"We've always been the monsters in the stories." That's what Aleksander would say. It makes its way out of her mouth, now. "They're otkazat'sya stories."

The monsters may be unhinged and powerful, but the thing that the otkazat'sya feared was not grisha who were out of control of themselves, but grisha who were not in their control. And though the monsters were powerful, it was a grisha who had made the Fold, who had changed the landscape of Ravka seemingly forever.

From their perspective, this would look no different.

"But ... Yes. You'll transform, too, if you're not careful."