Black Cloaks Essex and Pax make desperate moves to uncover the truth before powerful forces cover it up forever. A dead man speaks. Magicians scheme. And the deadly mysteries of the Lagoon prove impossible for our heroes to resist.

Phaedra walks through The Trees section of Kiros, hearing everyone whisper about her being a Black Cloak. The Cloaks are not popular there.

She visits an old contact, a noodle stand owner, Jonos. Pax shows up. They discuss the value of Black Cloaks in bringing law and new perspectives to Kiros. She tells him that she and Freyal used to have a hiding place in one of the trees where they left notes for each other. She explains how she found scarring on Freyal's wrists. She says the Kiros Three, who were at her apartment last issue, tried to pin the murder on the Dracona. Pax and Phaedra both feel that this, and all the other Dracona evidence, is too easy.

They visit the hiding place. They use the keys that Phaedra got from her apartment last issue. A hologram of Freyal plays. He says he found some kind of injustice in his mother's palace and that while he didn't feel he could deal with it, maybe she could. But he's worried that "they" might kill her, so he needs to find a way to let her know surreptitiously, possibly by killing himself and then leaving clues.

They go back to Pax's home and chat with his family for a bit.

At the palace, Master Ividor, one of the queen's lead magicians, asks Valorie what spell she used to heal Phaedra after her brother tried to kill her. He and Master Lysanthir are trying to figure out how she survived the second attempt on her life, by a Dracona dagger.

Pax and Phaedra visit a strip club where Renna, who knew Dace and Freyal, works. Renna says that some Dracona royals have already visited and physically pressured her for information. But she also says it's hard to know who anybody really is. She has no new info for them.

Phaedra gets a call from the Lagoon again. Their friend Sash helps them visit the Maids with some gear that minimizes the effects of their songs. Phaedra wants to talk to them because normal witnesses, like Renna, might be tampered with, but nobody messes with the Maids.

They dive in.