Susan Rodriguez contacts Dresden to tell him they have a daughter, Margaret Angelica ("Maggie" for short), who has been kidnapped by the Duchess Arianna, the widow of a Red Court duke that Ebenezar McCoy thought he had killed several years earlier. Dresden goes to Edinburgh to seek help from the council. However, upon his arrival, he discovers Arianna is there, hosting a peace conference with the rest of the council.

Dresden openly challenges Arianna to a duel to the death over his daughter's kidnapping, but is prevented from carrying it through by the other members of the council. Infuriated, Dresden returns home.