by Jodi Meadows
Now that she said it, I recognized some of the names from the map we’d seen in the ship library. The empire was huge, but not unknowable—though I didn’t plan to be here long enough to learn it better. I’d talk to the empress. Find the bones. And get home.
Twelve days before the eclipse.
Twelve days before I became a dragon.
The skimmer den slowed as we approached a raised platform that protruded from the eastern wall. When the ship came to a stop, two uniformed people standing on the platform drew signs in the air, and a ledge moved outward and met with the viewing deck right in front of us, like a bridge. One tall, dark woman in copper-colored armor stood at the rear of the platform, chin high and hands behind her back.
Aaru touched my arm. ::Do you think she’s the empress?::
I smiled and started to shake my head, but what did I know about the empire? I pressed my hand on top of his. ::Maybe, but probably a guard.::
::She looks fierce.::
I gave a faint nod while the others gave the bridge a dubious eye.
“Is that safe?” Zara crossed her arms and hunched her shoulders inward. “There’s not much holding it up.”
“Our empress employs only the best mages in the Algotti Empire. It will hold.” As though to prove it, Nine stepped onto the bridge. “You’ll be escorted to your quarters and given time to settle in.”
“Settle in before what?” Since no one else seemed willing to go first, I hiked up my bag, doubled my grip on LaLa’s leash, and followed Nine onto the bridge. It didn’t so much as dip under my weight.
“I don’t know.” She glanced over her shoulder. “There will be schedules in your rooms.”
“You won’t be there?” She was the only person in this whole strange place we knew. I didn’t like the idea of separating from her.
“I have work to do, Hopebearer. I’m not your minder.” Her tone softened. “I’ll check on you, though. To make sure your little dragons haven’t started any fires.”
We reached the platform before I had to form any sort of response. The two men—mages, Nine had called them—wore stiff linen uniforms the color of seafoam, bright against their sun-darkened skin. The didn’t speak as I stepped onto the platform, but their eyes followed LaLa as I carried her after Nine toward the armored woman at the other end.
When Ilina and the others came up behind me, Nine introduced the other woman. “This is Alusha. She will be your escort throughout the palace.” Nine met our eyes one by one. “She is responsible for your safety. If something should happen to one of you, she will offer her life to our empress as penance. So please, take no risks, because you, in turn, are responsible for her life.”
I chanced a smile at Alusha. “We’ll be good.”
Her mouth pulled into a frown. “This way.” Without waiting to see if we were coming, she turned on her heels and marched down the stairs. At the bottom, a flagstone path led to a covered patio and a wide double door, guarded by two dark men in steel armor and pale green tabards, emblazoned with the imperial insignia. It must have been hot inside all that metal and linen, but if they minded, their expressions didn’t betray them at all.
“You’d better go,” Nine said. “She won’t wait while you gawk.”
No one had offered to carry our bags, but that was probably for the best; none of us would have been willing to give up any part of our homeland, even temporarily.
“Thank you for all your help, Nine.”
After the others made hasty good-byes, we hurried after Alusha, Ilina and I holding tight to our dragons as they strained to look around.
Then, it happened so fast I hardly realized—
My foot landed on Algotti ground.
There was no rush of feeling, no thrum of my heart speeding faster, nothing to mark the enormity of the moment of not only leaving the Fallen Isles, but stepping onto enemy land for the first time.
Instead, we just strode down the flagstone path after Alusha, and the guards pulled open the doors to grant us admittance into the imperial palace.
One last look at the obsidian dragons that marked the mouth of the River Akron. One more prayer—give me peace, give me grace, give me enough love in my heart—and then, at last, I stepped inside.
LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE in the palace, our apartments were extravagant.
One grand entrance hall, bright with gold drapes and glass mirrors, and small obsidian dragon figurines—not as detailed as the pair on the river, but impressive nonetheless.
One public parlor with a domed ceiling, twenty marbled columns, and a fountain set into the very center of the mosaic floor. Its splash filled the room, loud enough to mask our footfalls—or anyone else’s.
