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Chapter no 20 – โ€ŒNina

King of Scars

โ€ŒADRIK WAS FURIOUSโ€”still glum, but furious. It was like being yelled at by a damp towel.โ€Œ

โ€œWhat were you thinking?โ€ he demanded the next morning. Theyโ€™d walked out to the southern part of town, with Leoni and the sledge in tow, ostensibly to try to make sales to local hunters and trappers. But theyโ€™d stopped near an old tanning shed so that Adrik would have privacy to let Nina know just how disastrously sheโ€™d behaved. โ€œI gave you direct orders. You were not to engage, certainly not on your own. What if youโ€™d been captured?โ€

โ€œI wasnโ€™t.โ€

Leoni leaned against the cart. โ€œIf Hanne hadnโ€™t stepped in to help, you would have been. Now youโ€™re in that girlโ€™s debt.โ€

โ€œI was already in her debt. And have you forgotten sheโ€™s Grisha? She wonโ€™t talk. Not unless she wants to put herself in danger.โ€

Adrik glanced up at the factory looming over the valley. โ€œWe should destroy this place. It would be a mercy.โ€

โ€œNo,โ€ Nina said. โ€œThere has to be a way to get the girls out.โ€

Adrik looked at her with his moping, melting-candle expression. โ€œYou know whatย paremย does. They wonโ€™t come back from this. Theyโ€™re as good as dead.โ€

โ€œStop being such a head cold,โ€ Nina retorted. โ€œI came back from it.โ€ โ€œFromย oneย dose. Youโ€™re telling us these girls have been dosed for

months.โ€

โ€œNot with ordinaryย parem. The Fjerdans are trying something new, something different. Itโ€™s why Leoni got sick but didnโ€™t get a real reaction. Itโ€™s why my own addiction didnโ€™t get triggered again.โ€

โ€œNinaโ€”โ€

She seized his arm. โ€œThe Second Army knows more now than we did when I tookย parem, Adrik. Theyโ€™ve made progress on an antidote. Itโ€™s possible the Fabrikators and Healers at the Little Palace could help them.โ€

Adrik shook off her grip. โ€œDo you understand what youโ€™ve done, Nina? Even if they decided last night was nothing more than a bit of miscommunication, theyโ€™re going to increase security in that factory. They may report the breach to their superiors. We need to leave this town while we still can, or we risk compromising the entire Hringsa network and any chance Ravka has of acting on the information you learned. You didnโ€™t even get a sample of the drug theyโ€™ve developed.โ€

She hadnโ€™t had the chanceโ€”and sheโ€™d been too shaken to think clearly. But she wasnโ€™t going to make the girls on the mountain pay for her mistake.

โ€œI wonโ€™t do it, Adrik. You can leave me here. Tell the king I deserted.โ€ โ€œThose women are going to die. You can make up any happy ending you want, but you know itโ€™s true. Donโ€™t ask me to sacrifice the hope of

the living for the comfort of the dead.โ€

โ€œWe arenโ€™t just here to recruit soldiersโ€”โ€

Adrikโ€™s blue gaze sharpened. โ€œWe are here on orders from the king. We are here to salvage the future of our people. Ravka wonโ€™t survive without more soldiers, and the Grisha wonโ€™t survive without Ravka. I saw the Second Army decimated by the Darkling. I know what weโ€™ve lost and how much more we stand to lose. We have to preserve the network. We owe it to every Grisha living in fear.โ€

โ€œI canโ€™t leave them behind, Adrik. I wonโ€™t.โ€ย They brought me here.ย They were the reason sheโ€™d finally been able to lay Matthias to rest. The voices of the dead had called her back to life with their need. She would not fail them. โ€œLeoni,โ€ she pleaded. โ€œIf it were you up there, someone you loved โ€ฆโ€

Leoni sat down on a fallen tree trunk and looked up at the fort. โ€œLeoni,โ€ said Adrik, โ€œwe have a mission. We canโ€™t compromise it.โ€ โ€œBoth of you be quiet,โ€ Leoni said. โ€œI wonโ€™t be pulled this way or that

because you say so.โ€ She closed her eyes, turned her face to the winter sun. After a long while, she said, โ€œI told you I almost died as a child, but I never told you it was from drinking poisoned well water. The zowa healer who helped me perished in order to save my life. She died pulling

the poison from my body.โ€ Leoni opened her eyes, a sad smile on her lips. โ€œLike I told you, poisons are tricky work. So now I wear two jewels.โ€ She touched her hands to the golden stones woven into the twists of her hair on the left. โ€œTopaz for strength, for my mother who gave me life and raised me to be a fighter.โ€ She turned her head slightly and light caught on the three purple gems in her twists on the right. โ€œAmethyst for Aditi Hilli, the Fabrikator who returned my life to me when I was careless and might have lost it.โ€

