“You helped them.” A note of awe touched the empress’s voice.

I dropped the darkened noorestones into her hands. “These bought the dragons a few more days of life. They’re still trapped in endless misery. They’re still going to die, unless—”

Dissonant buzzing ripped through me. My heartbeat stumbled, my teeth itched, and my thoughts spiraled with hope and fear and shock. I knew that noise in the back of my head, that black harmony that grated rather than sang. Noorestones. Giant noorestones.

Thirteen of them.

“Mira?” Ilina asked. “What’s wrong?”

I gasped, struggling to get the words around the knot tightening inside my throat. “Paorah is here.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

QUESTIONS SPIRALED THROUGH ME, UNSTOPPABLE without the noorestones. I fumbled for my calming pills.

1. How had Paorah gotten here so quickly?
2. Where had the other three giant noorestones come from?
3. Could we get any of those noorestones here fast enough to help these dragons?

But at my declaration—“Paorah is here”—the empress and her guards pushed into motion.

“Return me to the palace,” she said. “Send this ahead: I want the high magistrate arrested and brought before my throne. In chains. Assemble the harbor guard to surround his fleet. As for the people with him”—she glanced at me—“try not to hurt them, but if they attack, respond in kind.”

I tried to tell myself anyone from the Fallen Isles would make the same decision, but all I could think was that my mother was on one of those ships, and if an imperial killed her . . .

“Your will is ours,” a guard said, nodding, and pulled a small metal device from his jacket, turning toward the carriage while he sent the empress’s message.

“It’s time to go, Your Eminence,” said the other guard. “The park isn’t defendable enough.”

The empress gave a firm nod, but I didn’t believe for a moment that she was worried for her own safety. The high magistrate had sworn to attack the Algotti Empire, and here he was, early and with a promise he intended to keep. Her people were in danger. She turned to me. “Come along, or stay. Whichever you prefer. If you remain, a carriage will return for you in a few hours.”

Hristo stood at my side, his jaw clenched tight. “We should go.”

Ilina looked up at her father, her wish clear enough on her face.

“Your Eminence,” said the guard, not quite impatient, but Apolla held up her hand, and he went quiet.

I touched my friend’s arm. “Ilina, we’ll come back—” The dark hum in the back of my head sharpened. Widened. Became a shriek.

My knees buckled. LaLa screamed and dove for me, but Hristo held fast to her leash, while Ilina and her father caught me just before my hands and knees struck the flagstone.

I must have looked out of my mind, clutching my head and groaning, but the noise was so loud. It was impossible to think around, impossible to breathe around. My whole body began to shudder as the shrieking crescendoed. It was just one noorestone, but it was overwhelming. Couldn’t everyone else hear it, too?