Chapter Thirty-Six

Neema returns to her neglected old room, hoping also to reach Gaida’s servant Navril for an afterparty list. Borrowing a key, she searches the bare space, then opens Cain’s old skirting compartment and retrieves Yaan Rack’s hostile report and a biography of Brother Lanrik containing Gaida’s note to “Desy.”

Following Gaida’s page references, Neema traces mentions of Bersun’s distinctive sword style and bold brushwork, a tearful reaction to the song “Come to the Mountain,” and late letters noting Bersun’s crippling right-hand injuries. She connects these to Gedrun’s mention and realizes Bersun lost abilities that could not be convincingly imitated.

Neema’s reasoning crystallizes: Bersun likely died of his coup injuries in 1523; Vabras, prioritizing order, installed Gedrun as a counterfeit emperor, then used purges to silence insiders, including Yaan Rack. She reinterprets Gaida’s opening-ceremony gambit as a test that triggered Gedrun’s performance of grief, leaving Gaida briefly uncertain before her murder.

Neema considers motives and logistics—training Gedrun, masking differences as convalescence, and the emperor’s later “mellowing”—and sees how the imposture explains years of anomalies. She suspects Kindry, enriched by the purges, of monitoring her for Vabras. She hides the book, finds Cain’s Fox-Raven pendant, and rejects regret, choosing action.

To protect herself, Neema tears up Rack’s report, swallowing her name and damning adjectives, then vows to leave the island to gather proof for the next ruler, likely Ruko. She privately states her discovery—“the emperor is an imposter”—and departs to plan escape.