diff --git a/src/SquidStd.Persistence.Abstractions/Data/PagedResult.cs b/src/SquidStd.Persistence.Abstractions/Data/PagedResult.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ba24a988
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SquidStd.Persistence.Abstractions/Data/PagedResult.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+namespace SquidStd.Persistence.Abstractions.Data;
+
+/// <summary>One page of entities, and the total the filter matched before paging.</summary>
+/// <param name="Items">The entities on this page, as detached clones.</param>
+/// <param name="Total">
+/// How many entities the filter matched, before <paramref name="Skip" /> and <paramref name="Take" /> —
+/// which is what a caller needs to know how many pages exist. Counting it costs nothing: the filter has
+/// already run.
+/// </param>
+/// <param name="Skip">The offset this page was taken from.</param>
+/// <param name="Take">The page size asked for. The page may hold fewer at the end of the results.</param>
+public sealed record PagedResult<TEntity>(IReadOnlyList<TEntity> Items, int Total, int Skip, int Take);
diff --git a/src/SquidStd.Persistence.Abstractions/Interfaces/Persistence/IEntityStore.cs b/src/SquidStd.Persistence.Abstractions/Interfaces/Persistence/IEntityStore.cs
index 337ee30a..a327824e 100644
--- a/src/SquidStd.Persistence.Abstractions/Interfaces/Persistence/IEntityStore.cs
+++ b/src/SquidStd.Persistence.Abstractions/Interfaces/Persistence/IEntityStore.cs
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+using SquidStd.Persistence.Abstractions.Data;
+
 namespace SquidStd.Persistence.Abstractions.Interfaces.Persistence;
 
 /// <summary>
@@ -28,6 +30,34 @@ public interface IEntityStore<TEntity, in TKey>
 
     ValueTask<TEntity?> GetByIdAsync(TKey id, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default);
     IQueryable<TEntity> Query();
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Completes synchronously from memory. Filters, orders and pages under the state lock, cloning only
+    /// the entities on the returned page — unlike <see cref="GetAll" /> and <see cref="Query" />, whose
+    /// cost is a deep clone of the whole store on every call.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <param name="filter">
+    /// Kept entities, or null for all of them. Runs under the state lock against live, uncloned entities,
+    /// so it must be a pure, cheap read: no I/O, no locks, no calls back into the store, and it must not
+    /// mutate its argument — a mutation here would change stored state with no journal entry behind it.
+    /// </param>
+    /// <param name="orderBy">
+    /// The sort key. Required, not optional: paging an unordered bucket is meaningless, because
+    /// enumeration order is not contractual and shifts as entries come and go, so a page could repeat or
+    /// drop an entity with nothing in the result admitting it. Ties break on the entity's own key, which
+    /// requires <typeparamref name="TKey" /> to be comparable — every realistic key is, and a key that is
+    /// not throws on the first comparison rather than mis-ordering quietly.
+    /// </param>
+    /// <param name="skip">Entities to skip. Past the end yields an empty page and the true total.</param>
+    /// <param name="take">Page size. The last page may hold fewer.</param>
+    /// <param name="descending">Reverses <paramref name="orderBy" />. The tiebreak reverses with it.</param>
+    PagedResult<TEntity> QueryPaged<TOrder>(
+        Func<TEntity, bool>? filter,
+        Func<TEntity, TOrder> orderBy,
+        int skip,
+        int take,
+        bool descending = false
+    );
     ValueTask<bool> RemoveAsync(TKey id, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default);
     ValueTask UpsertAsync(TEntity entity, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default);
 }
diff --git a/src/SquidStd.Persistence/Services/EntityStore.cs b/src/SquidStd.Persistence/Services/EntityStore.cs
index 46e49976..ca718a2c 100644
--- a/src/SquidStd.Persistence/Services/EntityStore.cs
+++ b/src/SquidStd.Persistence/Services/EntityStore.cs
@@ -71,6 +71,40 @@ public IQueryable<TEntity> Query()
         }
     }
 
+    public PagedResult<TEntity> QueryPaged<TOrder>(
+        Func<TEntity, bool>? filter,
+        Func<TEntity, TOrder> orderBy,
+        int skip,
+        int take,
+        bool descending = false
+    )
+    {
+        lock (_stateStore.SyncRoot)
+        {
+            // Filtering and ordering run against the live entities, not clones: that is the whole saving.
