Dev stopped exploring and faced her, wide-eyed. “Then what happened?”

“After Queen Maiven sent her fleet to stop the pirates, the great split under the sea happened, and she lost most of her ships. The queen’s personal ship hadn’t sailed yet, and she made it to safety when they felt the first ominous shivers. The rogue group saw their chance to seize the castle and capture the queen. I thought they’d killed Maiven. All this time I believed she was dead—everyone else believed it too. That she’s alive, as you say… Well, it’s the best news I’ve heard in a long while, I’ll tell you that.”

Dev smiled but said nothing because he didn’t want to interrupt her story now that it was moving along so swiftly.

Astrid paused a moment to think. “Once they took possession of the castle, they spread the false rumors that the world would end under black-eyed rule, and they blamed the dragons for the natural disasters that had happened. The usurper group’s support grew wildly, but they knew they needed to possess the rest of the land in order to retain power long term. Days later they and their growing military marched the streets, fighting off dragons and steering around the crater lake and over the mountains to this kingdom. Many of the black-eyed people from both families had found safety here until the new king’s army arrived. There was no place for them to run to from here. Ashguard Suresh’s palace was overthrown. The village was torn apart.”

Dev pressed his palms against his temples in shock. He’d had no idea about much of this. “So why is it deserted now, if the rogue group took over?”

“They only wanted to destroy the lines of black-eyed rulers, not take the land. No one wished to be so isolated way out here, far from Grimere. Plus, the formation of the crater lake blocked easy access to this area. The new rulers recklessly killed your grandparents and took their children as slaves. They probably enslaved one or both of your parents, and traded you away soon after you were born. It was a game to them. Trading black-eyed children became a valuable practice.”

Dev was quiet for a long moment as he remembered when Thisbe and Fifer were first captured and sent to be auctioned at Dragonsmarche. He hadn’t seen it happen, but he’d helped Fifer in the aftermath. Had he been auctioned off in that same horrible way? And what had happened to his parents? Dev could hardly handle thinking about them after that news. It was easier to believe he had none than to get his hopes dashed again.

“What of the ghost dragons? How do you fit into the story?”

“At that time my generation of rulers, the elder dragons, were preparing to pass on to the next life. But without our co-ruling humans in control of the land named for us, our chance to transfer power peacefully to the next generation was put in jeopardy. Because of the rumors that the rogue group had started about us, many of the younger dragons were killed or cast out. Hundreds fled to find other lands that weren’t so dangerous to be in.