He was gone, arcing upward on hinged wings, Harbinger and Nightmoth beside him. They joined the demon in the sky, locking into formation, an arrow aimed at the Fjerdan bombers. The king’s mortal body knelt on the tank, as if in prayer, all his attention focused on the attack.

“Form up!” shouted Tamar. “Protect the king.”

They surrounded the tank, watching as the demon and the khergud sped toward impact.

“We’re going to watch them die,” said Tolya.

“Everyone mourns the first blossom,” Mayu said softly. “Who will weep for the rest that fall?”

“I will remain to sing for you,” Tamar continued the poem.

Tolya placed a hand to his heart. “Long after the spring has gone.”

Only they knew what this moment, this loss would mean.

There were tears in Tolya’s eyes. “May the Saints watch over you, Nikolai,” he said. “You die a king.”

Mayu watched the distance to impact narrow—two hundred yards, one hundred yards. She would not let herself look away. “Goodbye, brother,” she whispered.

A roar split the air. A massive shape tore across the field, between the khergud and the Fjerdan bombers, sending them scattering. Silver lightning crackled through the sky.

“What the—” Tamar began. But the words died on her tongue.

They all stared at the sky and Mayu opened her mouth to scream.

She was looking at a dragon.

41

NINA

“PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DON’T DROP ME!”

If Zoya had the power of speech, she wasn’t using it.

Because she was a dragon.

A dragon.

One minute Nina had the scent of parem in her nostrils, and the next she was knocked backward with Zoya’s arms around her, smashing through the tower wall as if it were straw. They were falling, the air rushing past them. Nina squeezed her eyes shut, knowing her body would break when they struck the water, as surely as if they’d struck stone. And then—the fall became flight.

She’d heard a voice in her head say … something. Open the door.

Zoya’s body seemed to shift around her and Nina screamed, certain that at any moment she’d be plummeting toward the sea again. Her hands scrabbled for anything to cling to—and grabbed hold of gleaming black scales.

What had happened to the Apparat and his monks? How was she going to get back to Hanne? She couldn’t hold a thought in her head for more than a moment. All logic and sense dissolved in a fizzing mix of fear and elation. She was flying. She was flying on a dragon’s back.

They sped over the waves, and Nina saw the dragon’s shape reflected in glimpses on the water. It was huge, its wings wide and graceful. Salt spray stung her cheeks.

“Where are you going?” Nina managed to gasp. “Where are you taking me?”

But the answer quickly became clear—inland to the front.