"Is this how you talk to Harrow?"

Gideon's hand hasn't relaxed, and neither have her shoulders. "She's all black and white like that, too."

Gideon Nav has spent her entire life trying to change what everyone told her was her fate. And look: she's off the Ninth. Maybe changing destiny came by bargaining with the Devil; maybe it's landed her in a place so bad even the creaky old halls of Drearburh starts to look cheerful.

But she did it. And soon she'll be on her way to the Cohort, finally free.