𝐍𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃 // 𝐊𝐚𝐳 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐤𝐤𝐞𝐫

𝐗𝐈𝐗.

Nina walked past him. "No!" Matthias cried.

The drüskelle opened fire on her. Even though she flinched at each bullet wound, red blooms of blood appearing everywhere they hit, Nina healed herself just as quickly, the shells falling harmlessly to the dock. They gaped at her.

She laughed. "You've grown too used to captive Grisha. We're quite tame in our cages."

"There are other ways," said the lead drüskelle, pulling out a long whip attached to cables with barbs in it. "Your power cannot touch us, witch, and our cause is true."

"I can't touch you," said Nina, raising her hands. "But I can reach them just fine."

Behind the drüskelle, the Fjerdan soldiers that Nina had put to sleep rose soundlessly, their faces blank. While one of them tore the whip from the drüskelle's hand, the others snatched the hoods and masks from the drüskelle's faces. Nina flexed her fingers, and the drüskelle dropped their rifles, hands going to their heads, screaming in pain.

"For my country," she said. "For my people. For every child you put to the pyre. Reap what you've sown, Jarl Brum."

Brynn watched as they convulsed, listening to their screams. She was reminded of the ones she'd caused four years ago, and only a week ago. They were all monsters of some sort, but the trick about being a monster was to do it for the right reasons. Mercy where it was needed, and pain where it was deserved. Brynn might not have gotten what she deserved for all the people she'd killed, but she'd make sure others would.

Matthias stepped closer to Nina. "Nina," he said hesitantly. "Nina, please."

"You know they would not offer you mercy, Matthias," she replied.

"I know. I know. But let them live in shame instead."

Nina hesitated.

"Nina, you taught me to be something better. They could be taught, too." She turned her gaze to his, eyes ferocious. "They fear you as I once feared you. As you once feared me. We are all someone's monster, Nina."

After a long moment of them staring at each other, Nina dropped her arms. The Fjerdan soldiers fell back into their slumber without question, the drüskelle crumbling to the ground in pain. Then her hand shot out once more, and Jarl Brum screamed. His hands held his head, blood trickling between his fingers.

"He'll live?" asked Matthias.

"Yes, said Nina as she stepped onto the schooner with the rest of them. "He'll just be very bald."

The Ferolind, at Specht's command, sailed out of Djerholm's harbor. The air was eerily silent, but it didn't last for long. As soon as Matthias was on deck, he turned to Kuwei.

"How long does she have?" he demanded.

Brynn took the liberty to translate from Shu to Kerch for the rest of them, then to Kaelish for Sasha. It was hard to do it, with all the thoughts swirling around Brynn's head, but she managed.

"The high will last one hour, maybe two. It depends how long it takes her body to process a dose of that size."

"Why can't she purge it from her body like the bullets?" Matthias asked desperately.

"It doesn't work," said Kuwei. "Even if she could overcome the craving for long enough to start purging it from her body, she'll lose the ability to pull the parem from her system before it's all gone. You'll need another Corporalnik using parem to accomplish it."