“Remarkable,” Tamar said, her voice sharp as a blade begging to draw blood. The doctor didn’t seem to notice, but Bergin did, his blue eyes suddenly more alert. He was leaning on one of the huge, slablike tables that took up the center of the room.
“This is where the great work is done,” said the doctor.
Mayu saw drills, bone saws, long pieces of brass and steel, a contraption that looked like it had been welded into the shape of a wing. The floor was made of some kind of metal and punctuated by large drains. To make it easy to wash away the blood. This isn’t an old dairy, she realized. It’s a slaughterhouse. This is the killing floor.
On the far right was a different kind of dormitory. The beds here were more like coffins, sealed brass sarcophagi.
“And these are our ironhearted children, the khergud.”
Here was the proof of Makhi’s program, of the torture of Grisha, of the abominations they’d created. But was her brother among them?
Tamar laid a hand on Mayu’s shoulder, and Mayu realized she was shaking.
“What are their names?” asked Ehri.
“Locust, Harbinger, Scarab, Nightmoth—”
“No,” said Mayu, unable to tamp down her anger. “Their real names.”
The doctor shrugged. “I don’t actually know.”
Mayu gripped the pommel of her talon sword, trying to control her frustration. She looked at the princess, willing Ehri to understand her need. Yes, they had their proof, but where was her brother?
“I’m curious,” said Ehri. “Is it safe to open the … containers?”
“Oh, entirely,” said the doctor, already flipping a switch on one of the sarcophagi. The lid released with an unexpected pop. “We wake them using a stimulant made from ordinary jurda. But they’re safe in any state. The khergud are perfect soldiers.”
Is that what I am? Mayu wondered. A soldier who would take an innocent man’s life, murder a princess, watch her sisters burn at the whim of a queen?
The doctor lifted the lid. A woman lay inside, her breathing shallow, her brow furrowed in sleep. “They don’t dream well,” murmured the doctor. The sleeping soldier seemed to scent something; her nostrils flared. Tamar moved away from the container. The khergud were rumored to be able to smell the presence of Grisha. Perfect soldiers. Perfect hunters.
“Another, please,” said Ehri.
The doctor flipped a switch, pushed open another lid. “We made the sleeping chambers wide to allow for those with winged enhancements.”
Mayu looked down at the man who lay in the container, his brass wings folded behind him. Metal horns curved from his forehead. Not Reyem. Was he even here? If he wasn’t, how would they find the facility he was being kept at?
The doctor released the lid on a third container. He smiled. “Now, this will interest you, Princess. Something new we’ve been working on. This is Locust. We gave him metal pincers, fused at his spine. He’s taken to the treatment well.”
Mayu knew it would be her brother before she even looked.
Reyem lay sleeping inside the chamber. He had the same troubled expression as the others, as if in his dreams he was not the hunter but the prey. She hadn’t seen him in almost a year, but he was the same Reyem, tall and lean, his long hair pulled back from his face in a high knot, the way he’d always worn it. He had a tiny, half-moon scar on his cheek from when he’d been hit by a rock—a rock Mayu had thrown in anger, never really meaning to hurt him. He’d cried, but he’d told their parents that he’d just taken a fall.
Wings had been attached to his back, and bent at his hips were metal pincers, jointed like insect legs. Mayu felt her stomach turn.
The doctor had moved on to the next sleeping chamber.
Bergin was staring at her from his perch by the table, but Mayu didn’t care. She reached down and took Reyem’s hand in hers.
“Brother,” she whispered. Reyem’s brow smoothed. In his sleep, he clasped her hand. Mayu felt tears sting the back of her throat. “I’m here, Reyem. It’s going to be okay.”
“Kebben,” Tamar murmured. Her expression had softened. Maybe more than anyone, she understood what it was to be separated from your twin.
“We have to get him out of here.”
Tamar nodded. “I’ve already sent our scouts back to wake the ministers. I don’t want Makhi to have a chance to empty this place out before they see it.”
“But we intercepted your scouts,” said a high, clear voice from the doorway.
Queen Makhi stood by the metal door, bracketed by Tavgharad guards.
“Your Majesty!” exclaimed the doctor, bowing to his toes.
Tamar moved to block Princess Ehri.
“How interesting to see you in that uniform, Tamar Kir-Bataar,” said Makhi, sweeping into the room.
The doctor squinted as if trying to remember where he’d heard the name.
“Sweet Ehri,” Makhi said. “Did you really think I was that easily outwitted? You are so new to this game, and I have been playing since we were children.”
“Reyem,” Mayu whispered urgently. She squeezed his hand. “Reyem, please wake up.” They needed to get free of this place right now.
“Allow me,” said the queen, pressing a series of buttons on the wall. A loud hiss sounded and a faint orange mist shot from spigots at the head of the container.
“No!” Bergin cried.
Her brother’s eyes snapped open as he inhaled the stimulant.
“Reyem?”
He looked at Mayu, his expression blank.
“This sentimental bond of kebben has never made sense to me,” said Makhi. “I was supposed to be born a twin. But I murdered him in the womb. Or so my nursemaid told me. She said it was why I was born with only half a soul. I’m going to enjoy watching your brother kill you all.”
“Reyem, it’s me. It’s Mayu.” He gripped her hand harder. “Yes, it’s me. You know me. Reyem, you have to come with us.”
“Go on,” the queen said. “Do what you were made to do.”
Reyem’s fist clenched. Mayu screamed and collapsed to her knees as her brother broke every bone in her hand.
25
NINA
A WANING MOON HUNG OVER the Ice Court, its edges blurred by the cloudy promise of snow. Nina could hear sounds of celebration from the royal palace, noblemen drinking and dancing to rejoice in the bombing of Os Alta. Somewhere, out in the wild forests, Brum and the drüskelle were giving thanks to Djel and preparing for the war to come.
But Nina had been at war a very long time. And tonight, she intended to do some damage. She had destroyed Queen Tatiana’s letters. Now Nina was going to take away the one man who could verify that they’d ever existed.
The plan was simple but tremendously risky. First Nina needed a way into the drüskelle sector. She couldn’t simply waltz out of the Ice Court and back in again, so she would have to approach the sector via the secret path across the ice moat. It was not an appealing option. She’d spent the last few months doing little more than sitting and scheming. She was excellent at both, but tonight she would need the strength and agility of the soldier she’d been, not the wiles of the spy she’d become. And she’d need Hanne. Nina didn’t like putting her at risk, but she could admit that they’d seem less suspicious if they were caught sneaking around together than if Nina, an outsider at the Ice Court, was caught alone.