One formal dining room, large enough to seat thirty, with gold and blue silk tapestries hung along the walls. A small doorway on the far side led to a kitchen, but we weren’t permitted back there.
Ten “smaller” guest suites, each with their own private parlors, bedroom, dining room, washrooms, and servant rooms. One had been assigned to each of us—except for Chenda and Gerel, who insisted on sharing—along with a wardrobe full of clothes and an attendant to keep our rooms clean and help us dress.
Alusha said we’d been given apartments reserved for the empress’s most esteemed guests, but it felt like a grand house, big enough that anyone who lived here didn’t have to see another human for days if they didn’t want to bother.
“You could get lost in here.” Ilina stood in the public parlor, gazing at the fountain where LaLa and Crystal zipped between streams of water, chasing and splashing each other. “And we’ll never get them out of that.”
I dropped my head back to look into the dome. A spiral of light sigils shone brightly against the engraved marble and gold. At the point, a skylight revealed a shock of blue and brilliant sun. “Do you think Paorah came here? Do you think she gave him these rooms?”
Ilina sank onto one of the sofas that stood around the fountain. “If he came here, surely he would have realized he could not win a battle against the empire’s might. Not away from our gods. Not without a thousand giant noorestones. I’ve never seen anything like this place. I’ve never imagined anything like it. Don’t tell your mother, but it makes your house look like a cute summer cottage.”
“What does that make your house?”
“A hovel.” She shook her head in amazement. “Compared to this, my house is that cabin we stayed in after the Pit.”
“Ah, yes. The one that blew apart in the storm.”
“Exactly.”
I sat next to her, feeling so tiny in this huge space. The others were in their own rooms, unpacking or looking at the treasures that filled every surface. If this was where the empress kept her favored guests, what did her rooms look like?
“Paorah is desperate,” I said at last. “And desperate people take desperate risks.”
“Like us.” She rested her cheek on my shoulder. “I can’t believe we’re here. In the Algotti Empire. In the imperial palace.”
In the fountain, LaLa splashed in the pool of water while Crystal stalked her from one of the spouts. The moment LaLa ducked her face underwater and blew a burst of fire—making steam rise above her—Crystal dove and they tumbled around the wet tile with tiny shrieks of joy.
“Be careful,” Ilina warned. “We won’t come in after you if you drown.”
A lie, and the little beasts knew it.
“I suppose it makes sense that you’d be here,” Ilina murmured. “You’re the Hopebearer. You’re important. Everyone knows who you are. Even the empress, apparently. But the rest of us? We don’t belong here.”
“None of us belong here. We belong in the Fallen Isles, surrounded by dragons, the sea, and our gods. But all that’s in trouble, and if none of the people appointed to the continuation of the Fallen Isles are going to help it, then we must. Dragon trainer. Personal guard. Annoying little sister. Disgraced warrior. Unseated Lady of Eternal Dawn.”
“And Aaru?”
; My heart fluttered at his name. “He had a lot of jobs on Idris. The last was to oversee men who sorted trash.”
Ilina cringed. “I bet your mother will love that.”
“She does seem to like him, actually. Or maybe she just didn’t see him as anything more than an escort. Most people underestimate him.”
“They shouldn’t,” she murmured. “Not after what happened at the ruins.”
She meant the pulse of his grief, that surge of silence that smothered every sound for leagues around us. It was the Voice of Idris, able to silence any sound, even the deep note of noorestones that made them glow.
“I’m glad you’re all here with me,” I said after a moment. “I wouldn’t want to be here by myself.”
And what I didn’t say: it was hard enough, knowing exactly how many days I had left as a human. I didn’t want to spend a single one of them without the people I loved most.
“I think you would do all right if you had to be here alone.” She bumped against me. “You’ve been managing your anxiety a lot better recently.”
“It’s because you’re here.” I said it teasingly, but it was true. Having my best friends helped more than I could tell her.
