Summary

The opening contains a letter from the Matriarch of House Kore reflecting on her family legacy as a letter from the previous Patriarch who feared the power of the West Babel Fragment. The night before the party, Zofia clams herself with calculations as Laila helps her pack her outfits. When Zofia says Laila should be the baroness, Laila says she must go as a nautch dancer and encourages Zofia. Later, she boards the train with Séverin and Enrique and explains that Enrique’s cane is a potential light bomb if he needs to confuse any enemies, and his prosthetic hump contains a piranha solution. Enrique completes her. As they reach House Kore, Zofia thinks about numbers and how they, unlike people, cannot lie.

On the way to House Kore, Séverin thinks of his fourth father...