“You’re always more worried for other people.” Hristo looked down at me. “That’s why I worry.”

I couldn’t make myself smile, because Gerel’s expression turned grim.

“People were killed in the explosions,” she said. “And others were injured during the panic after. I don’t know how many, but I know it’s bad out there. People are terrified.”

Of course they were. They should be. Back in Crescent Prominence, Altan’s warriors had caused a massive explosion that had taken out the council house, and my noorestone power had almost destroyed the Lexara Theater in Val fa Merce. How could people have known whether this one was connected to the others or not?

“Everyone thinks High Magistrate Paorah will put the entire city under martial law.” A muscle ticced in Gerel’s jaw. “Curfew, checkpoints, and limited movements. The last time they were under martial law, people were discouraged from leaving their homes except in emergencies, and even then a guard might detain them for looking suspicious.”

A chill ran through my entire body.

“What do we do?” Ilina blew out a breath. “What can we do?”

“Did you have any luck finding Nine?” Gerel asked.

“No.” Hristo frowned and readjusted his sling. “Nothing. Nine is so well hidden they may as well not exist. And it’s going to be even more difficult to find them with martial law.”

The high magistrate was in control now, not just of Anahera, but of all the remaining governments of the Fallen Isles. “He brought them here for a reason,” I muttered. “For hope, he claims. Everyone thinks he’s going to do something to prevent the Great Abandonment.”

“How?” Chenda shook her head. “The gods are already rising. Is it possible to make them stop? Is it possible to make them lie down again?”

“I don’t know.” A memory tugged at me. Or a dream. Fire and bones brimming with power. I shook it away, even as LaLa nudged at me with keen excitement. “If he brought all the other governments here, he has a plan to share with them. We need to be there, both to hear firsthand what he tells them, and to find Nine.” Not to mention, my mother would be there. She was alive.

“Because an imperial spy wouldn’t miss that kind of meeting for anything.” Ilina nodded. “All right. Then we need to figure out when they’re talking, and how we’ll get in.”

“That’s the easy part, isn’t it?”

Everyone looked at me, question in their eyes.

“I’m the Hopebearer. I’ll announce myself and walk in through the front door.”

THE DRAKONTOS CELESTUS

SOMEWHERE—

Sometime—

In a deep and distant memory—

Great bones slept beneath the earth.

The anatomy was unusual, at least to anyone who’d studied dragons before. The shape of the scapula, the length of the ulna, and the curve of the keel: all were different from any other dragon on record. Indeed, in a certain light, these bones even seemed to have iridescent scales.

Such a strange dragon, locked away in the crust of the earth, buried under layers of mineral-rich strata. She didn’t belong there. Her place was somewhere else, in a land made of fallen stars and undeniable gods.