Gerel shook her head in wonder. “Decans, most likely. As long as the spies have been in the Fallen Isles. I’d say the den serves as a port of sorts, where the spies could come and go as needed. The supplies they must have on this thing. . . .”

“It’s eerie.” I looped my bag over my shoulder and readjusted LaLa. We could have put the dragons in their basket, but I wanted LaLa by my side; she made me brave. “Thinking about it being just a few hours off the eastern end of Anahera. All this time.”

“A few hours by skimmer,” Ilina corrected. “Even with our fastest ships, it would take longer to reach it. I’d be surprised if the Star-Touched or the Great Mace ever come out this far.”

“If the den is as fast as the skimmers, it won’t take us long to reach the mainland.” Aaru held tight to Doctor Chilikoba’s medical bag, which he’d taken charge of, as well as his own small bag of clothes we’d bought for him in Val fa Merce.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” Ilina licked her lips. “Getting into this ship. Visiting the empire. Meeting the empress.”

“That’s if Nine is being honest,” Gerel said. “If her people don’t attack us the moment we go back up.”

“Do you think the imperials would?” Zara’s eyes went round.

“If they’d wanted to do that,” Hristo said, “they would have already.”

“I don’t trust them.” Gerel frowned.

“Good.” I started to climb the ladder through the hatch. “Stay wary. But this is our chance to make a difference for the Fallen Isles.”

“What’s left of them,” Ilina murmured.

She had a point, but I didn’t agree out loud. Two gods had already risen.

Five to go.

CHAPTER TWENTY

NINE DIDN’T BOTHER TO INTRODUCE US TO ANY OF the workers before guiding us out of the docking compartment. They weren’t important enough, she said once we were out of earshot.

But we’d looked at them, and they’d looked at us, and it seemed like we were all thinking the same thing: they are so normal.

Along the way, the dragons chirped and clicked, listening to their own voices bounce along the vast walls. As we passed, most eyes dropped to the tiny gold and silver sisters, like moons in our hands. A young woman smiled at them and made kissing noises, as one might make to get a cat’s attention.

The dragons would have loved to explore the docking compartment—and introduce themselves to everyone in it—but Ilina and I held firmly to their leashes and didn’t give them so much as a breath of slack as we climbed the stairs. Through a door, we came into a long corridor wide enough for three people to walk abreast.

Nine beckoned us to stay behind her so that people walking the opposite way didn’t have to press against the wall while waiting for us to pass.