“You make me blush.”
“And noorestones, I think. Their fire burns those buzzy feelings away, at least for a little while.” I frowned at the floor. “It would have been nice if I’d had this years ago.”
“It was inconsiderate of them to wait so long to be this helpful.” Ilina pulled herself straight and clicked for the dragons. “When do we speak with Empress Apolla?” She held up a hand as Crystal flapped over, spraying water everywhere. “There was a schedule in my room, but it only had tours of the palace and meals with strangers. How long do they think we’re going to be here?”
“My schedule says this evening, before I join her for dinner.” I looked toward the other rooms. “Surely everyone is going.”
Ilina shook her head. “I don’t think the rest of us are invited.”
“Maybe I can ask Alusha—”
“No.” Ilina brushed water off Crystal. “I think we should follow our schedules. Be the best guests we possibly can. We want them to have every reason to help us, right? So let’s be agreeable and easy. If we need to fight something, we want to be in a strong position to argue.”
“You think that’s better than showing spine first thing? We don’t want them to push us around.”
She tapped her chin. “Hristo and Gerel would say to insist, but I think we want to be diplomatic. Chenda would agree.”
I nodded.
“Talk to the empress tonight. The rest of us will go to the events scheduled.” She nodded toward one of the ten thousand decorative tables in the parlor, covered with dragon figurines. “Clearly, they like dragons around here, and so do we. Between all of us, we should be able to learn about any legends regarding the first dragon. That’s our priority, right?”
Was it? Getting the bones felt like a priority, but I had to be practical, too. Ships and safe harbor could save so many people—and we knew that. There was no doubt.
The dragon bones . . .
“I think you should take a noorestone with you tonight, though. Just in case.”
I nodded, although Nine would no doubt have told her superiors about my control over the noorestones. I just hoped that the empress’s guards didn’t view a small crystal as a weapon.
“LaLa isn’t invited to dinner,” I said. “If you can believe it.”
At the sound of her name, my little dragon looked up and sent a questioning spurt of fire.
“Rude,” Ilina agreed, and together we got up to take another look around the apartments, noting the differences between our rooms and the wardrobes full of clothes someone had chosen for us. All the dresses were cut in what I assumed was the imperial style, with long, loose sleeves, tight bodices, and flowing skirts. And for those who wore shirts and trousers, those were of similar cuts, elegant and expensive. Aaru, for his part, opened his wardrobe and closed it right away—even though everything inside was suitably subdued. It was all just so expensive. Meanwhile, Chenda had already changed into one of the dresses.
“Nine must have given them our measurements.” Chenda smoothed the green brocade down her ribs. “If I didn’t like this dress so much, I’d be unsettled.”
Gerel didn’t say anything. She just sat on the sofa in their private parlor, admiring Chenda as she turned to get a better look in the mirror.
Lunch came, and we were all summoned to the big dining room, where Alusha stood at the head of the table. “Tonight, you will all attend dinners with different officials. I will explain the proper way to take a meal with such esteemed company. Pay attention, because your performance reflects on me. If you make fools of yourselves, you make a fool of me. Furthermore, I do not care what customs are similar or different. I’m not here to learn about your vanishing islands.”
She wasn’t here to be the least bit tactful, either.
Still, I didn’t want to embarrass myself, so I paid close attention as she went over the multitude of rules: who took the first bite, what order to eat the food, and even the proper (by imperial standards) way to wipe one’s mouth.
The level of protocol made the most formal state dinners at home seem casual, but I, at least, had some background in eating while obeying dozens of unspoken rules. Chenda and Zara, too. The others struggled a little more, but everyone tried.
Once lunch was finished, attendants whisked me back to my rooms to dress for my meeting with the empress, filling my head with more protocol and advice as they worked. They washed and combed my hair, brushed creams and powders onto my face, and scrubbed and painted my nails. Then, at last, they said I was ready.
