that the Obsidians will mourn their losses later and are focusing on the idea that their companions “had a good death” (244). Screwface finds them, telling Virginia that Victra used the Pegasus Legion on Phobos. Valdir agrees to fight alongside Screwface as a Howler, but the Obsidians first receive medical treatment.

Lysander meets Diomedes, and they receive word that Ajax was killed. Lysander watches footage of Ajax being killed by Victra: “I force myself to watch. There’s something dispassionate about the way they whittle Ajax down” (247). Diomedes believes they have lost, while Rhone argues that they have not lost—they are just in war.

Virginia visits wounded soldiers every day during the fighting on Phobos: “When they die holding my hand, when they whisper Darrow’s name, when they say they will find peace in the Vale, I break a little more, and each time I find that in the breaking I grow stronger, more desperate to protect this beautiful idea my husband has awoken” (251). After 12 days, Victra arrives with Cicero as a prisoner and Ajax’s head.

Virginia and Lysander meet for a parley, and they discuss Darrow and the current fighting. Lysander offers a deal: He will let the Republic flee Phobos and return to Mars if Virginia peacefully concedes Phobos, which will be given to Apollonius. Lysander also asks for Oracles, and they agree to trade Kavax and Cicero.

Virginia returns, telling the others the terms of their surrender. While several people, including Thraxa, are upset, Virginia argues that Lysander would be easier to defeat than Atalantia. Everyone is happy when Kavax is wheeled in.

A different Red soldier returns Lysander’s cloak, and Lysander gives honors to the fighters, refusing to accept honors himself. They destroy a monument to Darrow. The Society forces celebrate with a party. Lysander reveals his plan to attack Mars in a few days and speaks of his plans to make the Society more stable and fairer.

Lysander roams a garden and finds Diomedes. Lysander, realizing that he has been poisoned with the Lament, begins bleeding from his eyes and experiencing intense pain.

Virginia speaks to Darrow over a hologram, asking about Pax before going through the prearranged identity confirmation tests. They exchange updates, and Virginia asks him not to return to Mars, instead requesting that he go to Quicksilver to secure more forces for the coming battle on Mars. Darrow agrees: He regrets not listening to her when she advised him against going to Mercury in the first place.

Virginia updates Darrow, Cassius, and Sevro on Quicksilver’s laboratory and Lyria. Sevro asks to see Victra and their baby, but Victra is not with Virginia. Sevro leaves, and Virginia offers Cassius the position of Morning Knight for the Republic, which he accepts. Cassius leaves Darrow alone with Virginia, and Virginia asks Darrow not to pursue Volsung Fa while he is in the Rim. He tells her about Athena, but Virginia is worried that the Daughters of Ares will not forgive Darrow for giving up names of the Sons of Ares in the Rim. The communication line is compromised, and the connection is severed. After the conversation with Virginia, the mood is low on the Archimedes.

Lysander is woken, against Rhone’s wishes, so that he can speak to Diomedes and discover why the Rim’s fleets are leaving. Diomedes tells Lysander that Volsung Fa is attacking Ilium in the Rim. He wants Lysander to come and reinforce the relationship between Core and Rim Golds.

Lysander, suffering the effects of the Lament and still wearing the leech filtering the poison from his body, holds an impromptu summit to inform his other allies—Lady Bellona and Apollonius—of his plans to help the Rim while the others maintain their position over Mars. Lysander and a group of Praetorians are to ride on the Dustmaker with Helios.