โ€œHilli?โ€ said Adrik. โ€œYou were related?โ€

โ€œNo. I took her family name, and I swore I would honor her sacrifice, that I would make something of the life she gave to me.โ€ She bobbed her chin toward the factory. โ€œIf weโ€™re not here for the girls on that ward, then what are we doing here?โ€

Adrik sighed. โ€œYou do know this is my command. We donโ€™t put things to a vote.โ€

Leoni smiled, that brilliant, thousand-sunrise smile. Adrik sucked in a breath as if heโ€™d taken a blow to the gut. โ€œI know,โ€ she said. โ€œBut I also know you fought beside Alina Starkov. You got your arm torn off by a shadow demon and kept fighting. You didnโ€™t come to this country to play it safe, Adrik.โ€

โ€œLeoni,โ€ Nina said. โ€œHave you ever had Kerch waffles?โ€ Leoniโ€™s brows rose. โ€œI have not.โ€

โ€œWell, Iโ€™m going to make you a stack so tall you have to climb over it.โ€

โ€œI didnโ€™t know you could cook.โ€

โ€œI canโ€™t. Not even a little bit. But Iโ€™m very good at convincing people to cookย forย me.โ€

Adrik yanked his pinned sleeve into place. โ€œThe two of you are impossible. And guilty of insubordination.โ€

Leoni only smiled wider. โ€œWeโ€™re splendid, and you know it.โ€

โ€œFine,โ€ Adrik huffed. โ€œSince youโ€™re both so determined to compromise our mission, just how are we going to transport a bunch of infants and pregnant women out of this tragedy of a town and get them to a port in the middle of the night?โ€

Nina looked up at the mountain, at the factory road lolling like a long, greedy tongue, at the guardhouse at its baseโ€”the first line of security for the soldiers working above. She remembered the lessons sheโ€™d learned in Ketterdam, when sheโ€™d run not with soldiers bound by honor but with

liars, thugs, and thieves.ย Always hit where the mark isnโ€™t looking.

โ€œEasy,โ€ she said. โ€œWe do it in the middle of the day. And we make sure they see us coming.โ€

Nina wasnโ€™t at all sure that Hanne would show up to their next lessonโ€” either because the Wellmother might forbid it or because she didnโ€™t want to speak to Nina again. But she decided to go to the classroom anyway.

On the way, she stopped by the kitchens for fresh scraps and went to the woods to set out another plate for Trassel. Nina took a moment to gather her thoughts, grateful for the quiet of the trees, breathing in the scent of sap, the cold air still fresh with fallen snow. She could admit her foray into the factory had been a catastrophe, but that didnโ€™t change what was happening on the mountain or the opportunity sheโ€™d been given. She felt like she was at the start of something bigger than the horrors on that hilltop, that there was more she was meant to do.

โ€œBut what?โ€ she murmured. โ€œEnke Jandersdat?โ€

Nina nearly leapt into the nearest branch. A young woman was standing at the edge of the trees, hands tugging nervously at the skirts of her pale blue pinafore. It took Nina a long moment to realize sheโ€™d seen the novitiate beforeโ€”dressed as a Fjerdan soldier on the banks of the river. Had she heard Nina speak Ravkan?

โ€œYes?โ€ Nina said.

โ€œI didnโ€™t mean to startle you.โ€

โ€œA bit of excitement is good for me,โ€ Nina said, as if she hadnโ€™t recently jumped out of a window and fled down a mountain for her life. The girl had blond hair and skin the color of a new peach. She didnโ€™t seem wary at all, just nervous.

โ€œI wanted to thank you and the Zemeni traders for not saying anything about โ€ฆ what you saw by the river. Even after what happened to Grette.โ€

Grette โ€ฆ She must mean the girl who had died from exposure to the water.

โ€œIt was enough of a tragedy,โ€ Nina said.

