“Everything I just got done telling you. They’re barbarians, Valyn. Do you remember anything about their religion, their blood worship? If our fight had gone the other way, they’d be flaying us right now, taking us apart strip by fleshy strip. That’s why we have to kill them.”

Valyn shook his head. “That’s why we can’t.”

Laith stared. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

It was one question too many, and something inside Valyn, some wall that had been holding back both the anger and the words, gave way, crumbling as though before a great wave. “We are not them, Laith!” he shouted. “We are not her!” he went on, stabbing a finger at Huutsuu, “or her!” at Pyrre. “We can kill people, sure. We spent a whole lot of time learning to kill people, and we’re good at it. But lots of people can kill people. Pyrre has been fucking killing people since the day we found her. The thing that makes us Kettral is something else: we kill the right people.”

Gwenna was nodding furiously, but Annick brushed aside the tirade with the back of her hand. “Right and wrong. Just a question of which side you’re on.”

“No,” Valyn said, rounding on her. “No, it’s not. If that’s true, then why did we even come here? Why did we leave the Eyrie and rescue Kaden? Why do we give a pickled shit who sits on the Unhewn Throne? If it doesn’t matter, we could hire out right now as mercenaries to Anthera or the Manjari. We could make a tidy fortune telling them everything we know about the Kettral!” Despite the chill breeze, he was sweating beneath the heavy bison coat. With an effort, he brought his voice back down, unclenched his fists. “We don’t do that because it does matter what side you fight on. It does matter who sits the Unhewn Throne. People like Sami Yurl and Balendin—they need to be stopped. They are bad. So were the Csestriim. So were the Atmani.” He shook his head, suddenly weary. The shoulder wound ached. Everything ached. “I joined the Kettral so I could defend Annur, and I wanted to defend Annur because it is better than the Blood Cities or Anthera, better than the Manjari or the tribes of the Waist.”

“Spare me a lecture on the virtues of our great empire,” Laith said. The words were dismissive, but the fire had gone out of his resistance.

“It’s a short lecture,” Valyn said. “We have laws. Laws that keep the most powerful among us from destroying the weak and the unlucky.”

Laith shook his head. “You really did grow up in a palace, didn’t you?”

“Am I right?” Valyn asked, ignoring the gibe.