Chapter 11: Basilard wakes up naked in the cell of a strange vessel. Meanwhile, Akstyr gets a lead on the kidnappers and takes Amaranthe and the others to the docks.

Chapter 10: After turning the trap on Mancrest, Amaranthe and the rest of the team take their new clues and search for the kidnappers in the heart of the capital. Amaranthe discovers an old enemy is involved.

Chapter 9: Basilard and Sicarius are both missing. Deret Mancrest proposes another meeting, this time at midnight in the ruins of Pyramid Park. Amaranthe suspects another trap, but the journalist may have useful information.

Chapter 8: Amaranthe and Maldynado search for Sicarius. Basilard competes in the "clank race" and draws the kidnappers' attention by posting the fastest time amongst the early round entrants.

Chapter 7: Sicarius fails to return from the spy errand.

Chapter 6: Amaranthe and Sicarius visit a group of miners who may have something to do with the kidnappings. Shortly after sending Sicarius off to follow the leader, she discovers his name on a list that includes the missing athletes.

Chapter 5: Amaranthe talks Basilard into entering an event in the Games, thus to spy from within.

Chapter 4: After eluding Mancrest’s trap, Amaranthe decides to visit him anyway, to see what information the journalist may have on the kidnappings. Dinner with Mancrest—with Sicarius looming nearby—proves interesting.

Chapter 3: Sicarius's hunch is correct. Meanwhile, the rest of the team searches the Imperial Games grounds and find signs of illegal magic use.

Chapter 2: Maldynado has arranged a “date” with a warrior-caste journalist, Deret Mancrest, for Amaranthe. Believing it a trap, Sicarius invites himself a long.