On a spring day seven years ago, Lore goes with her father to deliver a package to the Kadmides. At the meeting, they find Aristos Kadmou sitting on a throne, looking to Lore like she imagined “Hades would as he oversaw his kingdom of the dead” (188). Rather than an alliance, Kadmou proposes an offer. He wishes to buy Lore so he can marry her. Lore’s father refuses. He knows Kadmou truly makes the offer to mingle Perseus and Kadmou blood so the Kadmides can wield the aegis shield—an artifact only usable by the Perseids, the bloodline to which it was gifted.

Aristos asks Lore what she wants. Lore responds she will be a warrior, and Aristos insults her, saying she is neither brave nor strong enough. In response, Lore attacks one of the Kadmides, her father pulling her back at the last moment. The Kadmides converge on them, but Aristos intervenes, giving Lore’s father money to purchase Lore and demanding a response by the end of the Agon. Lore and her father leave with a final threat from Aristos that there is no other place for Lore in their world, and he “will ensure that, one way or another” (195).