The crowd began to whisper among themselves. The eyes boring into the back of my neck burned with suspicion. My pulse raced, and I kept hearing the rioters screaming in my ear. Death to the geroi.

“Friends, please,” Gitrin implored. “They are children. They cannot help their parentage any more than the rest of us can.”

Before I could think twice, I had leapt to my feet. “Stop calling me a child, Gitrin,” I snapped. “I am enilin and I am old enough to take responsibility for my own actions.”

The crowd fell instantly silent. The man across from me turned his shoulder, shielding the child he’d been holding—as if I were an anguis, plotting to rip her from his grasp and devour her whole. I bit my lip. “I understand that the geroi have done much to hurt you. But they have hurt Ceilos and me, too. And all of Iamos. Our top priority should be saving this planet—for all of us. After seeing the life you all have made here… I believe Elytherios holds the key to that. So I will gladly renounce the geroi, for the good of our people.”

Saying the words aloud felt like a release. Several people in the front row turned to one another, murmuring inaudibly. My hands shook, but I inhaled through my nose, determined to steady them. Ceilos stared up at me, eyes wide, as if he didn’t recognize me. Over his shoulder, I could see Isaak grinning at me and nodding encouragingly. I gave him a tight smile and sat back down.

Eos stood once more, looking around at the crowd. “Very well. I think everyone has made their point very clearly. Let’s put this to a vote. All in favor of allowing Nadin and Ceilos to remain in Elytherios, in the household of Gitrin?” Then he said the words in the old language, asking the Elytherioi to stand and be counted.

I held my breath.

Gitrin stood, proudly and defiantly. Marin also stood without hesitation, and I smiled despite myself. Throughout the crowd, a few others rose to their feet. Near the back, I saw the woman from the day before—the mother who had been grinding the grain. She looked directly at me as she stood. I inclined my head to her, three fingers on my brow.

Two dozen people stood. And that was all.

Eos gazed around the courtyard fretfully. “Very well. Nadin and Ceilos shall not be allowed to remain in Elytherios.”

The ground dropped out from under me. I could feel the cold of the outside on my skin all over again, taste the airlessness. The memories of the night of my annual, of the sandstorm, of my nightmare all swirled together until I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.

Ceilos looked at Gitrin, his eyebrows drawn. “What does that mean?” he asked. “If we can’t stay here, where are we supposed to go? Back to the geroi?”