And then there was Gerel, who’d say I made the worst plans, and Chenda, who’d quietly agree, and Zara, who couldn’t lose more family than she already had, and Aaru . . .

Aaru, who slept across the small cabin from me every night, who reached for my hand and held on like he needed me, who talked with me until we both mumbled and lost track of our thoughts and fell asleep. I’d promised he wouldn’t be alone. I hadn’t meant to break that promise so soon.

So I made it my secret, and hated myself for keeping it, but if this was the only way to ensure the Fallen Gods remained on Noore—

I started looking for alternatives. Other interpretations. And in the back of my mind, I prepared to keep track of my lasts, because by the final day of our journey east, I’d found nothing else that would save the Fallen Isles.

My dragon soul would consume all the human parts of me, giving everyone else—even the people who’d hurt us—a new chance to live. I’d always wanted to be a dragon, hadn’t I? And come the eclipse, I’d get that wish, but now I had so many reasons to want to stay human.

It seemed vastly unfair.

“WHAT ARE YOU thinking?”

It was the night before we were supposed to reach the empire, and I wasn’t doing a good job hiding my fear. Not from Aaru. And not from LaLa, though she tried to reassure me by showing me how fun it was to be a dragon. She kept bringing me her noorestone—the other was in Ilina’s room with Crystal—and various other toys.

“It’s time to go to sleep, little lizard.” I handed the noorestone back to her. “Put this in your basket and get ready for bed.”

She gave me an annoyed chitter, but clutched the noorestone between her teeth and flapped into her basket again. Rustling sounded as I tapped off all but one of the light sigils and climbed into my bed, facing Aaru. He faced me, too. The shadows were deep and cool, jumping as though a candle flickered on the far side of the room. Aaru looked soft. Sweet. Worried.

“You seem preoccupied,” he said. “Are you afraid about what will happen tomorrow?”

A shiver crept through me. “A little.” A lot. In just a few hours, we’d disembark the skimmer den, and step foot on imperial land. On the mainland. That alone would have been terrifying enough. But for me, it meant another move toward the sacrifice.

If we could find the dragon bones.

“I never imagined leaving the Fallen Isles,” I said, because I needed to say something. “I never imagined being so far from home.”

Aaru made a soft noise of understanding.

“Are you afraid?” I asked.

“Yes.” No hesitation. No shame. He just admitted it. “But I never thought I’d leave Idris, and when I did, I survived.”

In more ways than one.

“We’ll come through this,” he murmured. “You’ll persuade the empress to give us ships and safe harbor. You’ll persuade her to let us find the bones of the first dragon. We’ll save the Fallen Isles, and everything will be right again.”