Enter Elodie, daughter of Flora, winged trump artist.
Elodie hasn't been much involved in events in Amber for years, but returns for the funeral of Random, who was a close friend. She finds that in Random's absence, a Triumvirate of Benedict, Fiona, and Julian are in charge, while Julian, Bleys, and Flora are considered the chief contenders for the throne. Flora and Deirdre attempt to secure her support for Flora's candidacy, but Elodie is skeptical. Natasha invites Elodie to visit her place in Rebma.
Eric is alive and immediately starts making plans to seize Amber. Jericho appears to have second thoughts and, in part to prove he is really who he appears to be, Eric plans to walk the pattern in Rebma. He talks to Moire in her throne room and makes the arrangements. Jericho, Silas, and Gerhardt are also there. Natasha and Elodie, having been turned away at the door of the throne room, watch their conference from a hidden passage.
Afterwards all of them proceed to the pattern room in Rebma, Natasha and Elodie secretly trailing the others. Jericho, via his telepathic bond to Isabelle, discovers that Bleys has already learned of Eric's return to the living. He informs Eric as they arrive at the Pattern room. Eric Trumps in troops he had waiting for his return and they take up positions guarding the Pattern, and Eric starts walking it. Moire, watching from the overlooking balcony, is upset by the unexpected arrival of soldiers and sends for her own men, who take up positions on the balcony. The situation is tense… Then one of Moire's guards shoots Eric with an arrow. He collapses, then gets up and staggers. Silas tries to trump him which angers Eric. Natasha and Elodie manage to get inside in time to see Eric crawl to the finish and collapse. Jericho proceeds to walk the Pattern after him and reaches Eric. He takes Eric to Ridgemont, a fast time shadow near Earth, for medical attention. Eric's shooter is established to be a magically conditioned sleeper agent. Gerhardt takes the arrow for further study.
Eric's troops leave. Silas and Natasha Trump to The Revenge, Silas' new ship. There they meet Caine, who is aware of Eric and questions the wisdom of bringing him back. He informs them of a new law passed by The Triumvirate which says anyone ever declared dead is not in the line of succession for the throne of Amber. This invalidates Eric… As well as Oberon, Finndo, Corwin, and Caine himself. Silas notes this is only relevant if they enforce it.
Elodie Trumps Flora, joins her in Amber, and tells her that Eric is alive, injured, has walked the Pattern, and wants the throne back, and that Jericho and Silas are helping him. Flora is very pleased by her daughter's show of support, which makes Elodie uncomfortable. She says she's afraid her mother will get hurt if she continues to seek the throne.
Elodie flies Natasha to the roof of Castle Amber, where they discover a large armada far out at sea. Natasha reports to Benedict, while maintaining an open Trump contact with Elodie. Elodie flies out to sea and finds the armada to consist of about a thousand ships commanded by an Oberon clone, who spots her and beckons for her to join him. She allows Natasha to pull her back to the castle. Natasha also discovers a large army supposedly working for Bleys planning to invade Amber. It is commanded by what appears to be Benedict.
Just about everyone goes to the Map Room, where Benedict is preparing to repel the invasion. Silas produces the replicant detector and scans everyone. It says Benedict is fake. Annoyed, Benedict claims it is a setup by Caine, but under pressure from Jericho, he finally agrees to walk the Pattern in Castle Amber. So that he loses the minimum amount of time if he turns out to be legitimate, Elodie offers to drop down the center of the stairway to the Pattern, and Trump Benedict through when she reaches the Pattern Room. Benedict starts walking the Pattern and is promptly vaporized.
The group tries to Trump Benedict and find that the real one is with Bleys and his army and that they had been blocked from reaching Amber by Trump until now. They come through. Benedict says that the Oberon clone commanding the fleet is under Fiona's control. He is fed up with succession disputes and invasions of Amber by the family and announces that a conference of the entire family will be held to settle the succession.