King of Scars

A week after returning to the palace, Zoya makes her way to the palace to unlock Nikolai from his bedroom chains. Tamar and Nadia meet her with news of two more khergud attacks. Khergud are Shu soldiers enhanced by jurda parem to hunt down Grisha; Nina warned about them before leaving for Fjerda.

Zoya scurries to the king’s bedroom to wake him. Before Zoya can review the day with Nikolai, Tamar and Tolya barge in with news of the Apparat and his Priestguard corralling the pilgrims camped in the lower town. Anticipating this, Nikolai has snipers and Heartrenders in place to keep the peace. They suit up and ride out to the lower town. Zoya expected to see pilgrims of the Sun Saint Alina; instead, the group before her is the Cult of the Starless Saint, the Darkling. They want “the church to recognize the Darkling as a Saint” (115). The Cult is led by a young monk named Yuri Vedenen. Nikolai orders the Apparat and his Priestguard to stand down. He rides out and addresses Yuri himself. Nikolai invites the monk to breakfast as his guest. Yuri is escorted into the palace. Nikolai and Zoya talk to the Apparat who reveals that Yuri left his Priestguard rather suddenly a year ago without an explanation.

Zoya goes about her General duties, overseeing squadrons, sending orders to outposts, locking Nikolai to his bed for the night. She wakes to Tamar alerting her to Nikolai’s escape: His chains were unlocked, and he jumped out the window. They will figure out how he unlocked the chains after they bring him back. They find him in the bell tower of Balakirev’s church. Zoya catches him in the eaves, dislocating her shoulder in the process. He’s hungry and sees her as wounded prey. She calls to him, but he only growls back. Using her Grisha wind power, Zoya keeps the monster at bay until Tamar and Tolya reach her and subdue the monster with their Heartrender skills. The monster has evolved beyond their control; the palace is no longer a safe place for Nikolai. Zoya pops her shoulder back in place. They need to “find a cure […] or Ravka falls” (130).

Nina and Adrik head out with the sledge to find a final resting place for Matthias while Leoni stays behind at the convent working on the water samples. Nina thinks about everything she’s been through; how she is “the only known Grisha to have lived through a dose of [jurda parem]” (133). Nina isn’t sure why she survived. Maybe Matthias keeps her alive. Despite her silent musings, they set up camp. Adrik asks how Matthias died. Nina reluctantly shares that when he showed up after their last mission, he’d been shot, but he refused to say who did it, preventing Nina from seeking revenge. It is time to lay him to rest. Nina and Adrik take him away from camp and find a nice spot under some trees by a river. With Adrik missing an arm, Nina digs the grave and places Matthias’s linen wrapped corpse inside with little help. She cries as she fills the hole. Nina sends Adrik back to camp with the sledge; she wants to say her final goodbye in private. Once alone, she summarizes their life together in a heartfelt eulogy, conversing with him in her head. By the end, Matthias’s voice is replaced by those of the dead women crying for justice. Nina must help them.

Nikolai meets with the Triumvirate to discuss the bell tower incident and what to do about the upcoming party with ambassadors, diplomats, and royals from neighboring countries. Genya argues for canceling the whole affair. Nikolai believes the young monk, Yuri, could be helpful. Tolya escorts Yuri into the war room. When he recognizes the Triumvirate members, Yuri falls into obeisance, admiring the work of the Darkling on display around the room.

Yuri claims the Darkling appeared to him in a vision to begin the Age of Saints as evidenced by the miracles occurring around Ravka. He further claims that the Darkling’s power and spirit live on in the world even though his body is dead. Illustrating his point using the battle map, he pins each location of recent miracles, creating a starburst, the center being the place where the Darkling fell to Alina. Coincidentally, it is also “an ancient place of healing and glorious power where men came to be purified” (151). Nikolai considers all that Yuri shares, but he is most interested in the obisbaya ritual that purges beasts from men in the ancient thorn wood. Nikolai agrees to consider Yuri’s argument and sends him back to the guestroom.

King and Triumvirate discuss how the miracles and the monster awaking coincide. Nikolai notes how the monster seems to fly toward that ancient place on the Fold, and he decides they must visit the other miracle sites working their way to the Fold. They will take Yuri as a guide, pretending to consider raising the Starless One to sainthood. Meanwhile, they will learn more about the obisbaya ritual and thorn wood with the hope of ridding Nikolai of the monster.

Snow falls, quickly building to a blizzard. Nina can’t see the camp. She walks in circles trying to find her bearings. The wind lifts, revealing five wolves prowling around her, and two wolves leap towards Nina. Bone shards fly killing both wolves. When the others draw closer, Nina notices their odd glowing orange eyes and twitchy bodies; there’s something wrong with these wolves. One is hit by her bone shards and falls; another pounces, biting her arm. As Nina faces death, something pushes the wolf away from her. A large white wolf wrestles with the smaller gray wolf that bit her. The gray wolf submits and sulks off. The white wolf approaches Nina, but just as she is about to throw more bone shards, she recognizes him as Matthias’s wolf, Trassel. Before Nina can react, the tall girl, Hanne, from the convent rides into their midst on horseback. She positions the horse between Nina and Trassel. Hanne attempts to shoot Trassel with her shotgun, but Nina knocks her aim with flying bone shards. Nina screams at Trassel to run. He flees.

Nina attacks Hanne, but she retaliates using Heartrender power to slow Nina’s heart. Nina breaks free and comments on the Grisha skills, but Hanne denies being Grisha. They reconcile their differences before seeking shelter at a nearby hunting lodge, Nina settling behind Hanne on the horse. The lodge is already occupied when they arrive. Nina bats her lashes and pretends to be a damsel in distress, telling the group of men that Hanne is Lady Inger, daughter of a rich tycoon and betrothed to an even richer man named Lennart Bjord. Both will pay generously for her safety. The men, while skeptical at first, begin fighting over the reward. With the men distracted, Nina and Hanne settle in by the fire. Hanne hates appearing weak and defenseless. While Nina agrees, she knows how to pick her battles. She suggests that it’s fear “that makes men write foolish rules” about what women can and can’t do (173). Hanne laughs and finally introduces herself. They rest, taking turns keeping watch through the night.