She crashed through the fronds, fell through hanging vines, and thumped down onto a patch of grass.

She lay in the rooftop gardens of her palace, she realized. Plants burned around her. Smoke unfurled and flames spread, drawing closer. When she looked aside, she saw Maev lying beside her. The Vir Requis was in human form again, her hair singed; she coughed and rose to her knees.

"I'm alive," Issari whispered, lying in the grass, the ringing still filling her ears. When she looked at her hand, she found the amulet fused with her flesh, embedded into her palm like a jewel into a crown. "Taal saved me."

Wings beat above. A red dragon and a blue one—Tanin and Sena—landed in the gardens.

"We must leave," Tanin said, panting. "Now. Angel retreated but she still lives. She will summon a new horde of demons." He lowered his wing by Issari like a ramp. "Climb onto my back."

Issari rose to her feet, shaky. Past the flaming gardens, she caught glimpses of her city—pain and terror still filled it. She could not abandon this place.

She shook her head. "I stay. You are children of Requiem. Go north, find safety, and build yourself a home. But I don't share your magic. My battle is here. My home is in Eteer."

The blue dragon shifted back into human form. Sena approached her, hair singed and face sooty. He held her hands.

"Are you sure, sister?" the prince whispered. Tears filled his eyes. "You can come with us. Please come with us."

Tears streamed down Issari's face. "I don't know where Father flies upon his demon; perhaps he has found Requiem, and you will meet him in the north, and perhaps he heads back home, and I will face him in the ruins of Eteer. But I know this: Here is my battlefield, and here is the kingdom I must fight for." She embraced her brother. "If you find Laira . . . if you find our sister . . . tell her that I love her. Tell her that I will fight for her."

Scales clanked as Maev shifted and took flight. "Come on, let's fly out of this place!" She growled. "Demons are gathering. Boys, shift and fly for pity's sake! No time for goodbyes."

Sena gave Issari a last look—a look that said everything, that spoke of his love for her, of their loss, of their fear. He kissed her cheek, stepped back, and rose as a dragon.

Coughing in the smoke, Issari made her way to the roof's trapdoor, entered the palace, and walked down corridors and staircases. She stepped onto her old balcony, the same place where the demons had eaten the crone, the same place she would always stand and gaze toward the sea and think of her missing mother and sister. She stood gazing at that sea now, hand raised.

In the darkness, almost invisible in the night, three dragons flew across the water.