After Nina swallows jurda parem, Matthias watches her power surge into something overwhelming. Nina immediately attacks the parem-dosed Heartrender blocking the crew, killing him and telling him to be free. Nina then commands the Fjerdan soldiers to drop their weapons and sleep, clearing the way to the docks.

The crew climbs down from the tank and crosses the field of unconscious soldiers in stunned silence. At the quay, Rotty and Specht wait aboard the Ferolind, visibly frightened by what they have seen. As the others move toward the ship, Matthias and Nina lag behind.

Jarl Brum and a group of masked drüskelle confront Matthias, calling Matthias a traitor and promising that none of the crew will leave alive. Brum explains that their hoods, masks, and clothing are reinforced with Grisha steel corecloth, making them immune to Nina’s direct control or harm. When Matthias pleads for them to leave, Brum shoots Matthias in the chest, but Nina’s power expels the bullet and leaves Matthias unwounded.

The drüskelle fire on Nina, but Nina heals herself as quickly as the bullets strike. Since Nina cannot touch the protected drüskelle directly, Nina awakens the sleeping Fjerdan soldiers and uses those soldiers to remove the drüskelle masks and hoods. Once the drüskelle are vulnerable, Nina tortures them in revenge for the Grisha children and people they have persecuted.

Matthias recognizes some of the drüskelle as men he knew and sees them as both monsters and indoctrinated boys. Matthias begs Nina to spare them, arguing that Nina taught Matthias to become better and that the drüskelle might also learn. Nina relents, releases the soldiers, leaves Brum alive but humiliated and injured, and boards the Ferolind. With no one left to raise an alarm, the schooner sails into the dark sea.