After Nina is locked in a cell, Brum praises Matthias for resisting her and dismisses the alarm as something his men will handle. Brum explains that the Fjerdans have mixed jurda parem with a sedative to make Grisha more obedient, and that after a second dose the addiction itself becomes the means of control.

As Matthias questions Brum, Brum reveals that the treasury facility has existed for fifteen years. Grisha sentenced to death after trials have instead been kept alive as a “resource,” experimented on and controlled for Fjerda’s purposes. Brum says the imprisoned Shu scientist is alive because he is still useful, and that the main vault has been turned into his guarded laboratory.

Brum frames jurda parem as a tool that will make Grisha into weapons for Fjerda. Matthias is shaken by the hypocrisy: he had been taught that Grisha were unnatural monsters to be eradicated, but Brum has long been exploiting them. When Matthias points out Nina’s efforts to win his freedom, Brum dismisses her kindness as deceptive and promises that once Nina is dosed, she will recant the slaving charges against Matthias.

Matthias reflects on his hatred, his shame, and his history with Brum, who became his mentor after Matthias lost his family. Matthias realizes that Nina has shown honor, generosity, and humanity, and that if she is human, then Grisha cannot be inherently evil. Choosing Nina and his own moral judgment over the cause that shaped him, Matthias embraces Brum and uses a drüskelle hold to render him unconscious.

A flashback reveals that Matthias saw Brum following Nina in the ballroom and alerted Kaz. Kaz urged Matthias to use the situation to save Nina and find Yul-Bayur, so Matthias lied to Brum, giving him only a partial version of the truth and allowing Brum to believe Nina was acting alone. Back in the cell corridor, Matthias takes Brum’s master key, locks Brum in an empty cell, says he can no longer live on Brum’s poisonous hate, and hurries toward Nina.