Chapter 25

Sancia broods above the Gulf, feeling abandoned and tempted to run. Clef urges a daring strike on the Mountain, hinting his time is short. Gregor arrives and, after Sancia accuses him of risking others’ lives, admits Dandolo’s past attempts to scrive slaves and concludes Tevanne will not change without force.

Pressed on his motives, Gregor recounts Dantua: sabotage stranded his troops, starvation and cannibalism followed, plague ravaged the camp, and he was buried alive before clawing from a mass grave as the city burned—an ordeal that birthed the legend of the Revenant. The experience convinced Gregor that society’s horrors are man-made and must be overturned.

When Sancia argues survival is all that matters, Gregor calls that a chain forged by the powerful and vows to fight and die to prevent universal enslavement by the merchant houses—even overthrowing his own. Confronted with his resolve and her scars, Sancia decides to do “something big.”

Sancia leads Gregor back to the crypt where the team waits. Choosing to aid their cause, she sacrifices her most precious asset: she removes Clef from her neck, introduces him to the others, and hands him over. Orso, stunned, recognizes the significance of the revelation.