On the morning of Tobias’s naming ceremony, Rilla privately tells Allina she considers the ritual an abomination. The dining hall has been set up as a Nazi altar, with a swastika cloth; Hitler’s portrait is flanked by candles and flowers, and a banner proclaims, “Germany Awake.” Allina steadies Rilla and covers for her visible distress when Ziegler approaches. She also recognizes an SS officer from their prior encounter in the nursery. Ziegler identifies him as Gruppenführer Karl von Strassberg, and mentions that he quietly supplies the home with extra provisions. Schwester Ziegler is called away, leaving Allina in charge and instructing her to keep a close eye on Rilla.

SS officer Loritz Kortig officiates; when he cannot quiet Tobias’s wailing, von Strassberg takes the baby and settles him effortlessly. The ceremony includes a reading from Mein Kampf, a blessing pledging Tobias to the Reich, and two officers crossing drawn swords over the infant, ending with a collective Nazi salute. At the reception, Kortig criticizes Rilla for coddling her son; von Strassberg draws Allina into the debate, and she states that a mother holding her child is natural.

Rilla tells Allina she intends to leave immediately for the nearby church of St. Gallus, where Father Regenauer is waiting to baptize Tobias in secret. Despite Allina’s warning that Himmler has explicitly prohibited such ceremonies, Rilla is immovable. Allina agrees to stand watch, props the North Wing courtyard door open, and covers for Rilla’s absence at the reception. Rilla returns early, however, and is spotted by Schwester Ziegler entering from the courtyard.

Schwester Ziegler interrogates Allina in her office and threatens to report her to Gud. Von Strassberg enters, having overheard, and takes the blame, implying Allina was occupied with keeping him happy at the time. In the hallway, Allina confronts him; he explains the lie shields her from punishment and reduces Gud’s leverage over her. He takes her to the courtyard to speak privately.

The narrative shifts to Karl von Strassberg’s perspective. He needs an inside contact to access files on missing children—evidence that could damage Himmler. He questions Allina about her background, learning she is from Badensburg, has no family, and depends entirely on Gud as her patron. Karl tells Allina he has greater influence with Himmler than Gud and can protect her. As Allina describes surviving the Badensburg massacre, he explains the village was targeted because a resistance operative’s papers led soldiers there after he was captured and killed. The leader of the resistance network was Dieter Strauss, and the captured operative was Albert Mannheim. Allina breaks down, revealing that Dieter was her uncle and Albert was her fiancé. Karl sends her inside without answering her final question—what he plans to do with her now.

Chapter 15 opens with two letters. On January 3, 1939, Karl von Strassberg writes formally to Gruppenführer Gud, requesting that Allina’s patronage be transferred to him. He obliquely threatens to involve Himmler if Gud objects. Gud replies on January 5, sardonically acknowledging Karl’s superior political standing and conceding.

One week later, Karl shows Allina the letters. Her first reaction is suspicion, and she asks what he wants in exchange. He reacts with frustration and genuine hurt, insisting he only wants to protect her. He tells her he will show the letters to Ziegler to formalize the arrangement, then asks whether she will join him for tea the next day.

Over the next two weeks, Karl visits Allina daily. In the nursery, Berta Schneider and other mothers tease Allina about his attention; Rilla’s baiting about the extended break von Strassberg has secured for Allina provokes Berta’s jealousy, prompting her to storm out. Alone with Rilla, Allina admits she does not want to like Karl despite finding no fault in his manner. Rilla asks if her reluctance stems from guilt over her fiancé, Albert. Allina snaps, then quietly reveals Albert died in October. She privately reflects that she is beginning to forget what Albert looked like.

At tea, Karl urges Allina to listen carefully to Hitler’s upcoming Reichstag speech and presses for her honest views on conditions at the home. Fed up with evasion, Allina tells him to follow her. She shows him the contrast between the loud, healthy newborn nursery and the eerie silence of the six-month-old ward, explaining that withholding physical affection is destroying the infants. She then takes him to the third-floor ward, where he encounters the toddlers’ listlessness, limited mobility, and near-total absence of speech. Otto approaches and hugs them both; Karl is visibly shaken. He instructs Wendeline to say nothing to Ziegler about the visit.

In the courtyard, Karl struggles to accept that neglect and malnutrition—not birth defects—are entirely responsible for the children’s condition. Allina tells him Ziegler is likely lying about plans to transfer the children to an orphanage, as no family would accept children in this state, and asks him to find out the truth. He takes her hand and promises to investigate. She offers to share her personal notes on the children, and he asks for her help accessing files from the locked Central Filing office. Allina agrees.

