“Are we? How long will the khergud be allowed to live when our very existence threatens the Taban? We’re a secret they can’t risk being exposed.” He looked out the window, toward the shores of the lake. “And we aren’t meant to live in isolation, without purpose. We were built for battle.”

“Ravka won’t let any harm come to you,” Tamar vowed. “I won’t. We have a treaty now.”

“To protect the rights of Grisha,” Mayu objected. “What do you care for the khergud?”

Tamar’s golden eyes flashed. “They’re victims of parem, just as much as the Grisha.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Mayu said. “What good will the treaty be when Ravka falls to the Fjerdans?”

“Don’t underestimate King Nikolai,” Tamar replied. “He’ll fight until there’s no fight left in him. And so will I.”

Bergin rose. “If you’re going to the front, I want to go with you.”

Reyem turned. “You … you’re leaving?”

He’d said it with little emotion, but Mayu had sensed the turmoil inside him.

“Ravka may not be my homeland, but I’m Grisha. I’ll fight for the king who gave me freedom.”

“Then we should fight too,” Mayu had said. She hadn’t been sure where the words came from. But Nikolai and Tamar had brought her back to Reyem—and she knew in her bones that without Bergin there wouldn’t have been a brother to come back to. Scarab, Nightmoth, Harbinger … they’d had friends, families, lives, and all of it had been wiped away by their rebirth as khergud. She had a Grisha to thank for the humanity that Reyem had retained.

“We will,” Reyem said firmly. “Your cause is mine, Bergin. We’ll fight for the Grisha. A khergud warrior is worth ten ordinary soldiers, maybe more. The others will fight too. We need a mission.”

“I’m grateful,” said Tamar. “Truly. But Queen Leyti—”

“Queen Leyti told us we could send no Shu troops,” Princess Ehri said. She’d appeared at the doorway, her small frame seeming to hover there, a smile playing about her lips. “But she said nothing of ghosts. According to our government, my sister, and my grandmother, the khergud don’t exist. And phantoms may go where they please.”

She’d floated away, as if she was a spirit herself, and in that moment, Mayu realized that if she survived whatever came next, she would come back to her post as Tavgharad and serve Princess Ehri gladly.