+            // Only what survives skip/take is cloned, so the cost is O(bucket) comparisons plus O(page)
+            // clones instead of O(bucket) clones.
+            IEnumerable<TEntity> matching = Bucket().Values;
+
+            if (filter is not null)
+            {
+                matching = matching.Where(filter);
+            }
+
+            var matched = matching as IList<TEntity> ?? [.. matching];
+
+            // The entity key breaks ties. The caller's key is rarely unique, and leaving equal keys to
+            // Dictionary order is exactly the instability orderBy exists to remove.
+            var ordered = descending
+                              ? matched.OrderByDescending(orderBy).ThenByDescending(_descriptor.GetKey)
+                              : matched.OrderBy(orderBy).ThenBy(_descriptor.GetKey);
+
+            IReadOnlyList<TEntity> page = [.. ordered.Skip(skip).Take(take).Select(_descriptor.Clone)];
+
+            return new(page, matched.Count, skip, take);
+        }
+    }
+
     public async ValueTask UpsertAsync(TEntity entity, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default)
     {
         await _stateStore.WriteLock.WaitAsync(cancellationToken);
diff --git a/tests/SquidStd.Tests/Persistence/EntityStorePagedTests.cs b/tests/SquidStd.Tests/Persistence/EntityStorePagedTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..02a3a443
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/SquidStd.Tests/Persistence/EntityStorePagedTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,202 @@
+using SquidStd.Core.Json;
+using SquidStd.Persistence.Abstractions.Interfaces.Persistence;
+using SquidStd.Persistence.Data;
+using SquidStd.Persistence.Internal;
+using SquidStd.Persistence.Services;
+
+namespace SquidStd.Tests.Persistence;
+
+public sealed class EntityStorePagedTests : IAsyncDisposable
+{
+    private readonly string _dir = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), "squidstd-paged-" + Guid.NewGuid().ToString("N"));
+    private readonly CountingDescriptor _descriptor;
+    private readonly BinaryJournalService _journal;
+    private readonly PersistenceStateStore _stateStore = new();
+    private readonly EntityStore<Player, int> _store;
+
+    public EntityStorePagedTests()
+    {
+        var serializer = new JsonDataSerializer();
+        _descriptor = new(
+            new PersistenceEntityDescriptor<Player, int>(serializer, serializer, 1, "Player", 1, p => p.Id)
+        );
+        _journal = new(Path.Combine(_dir, "world.journal.bin"));
+        _store = new(_stateStore, _journal, _descriptor);
+    }
+
+    private async Task SeedAsync(params (int Id, string Name)[] players)
+    {
+        foreach (var (id, name) in players)
+        {
+            await _store.UpsertAsync(new() { Id = id, Name = name });
+        }
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task QueryPaged_OrdersAndPages()
+    {
+        await SeedAsync((1, "Carol"), (2, "Alice"), (3, "Bob"));
+
+        var page = _store.QueryPaged(null, p => p.Name, 0, 2);
+
+        Assert.Equal(["Alice", "Bob"], page.Items.Select(p => p.Name));
+        Assert.Equal(3, page.Total);
+        Assert.Equal(0, page.Skip);
+        Assert.Equal(2, page.Take);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task QueryPaged_Descending_ReversesTheOrder()
+    {
+        await SeedAsync((1, "Carol"), (2, "Alice"), (3, "Bob"));
+
+        var page = _store.QueryPaged(null, p => p.Name, 0, 2, true);
+
+        Assert.Equal(["Carol", "Bob"], page.Items.Select(p => p.Name));
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task QueryPaged_Total_CountsTheFilterNotThePage()
+    {
+        await SeedAsync((1, "Alice"), (2, "Amy"), (3, "Bob"));
+
+        var page = _store.QueryPaged(p => p.Name.StartsWith('A'), p => p.Name, 0, 1);
+
+        Assert.Single(page.Items);
+        Assert.Equal(2, page.Total); // Alice and Amy matched; only one is on the page
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task QueryPaged_SkipPastTheEnd_IsEmptyButKeepsTheTotal()
+    {
+        await SeedAsync((1, "Alice"), (2, "Bob"));
+
+        var page = _store.QueryPaged(null, p => p.Name, 99, 10);
+
+        Assert.Empty(page.Items);
+        Assert.Equal(2, page.Total);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task QueryPaged_ReturnsDetachedClones()
+    {
+        await SeedAsync((1, "Alice"));
+
+        var page = _store.QueryPaged(null, p => p.Name, 0, 10);
+        page.Items[0].Tags.Add("mutated");
+
+        var again = _store.QueryPaged(null, p => p.Name, 0, 10);
+
+        Assert.Empty(again.Items[0].Tags);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task QueryPaged_ClonesOnlyThePage()
+    {
+        // The entire point of this method. GetAll and Query deep-clone the whole store on every call; if
+        // this did the same there would be no reason for it to exist, and no other assertion would notice.
