It took a while to sort out the laboratory. Tamar brought the doctor back to consciousness and he, in turn, woke the other khergud as Queen Leyti and Ehri looked on. There were four including Reyem, but none of the others remembered their true names. They asked no questions, made no requests. They simply stood—some with wings, some with horns, some with claws—waiting for orders. Perfect soldiers. Had they been further along in their transformation than Reyem? Or had none of them had a Bergin, someone to remind them that they were more than pain and anger?

Mayu watched as they locked up the laboratory, and Bergin and Reyem took their last look at this nightmare place. It was evidence and would be left intact for now.

But I’ll come back, she promised herself. She might never banish the emptiness from her brother’s eyes, but she would pull this place apart piece by piece if she had to. She would watch it burn to the ground.

* * *

The journey to the summer palace didn’t take long. It was located in a green dell beside its own gleaming lake, a getaway for members of the royal family or important guests of the crown in the hot months.

Mayu sat with her brother and Bergin in one of the garden rooms, the windows framing the sun slowly rising over the lake. The other Grisha and the khergud had been placed in separate, heavily guarded chambers, but Bergin had been allowed to remain with Reyem.

“What happens now?” he asked. “I can’t return to Fjerda.”

Mayu didn’t know. She hadn’t thought past finding Reyem and freeing him. “We could go home,” she suggested. “Mother and Fath—”

“No,” Reyem said harshly. “I never want them to see me like this.”

“They think you’re dead.”

“Good. Let them mourn me.”

“Reyem,” pleaded Mayu. She needed to know they could take some part of their lives back. “They love you. More than anything. More than me. More than life. They’ll love you this way as they loved you before.”

“But I don’t know that I can love them back.”

Mayu looked away. She couldn’t bear to think of her sweet, laughing, generous brother, and know that he was gone.

A knock came at the door and Tamar appeared. “They want your testimony.”

Mayu rose and felt a brush of fingers against her hand.

Reyem was looking at her. “Sister. Kebben. Let this be enough.”

All she could do was nod and try to smile. He would forever be her brother, no matter what he’d been robbed of.

Queen Leyti was waiting in the temple hall, seated on a throne and bracketed by Tavgharad, Ehri to her right. Statues of the Six Soldiers glowed in sunlit niches on the walls. Makhi had been seated on a low cushion to the queen’s left, a position meant to humble her. But she sat with perfect poise, her face serene, as if she were the one on the throne.

“Mayu Kir-Kaat,” said Queen Leyti. “Will you tell us your story?”

Mayu couldn’t hide her surprise. She’d expected she would only have to confirm what Ehri had already said, as she had with Ministers Nagh and Zihun. She looked to Tamar, then to Ehri, who gave her a gentle nod of encouragement.

“Begin with your brother,” said the princess. “When did you know he had disappeared?”

Mayu took a deep breath. “They told me he was dead, but I didn’t believe them. I’d heard whispers of the khergud, as all of us had. So I set out to find him.” The words came haltingly at first. Mayu felt as if she was struggling to tug them free, but slowly the tale began to unspool, and then it was dragging her along and she could only follow. At some point, she realized she was crying. She’d never unraveled her story, Isaak’s story, never told anyone, never had the chance to fit the beginning to the middle to what might be the end.

When she was done, Queen Leyti said, “You have served the crown well, Mayu Kir-Kaat. I would ask you to remain one of our falcons. Ehri will need protection from someone she can trust in the years to come.”

Mayu saluted. “I will gladly serve our future queen.”

“But I will not be your queen,” said Ehri softly.

“Then—”

Leyti held up a hand. “I will rule until one of my great-grandchildren is old enough to serve. Ehri and Makhi will then act as her regents.”

“You can’t mean that!” Mayu cried. The soldier she’d been might have stayed quiet, would have known her place, but the sight of that laboratory had forever banished that girl to the past, and someone had to speak for the victims of Makhi’s violence. “Makhi violated your wishes even before she was queen. She’s the reason jurda parem exists. She’s the reason my brother … None of those people will ever be the same. They were soldiers who served your family and this country. They deserve better.”

“The laboratories will be shut down,” said Queen Leyti, “and Makhi will no longer have authority over the dispersal of funds. She will not be able to start up the program again. The khergud will be offered sanctuary.”

“Sanctuary?” Mayu said. “You mean exile, don’t you?”

“They must remain a secret. For now, they will stay here at the summer palace to rest and recover while we continue on to the capital.”

Mayu couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Bergin was right. He said there would be no justice. That Makhi and her lackeys wouldn’t face punishment.” She turned her anger on Ehri. “I told him you were better than that.”

But it was Tamar who spoke. “If what Makhi has done becomes widely known, chaos will erupt. Each of the Taban sisters will become contenders for the throne.”

“They’re murdering Grisha!” Mayu shouted. “Your own people! Don’t you—”

Tamar didn’t flinch. “I am Grisha and I am also Shu. I don’t want to see this country torn apart by civil war the way Ravka has been.”

“You don’t care about Shu Han. You just want an ally to help fend off the Fjerdans. Makhi should face trial.”

“There will be no trial,” said Queen Leyti. “Makhi will claim she’s ill and will gratefully serve the crown alongside her sister.”

Mayu threw her hands up. What had been done to her brother, to the Grisha, to her, to Isaak, did none of it mean anything? “You know she won’t settle for that. Makhi can’t be trusted.”