I emerged from my suite, glittering in the uneven light of a hundred sigils. The gown was possibly the finest thing I’d ever worn, though I wouldn’t dream of telling my old seamstress. The fitted bodice was gold and blue silk, a topaz-beaded sun burning on my abdomen, with spiraling rays of light emanating outward. The skirt—the deep blue of a sea at midnight—flared off my hips and swirled around my ankles. The stiffer brocade of my bodice descended down the back, all the way to the floor, to create the illusion of a heavy golden cloak over the lighter silk.
They’d left my hair long and loose, except for the front, which they’d swept back with a comb, gold and studded with topaz sunbursts. As for my face, the attendants had decided to keep the cosmetics simple, darkening only my eyelids and lashes, and coloring my lips a deep red. My scar showed, highlighted with my hair pulled back, but I didn’t mind; looking in the mirror wasn’t a shock anymore.
At my entrance, the others turned and stared. Aaru’s breath caught as he stepped forward, then stopped. Still, his expression was soft and admiring, making my heart flutter with warmth. I’d liked his surprise before—in Anahera, when we’d left for the ball—but the way he looked at me now was different. His gaze said that he thought I was beautiful, and his step closer said I was approachable: a Mira he knew and loved and trusted.
“You look amazing.” Ilina smiled. “Ready to meet an empress.”
I flushed. “You too.” They were all dressed for dinner, looking finer than I’d ever seen them. But there was no time to pay more compliments; Alusha scowled and gestured for me to go with her, and with Nine’s warnings in mind, I followed.
Just as I was about to step out of the suite, tapping drew my attention. Aaru. The quiet code. He said, ::Careful what you say. They have listening magic.::
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
AARU’S WARNING HAUNTED ME THROUGH THE GREAT halls of the imperial palace, but even with the knowledge that none of our conversations would be secret, I couldn’t help but admire the glorious archways, the detailed murals, and the masterfully cut statues we passed. It was almost enough to make me lose track of my numbers, but even here, in a faraway land with strange magic, my mind counted away.
As we walked, Alusha gave more and more instructions—how to stand
, where to look, how often to breathe—and I put it all in my head, the same way I memorized speeches or Mother’s directions before an event. Occasionally, other people traversing the halls would look over, but if anyone realized I was from the Fallen Isles, they didn’t show it. Or maybe they simply didn’t care. What were we to them but a mere curiosity?
At last, we paused in front of huge, gold-embossed doors, waiting as the pair of guards hauled them open.
I felt it before I saw it, like a fire in my chest, and a rushing in my ears, and a knowing in my soul.
Power.
Recognition.
My heart thundered as I lifted my eyes into the chamber beyond the doors. At first, all I saw was gold and white marble: columns and banners and fourteen statues of the Upper Gods; I noted Suna and Theofania and Zabel, among others, and wondered if they called the Upper Gods by the same names we did, and if they acknowledged the Fallen Gods at all, and who—if anyone—they really worshiped.
At the far end of the chamber, a young woman clad in gold and white sat on a heavy throne, but it was what rested next to her that captured my whole attention.
A dragon skull.
It was enormous, as big as a house, with dozens of still-sharp teeth and empty eye sockets that seemed to stare straight into my soul.
The neck and spine extended beyond it, behind the throne, curving upward toward the gargantuan wings; the bones of the left wing stretched into an arc over the empress’s throne, framing her. Strangely, as light glimmered over the curves, I thought I saw scales. Faint, iridescent, and maybe my imagination. But the effect was beautiful.
The skeleton took up an entire chamber beyond the throne, lit with those eerie, flickering sigils. Against these massive bones, the light was all wrong. It should have been steady, cool blue-white, and sharp. It should have come from noorestones, the light of the Fallen Isles.
Nevertheless, we were here. Together.
The rushing in my ears became a roar, washing through my entire body. Muscles in my back ached, trying to stretch wings I wasn’t wearing. My throat tingled with the echoes of sparks. Fire. Smoke.