Palamedes is reminded, briefly, of the first time he had met Gideon. When he and Cam had told her how long Harrow had been in the Facility, she had been frantic in a cavalier-ish sort of way, equal parts furious and determined to find her necromancer. A dry smile ticks at the corner of his mouth. “I appreciate your faith in me,” he deadpans, darkly amused by the idea that Harrowhark Nonagesimus would listen to sense.

Gideon’s clothes are unsettlingly bloody, though, so his humor is short-lived. Steeling himself for what he might see, he steps into the apartment and goes where Gideon directs him.

He’s not at all ready for what he finds—Harrowhark the First in all her furious glory, pearlescent robes gleaming over what looks like a breastplate of bone, her face streaked in blood. It’s all enough to leave even Palamedes Sextus frozen in his tracks.