The girl shivered, as if death had come too close. โ€œHer mother came to collect her body. It was terrible. But if her family knew how she got those injuries? The shameโ€”โ€

โ€œI understand,โ€ said Nina, then ventured, โ€œWill you ride out again?โ€

โ€œOf course not,โ€ said the girl earnestly, almost pleadingly. โ€œNeverย again.โ€

Nina believed her.

โ€œTell me,โ€ Nina said, โ€œwas it Hanneโ€™s idea to steal the uniforms?โ€ Hanne was essential to Ninaโ€™s plan. The more she understood her, the better. And she could admit she was curious too.

The girl worried her lower lip. โ€œI โ€ฆ She โ€ฆโ€

โ€œI wonโ€™t tell the Wellmother. If I spoke up now, she would wonder why Iโ€™d held my tongue for so long. It would do no one any good.โ€

The thought seemed to put the girl at ease. โ€œHanne โ€ฆ Hanne takes risks she shouldnโ€™t.โ€ A small smile tugged at her lips. โ€œBut it can be hard not to want to follow.โ€

โ€œDo you ride out with her often?โ€ โ€œOnly when she lets us.โ€

โ€œA great deal to chance for a bit of freedom.โ€

โ€œItโ€™s not just that,โ€ said the girl. โ€œHanne โ€ฆ Sometimes people send to the convent for help, and the Wellmother will not grant them aidโ€”for good and proper reasons, of course.โ€

โ€œOf course. What kind of people?โ€

โ€œFamilies who canโ€™t afford an extra pair of hands when someone falls sick.โ€ The girlโ€™s cheeks flushed. โ€œUnmarried women who have โ€ฆ gotten themselves into trouble.โ€

โ€œAnd Hanne goes to them?โ€ Nina asked, surprised. That wild, wiry girl with a rifle on her back and a dagger at her hip? It was hard to imagine.

โ€œOh yes,โ€ said the girl. โ€œShe has a gift for it. Sheโ€™s nursed more than one hopeless case back from the brink and even helped deliver babiesโ€” one that got all turned around in her motherโ€™s belly.โ€

Sheโ€™s a Healer, Nina realized.ย Sheโ€™s using her power and she doesnโ€™t even know it.ย She remembered Hanne saying of the other novitiates,ย Itโ€™s a game to them. A childish bit of dress-up, a chance to be daring.ย Nina had thought she understood, but she hadnโ€™t really.

โ€œIf youโ€™d told on us,โ€ the girl said, โ€œHanne would have had to stop.

The Wellmotherโ€”โ€

โ€œI wonโ€™t say a word,โ€ said Nina. โ€œI donโ€™t believe Djel could frown upon such kindness.โ€

โ€œNo,โ€ said the girl thoughtfully. โ€œI donโ€™t either.โ€ โ€œIโ€™m sorry about your friend Grette.โ€

โ€œMe too.โ€ The girl plucked a cluster of pine needles from a branch. โ€œSometimes โ€ฆ I think Gรคfvalle doesnโ€™t want us here.โ€

โ€œThe convent?โ€

She shook her head, eyes distant. โ€œGirls โ€ฆ any of us.โ€

Nina wanted to push further, but a bell began to clang inside the chapel.

The girl curtsied quickly. โ€œMay Djel keep you, Enke Jandersdat,โ€ she said, and rushed off to her classes.

Nina hurried after. If Hanne did decide to come to class, Nina didnโ€™t want to be late. Adrik had already sent word to the Hringsa network in Hjar to make sure a ship would be waitingโ€”assuming they somehow managed to get the women out of the factory. But if Hanne didnโ€™t come today, Nina would have to seek her out and find a way back into her good graces. She needed Hanne for the plan she had in mind, and, if she was honest with herself, she didnโ€™t much like the idea of Hanne being mad at her.

She had written out half of the dayโ€™s lesson in Zemeni vocabulary on the board and was starting to feel like the whole endeavor was futile, when Hanne appeared at the classroom door. Nina wasnโ€™t quite prepared for the anger radiating off of her. She stood in silent fury as Nina clutched the chalk in her hands and tried to think of something conciliatory to say. Hanneโ€™s copper eyes looked like vivid sparks against her cheeks, but Nina knew from experience thatย Youโ€™re beautiful when youโ€™re angryย was never a great place to start.

โ€œI didnโ€™t think youโ€™d come,โ€ she began.

