“I’ll go.”

I turned in amazement as a girl rose from the back and faced us with grim determination. “I’ll go,” Nettle said again, stepping forward. “I’m not afraid.”

“Nettle,” I growled as fear and anger surged up, making my voice sharp, “you don’t know what you’re saying. If you try to fight this army, you’re going to die.”

“Maybe,” Nettle replied. “Or maybe Talon will come for us tonight while we’re all asleep, and I’ll die, anyway.” I started to argue with her, but she raised her voice. “I’m tired, Cobalt,” she said. “I’m tired of constantly hiding and being afraid. Always watching my back, being scared to go anywhere alone, waking up to evacuate in the middle of the night. It never ends. It’s always something, either Talon or St. George wanting to kick down our door and slaughter us all.” She slumped, rubbing her arm self-consciously. “She’s right. If we don’t start fighting back, we’ll be running away for the rest of our lives.”

Raising her chin, she met Ember’s gaze. “So, yeah. I’m done with this. If St. George needs us to save them from Talon, I guess we’ll just have to show them what we can do. Count me in.”

“Me, too,” echoed Remy, standing up. “I’m coming, too.”

“Yeah. Me, too.”

I stood there, dazed, as one by one all my hatchlings slowly rose to their feet, announcing their consent. Only Kain and two of his friends remained seated until the very end, but when the final hatchling stood up, he muttered a curse and climbed to his feet, as well, crossing his arms.

I shook my head at them all. “You stubborn idiot hatchlings,” I almost-whispered. They set their jaws or crossed their arms, staring back at me, and I hardened my voice. “You realize what this means, don’t you? Take a good look around. Count how many of you are standing here right now, because some of you aren’t coming back. If you do this, there are going to be casualties. Some of you are going to die, that’s just how it is in war. How do you think that makes me feel, trying to keep the lot of you alive all this time, only to have you charging off into the middle of a war zone?” They didn’t answer, and I fought back the helpless anger threatening to smother me. At my side, Ember was quiet, watching us all. She had won. She had put out the call to fight, and the hatchlings, tired of running and living in fear, had responded. I hadn’t realized how much they wanted to do something, anything, until now.