This was what it meant to walk the dreams of dragons, for I had swum through this very moment when I had slept in the belly of the beast as we crossed the Great Smoke. That journey in the ocean of dreams had given me a brief taste of Bee’s gift. I was too astounded to speak.

Footfalls hammered up the back steps.

“But not until we defeat the Coalition and their Roman allies,” he went on, as if I had already agreed. “If we lose now, the mages, princes, and Romans will use their victory to crush the radicals and all dissent for another generation.”

“You created a monster,” I said.

“No, the monster created himself. Why do you think people hate and fear mages? Surely you can see their fears are not irrational. Still, young men are weapons that experienced men will wield. My weapon has proved more dangerous than I imagined. I doubt even Andevai Diarisso can stop him now.”

“Are his fire mages loyal to you, or to him?”

His hesitation was so brief that I noticed it only because I was strung to a high pitch. He smiled crookedly. “You perceive my situation.”

Drake strode into the attic from the other end. “Why did you rush away before I was done speaking to Cat? I want—”

“James!” His curt tone betrayed not a glimmer of disquiet. He might have been slapping down any underling. “Cat has business that will not be possible to manage once we’re on the move.”

He opened the door and ushered me into an attic room with a sloped ceiling, four windows, a dozen lit lamps, and six people sitting at a table writing or reading dispatches.

A man I did not know glanced up. “Ah, General! We’re just about done here. The Barahals have almost finished that cipher for your orders for Captain Barca.”

The Barahals. There were two people in the room I had once thought I had known, before the day they had thrown me to the wolves.

Uncle Jonatan didn’t even look up, so intent was he on a message he was turning into code. He had always been single-minded, more involved in his work than with his family, yet not a bad father for all that. His curly hair had entirely gone to silver since I had last seen him. The wrinkles in his forehead cut deep.