โ€œThe Wellmother says I may continue my lessons, since she doesnโ€™t want me left idle.โ€

โ€œThatโ€™s wonโ€”โ€

โ€œI didnโ€™t sayย Iย wanted to continue,โ€ Hanne whispered furiously. โ€œWhat were you doing at the factory? I want the truth.โ€

And I wish I could give it to you. All of it.ย But despite what sheโ€™d learned from the girl in the woods, she didnโ€™t trust Hanne that much. Not yet.

Nina gestured her inside and shut the door. She leaned against it. Sheโ€™d spent last night thinking about how to answer Hanneโ€™s questions. โ€œDo you remember the sister I told you about?โ€ Nina asked. โ€œThe one who married and lives in the south?โ€ Hanne nodded. โ€œShe was caught.โ€

Hanneโ€™s fists bunched. โ€œBut you saidโ€”โ€

โ€œI donโ€™t know how it happened, but she was caught using her Grisha power, and she was taken by theย drรผskelle.โ€

โ€œWhat became of her husband?โ€

โ€œHe was taken too. And put to death for harboring her secrets. I think they brought Thyra here.โ€

โ€œThey brought your sister to a munitions factory?โ€

โ€œThe factory is only part of the story. Soldiers are keeping Grisha girls in the abandoned wing of the fort. Theyโ€™re experimenting on them. The Wellmother is helping, along with some of the Springmaidens.โ€

Hanne folded her arms. โ€œThey wouldnโ€™t do that. Discovered Grisha are taken to the Ice Court for trial.โ€

Trials at which they were never found innocent, at which they were always sentenced to death. But the sentences were rarely carried out. Instead, Jarl Brum had secretly imprisoned those Grisha and subjected them to doses ofย parem.

โ€œDonโ€™t cover your ears and pretend you donโ€™t know what men are capable of, Hanne. Tell me something: Have girls and women gone missing from Kejerut? From Gรคfvalle? From all of the river cities?โ€

โ€œGone missing?โ€ Hanne scoffed.

โ€œHow have they explained the disappearances?โ€ Nina persisted. โ€œSickness? A sudden decision to take a trip? Wild animals? Brigands?โ€

โ€œAll of those things happen. Thatโ€™s what living out here is like. Fjerda has hard ways.โ€ Her voice was defensive but also proud.

Still, Nina didnโ€™t think sheโ€™d imagined the slight hesitation, the quick flash of fear on Hanneโ€™s face.

โ€œYouโ€™ve seen the Ice Court, Hanne.โ€

โ€œWhat does that have to do with anything?โ€

โ€œDo you really believe it was built by human hands? What if it was Grisha craft? What if Fjerda needs Grisha as much as it hates them?โ€ And as Nina said it, she thought of the new weapons the Fjerdan military had been developing, the sudden leap in their progress. As if they were working with Fabrikators. Maybe they hadnโ€™t managed to weaponizeย parem, but theyโ€™d certainly found new ways to exploit Grisha slaves.

Hanne bit her lip and gazed out the classroom window. She had a smattering of freckles over the bridge of her nose, not golden like Adrikโ€™s, but rosy, the color of ripe persimmon. โ€œThere was a girl here,โ€ she said hesitantly, โ€œEllinor, a novitiate. She always kept to herself. One

morning she was just gone. The sisters told us that sheโ€™d secured an offer of marriage and gone to Djerholm. But when I snuck into the woods to ride that day, I saw the Wellmother. She was burning Ellinorโ€™s things.โ€

Nina shivered. Was Ellinor in that ward? Or was she already in a grave on the mountain?

โ€œAnd a woman who lived between here and Kejerut,โ€ Hanne said slowly, as if fighting the words. โ€œSylvi Winther. She โ€ฆ she had just come through a bad illness. She was faring well. She and her husband just packed up and left.โ€

Had this been one of the women Hanne had tended to in secret? Had she ridden out one cold afternoon and knocked on their door, only to find Sylvi and her husband gone?

โ€œI know youโ€™ve been taught to hate Grisha, Hanne โ€ฆ to hate yourself. But what the Wellmother and those soldiers are doing to those women is unforgivable.โ€

Hanne didnโ€™t look angry anymore. She looked sick and frightened. โ€œAnd what are we supposed to do about it?โ€

Nina thought of Matthias lying bleeding in her arms. She thought of girls lined up like misshapen dolls in the gloom of the old fort. She thought of the way Hanne hunched her shoulders as if she could somehow make herself invisible.

โ€œSave them,โ€ said Nina. โ€œSave them all.โ€

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