Around us, humans are hurrying toward the arena. Another mix of cheers and roars flares up from the distance. Roars? How is that possible? I focus on my magic and try to call it—but of course it doesn’t work. But I know the sounds of lions fighting as surely as my own voice. What in the skies is going on?

“Ellian, you should stay,” I tell her, pulling her off to the side of the road. “Think of Isla. The war with the humans denied me a father. I won’t let my fight deny Isla her mother.”

She starts to cry. “Rowan, I don’t deserve your kindness.”

“Yes, you do.”

“No, I do not.”

Then she looks away from me. Takes a step back. I hear the movement behind me a moment too late.

An unforgiving hand grasps me from behind and forces my arms down. Reflexively, I reach for a knife, and curse when I remember I can’t reach them under the dress. The strap of my bag is drawn taut across my neck as someone pulls it from my person without any care for my ability to breathe. The feeling awakens something in me, and I start to scream and scream and scream.

“No!” I shout as the bag is pulled free, taking all of my hope with it.

“I’m sorry!” It’s Ellian’s voice. I’m whipped around until I’m staring at her again, my blood boiling as desperate tears well up in my eyes. Cold metal snaps down on my wrists. There must be a dozen soldiers surrounding us, each twice my size and fully armored. The black-and-silver insignia I’d seen on the soldiers who ambushed our team yesterday is on their uniforms, too.

“How could you?” I shriek at Ellian. “You are one of us.”

She shakes her head. “That was so long ago, Rowan. I loved a human, that was true. But the rest … I lied, Rowan. They know about Isla. They have always known.”

I try to twist away from my captor and only succeed in falling to my knees. Beneath my dress, the hilt of my sword jabs into my side. “What?”

“After I gave birth to her, they poisoned me for weeks. They said it was medicine at first, and I didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late. They said they’d do the same to her unless I taught them everything I knew.”

The soldiers drag me out of the main street and closer to the sounds of the arena. I twist and kick my legs out, but the small satisfaction of meeting what I hope is some human’s rib cage is quickly doused by the panic of someone tightening their grip around my neck. I swivel around as best I can, trying to find which of the humans took the cure. Instead, I see it lying in the street, forgotten.