“Hush, now. We’ll find a way out of this.” Ariel wrapped her in a brief hug. Outside the palace walls, he was the only ally Eti could count on. The Gatdula family had fallen, and it was just the pair of them against Imeria Kulaw. Who knew what other horrors awaited them at the palace? As the initial shock of the midnight feast began to fade, Eti’s new reality struck her with alarming force.

“What are we to do?” she asked, despondent. “My family’s in trouble, and I can do nothing to save them. I’m not like my sisters. I’m useless.”

Eti had grown up knowing she’d never be able to blast through her enemies like Laya or strike them down with a flash of steel like Bulan. She’d guessed what people whispered about her⁠—that she was a daft child, worthless apart from tinkering with her precious metals. She told herself she didn’t care. But suddenly her family needed her, and she had no choice but to abandon them.

The word continued to rattle in her mind. Useless, useless, useless.

“Listen. We’re going to save your family. But first, we must come up with a plan.” Ariel reached over to brush aside Eti’s hair, which hung limp and knotted from their late-night run through the city. “By the way, you’re not useless,” he added, and gave her a small, encouraging smile that was so like her father’s, Eti’s heart flooded with a tender ache.

They ended up walking the full length of the market canal. Along the way, they bartered one of Eti’s golden bangles in exchange for sweet rolls to quench their hunger and two sturdy pairs of shoes. During their venture, they eavesdropped as customers gossiped with the vendors floating along in their boats.

According to the gossip, dozens of servants had fled the midnight feast with tales of bloodshed and Imeria Kulaw’s infernal powers. By midday, news of the coup had swept through the city like wildfire. Fear hung in the air, mingling with the copper-pipe scent that wafted up from the canals. From frenzied arguments Ariel and Eti had overheard, bloody fights had broken out across the city. If anyone had died, it was too soon to say. Eti assumed the clashes were between the cowardly guardsmen, who’d capitulated to the Kulaws without hesitation, and the loyal people of Mariit, who would die for the Gatdulas if justice demanded. The violence, Eti was convinced, was the start of a cresting tide that would steer Maynara back to the light.

“More will rise, and together, they outnumber the Kulaws. Imeria won’t be able to hold the palace for long. Isn’t that right?” she muttered to Ariel in a short-lived spark of triumph.