+        await SeedAsync((1, "A"), (2, "B"), (3, "C"), (4, "D"), (5, "E"));
+        _descriptor.CloneCount = 0;
+
+        var page = _store.QueryPaged(null, p => p.Name, 0, 2);
+
+        Assert.Equal(2, page.Items.Count);
+        Assert.Equal(2, _descriptor.CloneCount);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task QueryPaged_TiedOrderKeys_AreBrokenByEntityKey()
+    {
+        // Two entities sorting equal must not be left to Dictionary order, or page 2 could repeat page 1's
+        // row and drop another, with nothing in the response admitting it.
+        await SeedAsync((3, "Same"), (1, "Same"), (2, "Same"));
+
+        var first = _store.QueryPaged(null, p => p.Name, 0, 3);
+        var second = _store.QueryPaged(null, p => p.Name, 0, 3);
+
+        Assert.Equal([1, 2, 3], first.Items.Select(p => p.Id));
+        Assert.Equal(first.Items.Select(p => p.Id), second.Items.Select(p => p.Id));
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task QueryPaged_PagesDoNotOverlapOrSkipWhenKeysTie()
+    {
+        await SeedAsync((1, "Same"), (2, "Same"), (3, "Same"), (4, "Same"));
+
+        var first = _store.QueryPaged(null, p => p.Name, 0, 2);
+        var next = _store.QueryPaged(null, p => p.Name, 2, 2);
+
+        Assert.Equal([1, 2], first.Items.Select(p => p.Id));
+        Assert.Equal([3, 4], next.Items.Select(p => p.Id));
+    }
+
+    public async ValueTask DisposeAsync()
+    {
+        await _journal.DisposeAsync();
+
+        if (Directory.Exists(_dir))
+        {
+            Directory.Delete(_dir, true);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Wraps a real descriptor and counts Clone calls, so a test can prove what was cloned.</summary>
+    private sealed class CountingDescriptor : IPersistenceEntityDescriptor<Player, int>
+    {
+        private readonly IPersistenceEntityDescriptor<Player, int> _inner;
+
+        public CountingDescriptor(IPersistenceEntityDescriptor<Player, int> inner)
+        {
+            _inner = inner;
+        }
+
+        public int CloneCount { get; set; }
+
+        public ushort TypeId => _inner.TypeId;
+
+        public string TypeName => _inner.TypeName;
+
+        public int SchemaVersion => _inner.SchemaVersion;
+
+        public Type EntityType => _inner.EntityType;
+
+        public Type KeyType => _inner.KeyType;
+
+        public int GetKey(Player entity)
+            => _inner.GetKey(entity);
+
+        public Player Clone(Player entity)
+        {
+            CloneCount++;
+
+            return _inner.Clone(entity);
+        }
+
+        public byte[] SerializeEntity(Player entity)
+            => _inner.SerializeEntity(entity);
+
+        public Player DeserializeEntity(byte[] payload)
+            => _inner.DeserializeEntity(payload);
+
+        public byte[] SerializeBucket(IReadOnlyCollection<Player> entities)
+            => _inner.SerializeBucket(entities);
+
+        public IReadOnlyList<Player> DeserializeBucket(byte[] payload)
+            => _inner.DeserializeBucket(payload);
+
+        public byte[] SerializeKey(int key)
+            => _inner.SerializeKey(key);
+
+        public int DeserializeKey(byte[] payload)
+            => _inner.DeserializeKey(payload);
+    }
+
+    private sealed class Player
+    {
+        public int Id { get; set; }
+
+        public string Name { get; set; } = string.Empty;
+
+        public List<string> Tags { get; set; } = [];
+    }
+}