In the break room, Allina and Karl finalize their plan. Her first mission is to locate the file of a child named Anya Geisen, born at Hochland Home in 1936. Since Allina’s room has no lock, Karl promises to arrange secure storage. That afternoon, she retrieves Ziegler’s key from her unoccupied office but is nearly undone by nerves. She finally locates Anya’s file—not in the main labeled cabinets but in an old, partially filled cabinet at the back of the room, alongside dozens of unusually thin folders. She returns the file and the key seconds before Ziegler’s arrival and hides in a supply closet until the hall is clear.

The next morning, Karl presents two gifts that function as operational cover: a gold locket belonging to his Aunt Adele, and a lacquered wooden box inlaid with a swastika, presented as a personal gift from the Führer. The other women at breakfast interpret the locket as a sign of serious romantic intentions, and Berta storms out. In the courtyard, Karl reveals that the locket contains a hidden compartment concealing the small brass key to the box, which will serve as the files’ hiding place.

That afternoon, Allina retrieves Anya’s file and four others in under three minutes. Examining them that evening, she finds each holds only a sparse sheet of basic information and an identical notation at the bottom: T/H.H. The next morning, she draws the notation in the dirt, and she and Karl arrive at the same conclusion simultaneously: Transfer, Heinrich Himmler. Allina connects this to the third-floor toddlers. Karl reveals his investigation began when Anya Geisen was promised to a prominent family but never delivered; Allina theorizes the children are being used in experiments, and Karl promises to investigate. When Allina opens her coat to demonstrate where she will conceal the files, Karl notices there are papers hidden in the lining—her father’s letters. He advises her to move them into the locked box immediately.

Karl then announces he is leaving for Berlin to attend Hitler’s Reichstag address. Before departing, he asks Allina to attend the home’s nightly officer mixers while he is gone, explaining that he will need to enlist his own men to help the children, and she must become more at ease around uniformed men. Allina admits she is terrified of encountering the soldiers who attacked her in Badensburg. Karl holds her carefully, promises his protection, and tells her to use his name if she ever sees any of them again. She agrees, for the children’s sake. Over the following weeks she attends the mixers, supported by Rilla’s constant company, and never encounters any of her attackers.

On January 30, 1939, Allina volunteers for kitchen duty in order to hear Hitler’s annual Reichstag speech on the radio. Hitler cites Germany’s economic recovery, blames the country’s difficulties on Jewish influence, and warns that if international Jewry forces another world war, the outcome will be the annihilation of the “Jewish race” in Europe. Allina is appalled. Kitchen sister Bruna dismisses the fate of the Jewish people, referring to them as “cockroaches.” Tilda mentions a Jewish schoolfriend who disappeared. Allina asks pointedly whether it matters what happened to her.

The following evening, Hochland Home hosts a formal dinner. Allina is on greeting duty when Heinrich Himmler arrives with his wife, Marga. Himmler is unexpectedly mild and amiable; Frau Himmler is cold and imperious. At the dinner table, Karl steadies Allina by holding her hand beneath the tablecloth. The evening turns intolerable when Ziegler casually reveals the dinnerware was sourced through Gruppenführer Gud. Overwhelmed by the spectacle of officers celebrating Hitler’s rhetoric while eating off what she believes is property seized from families the regime destroyed, Allina abruptly leaves the table and retreats to a darkened parlor.

Karl finds her there and draws her into a waltz. She cries quietly as they dance; he holds her after the music stops. When he leans toward her, she panics and pulls back. Recognizing that he must earn her trust, Karl locks the parlor door, turns up the radio to mask their conversation, and invites her to ask him anything.

Allina asks whether Karl cheered during Hitler’s speech. He admits he had no choice but states directly that he does not agree with the regime’s plans for the Jewish people. Allina reveals that her birth mother was Jewish, making her a “Mischling” living under forged papers. Karl is visibly shaken but promises to protect her. She then presses Karl for the truth about Hitler’s intentions. He predicts the world will choose inaction over war, allowing the regime to implement greater restrictions, arrest more Jews, and construct more concentration camps. He then discloses that he works with a small, fractured group within the SS to save as many Jewish people as possible—forging papers, arranging transport, and supporting efforts to send children to England. When Allina suggests Hitler can only be stopped by his death, Karl does not disagree. He calls her his “partner in crime” (169) and most valued recruit. When she asks what he personally wants from her, he answers honestly: He wants her, but the choice is entirely hers. She thanks him for the truth.