“I don’t believe you!”

“I’m telling you the truth. In our faith, we believe that all revenants still contain a spark of holiness. Of humanity.” His words held genuine sincerity. “Enslaving another human being, dead or otherwise, goes against one of our highest tenets. The greatest kindness we can give the restless dead is by returning them to their graves.”

Placing his hand on my shoulder, Mikhail steered me toward the door. “Come on, let’s get Ivan and go.”

I huffed. “Fine.”

In the other room, Vanya stood before the tank, staring mesmerized at the rusalka’s slow, graceful motions. By now, she was looking rather annoyed and confused.

“Isn’t she amazing?” Vanya said. “I think she can actually understand me. I’ve been trying to talk to her.”

Taking a deep breath, I readied myself to break him the unfortunate news. “Vanya, she isn’t real.”

He blinked, turning to me. “What do you mean?”

“Pelin, the act is up,” Aergul called. “They know.”

The rusalka stopped treading water and kicked up to the top of her tank, pushing against the lid. It lifted with ease, and as Mikhail burst into laughter, Vanya turned around with an appalled look.

“You knew,” he said. “I can’t believe it. You knew.”

“That’s right,” Mikhail said. “Shockingly, I can tell the difference between stage performers and genuine monsters.”

“Don’t tell me—” Vanya turned to Emre “—even the two-headed piglet is fake?”

He sighed. “No, that one’s real.”

Pelin climbed out of the tank and leapt to the floor. As she approached, a stray breeze wafted across the room, stirring the drenched coils of her hair and her dress’s sodden folds. Emre gave her a sharp warning look before turning to us hastily.

“It’s all sleight of hand,” he said quickly, running a hand through his hair. “There’s enough air on top for her to breathe between moves.”

Mikhail and I exchanged a look. True, there might be no monsters here, but the same uncontrollable power I had sensed in Vanya and the other bogatyri radiated from Pelin, faint but perceptible.

“The darkness helps as well,” Pelin said, her lips rising in a sardonic smirk. As she stepped under the caged electrical light, its glow revealed inky roots beneath her burgundy hair. “Although, I’ll admit, for a moment there, I thought you could see through my disguise.”

Vanya groaned, his blush only deepening.

“You need to understand, we didn’t come to Kosa with this in mind,” Emre said with a sigh. “Back in Yezmirny, I was a surgeon in the medical corps. But here, even rural doctors require a permit from the governorate, and in a city as large as Detskaya, I would need a certificate from an imperial university as well.”

“Then why didn’t you get one?” I asked, still a bit skeptical.

“Because he can’t,” Vanya said bluntly.

Startled, I looked over at him. “Why not?”

“There’s a university quota in place to prevent Kosa’s citizens from being displaced by foreigners,” Mikhail explained, and then turned as Vanya scoffed. “Something you want to add, Ivan?”