Later, Gentle is confronted by a creature known as a 'Nullianac', and manages to kill it using a protective spell called a 'pneuma'. They soon get into a conflict with some locals and are helped by a man named Tick Raw. Pie and Gentle arrive in the Fourth Dominion and head to the nearby village of Vanaeph, where the Autarch is coming to investigate rumours of rebellion. Judith, who was coming to see Gentle, arrives just as the two go away. Gentle, meanwhile, has another encounter with Pie, and the two of them pass through the 'In Ovo' to the Fourth Dominion. She also discovers a strange blue stone that causes her to have an out of body experience, during which she witnesses a mummified woman being kept prisoner by the Tabula Rasa in the Roxborough Tower. Judith returns to England and sneaks into Estabrook's house to steal back some of her former property. Godolphin later revives Dowd and gives him permission to kill Pie. Godolphin meets with the Tabula Rasa and murders Dowd in front of them, convincing them that Dowd was actually a doppelganger who had taken on Godolphin's appearance while travelling between worlds.

Despite being a member of the Tabula Rasa, Godolphin frequently travels between Earth and the reconciled dominions. A man from one of the other Dominions named Dowd is ordered by the council to bring his master, Oscar Godolphin, to see them. Meanwhile, the Tabula Rasa meet at Roxborough Tower to discuss the recent events regarding Pie'oh'pah. Gentle is horrified and demands that Pie leave. During their tryst, Judith calls, alerting Gentle to the fact that he is in fact coupling with the shape-shifting assassin. Gentle chases Pie away, but Pie, who has the ability to change his exterior, later disguises himself as Judith and comes to Gentle's apartment with the intent of having sex with him.

Later, Gentle comes upon Judith just as Pie is making a second attempt on her life. Estabrook, having come to regret hiring the assassin to kill Judith, then contacts Judith's former lover, an artist named John Furie Zacharias also known as 'Gentle', and asks Gentle to protect her. Pie heads to New York and makes an attempt on Judith's life, but fails. The novel opens with a man, Charlie Estabrook, hiring the mysterious assassin Pie'oh'pah to murder his estranged wife, Judith.

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