How quickly she’d learned to fear me.

Thunder shook the whole palace as I sighed and allowed them to dress me in their choice of gowns. Hair, shoes, nails: with the amount of care they put into my appearance, it might have been difficult to remember that Apolla hated me now. Then the guards escorted me to the throne room.

Even before I got there, I could feel the first dragon.

It was remarkable how powerful a presence she had, even two millennia dead. When I stood before the open doors, hearing the buzz of conversation—worry and delight and speculation—the great bones drew my eyes. I looked at her, and she looked at me.

The first and the last.

No one else paid her any mind. The courtiers spoke only to one another, and if they glanced the first dragon’s way, it was only to confirm that Apolla hadn’t yet appeared on her throne.

Before I could scan the court for the other islanders, my guards escorted me to one of the high galleries where my friends—Ilina, Chenda, Gerel, Hristo, Zara, and Aaru—were already positioned. We’d been sectioned off from the rest of the imperial court, and from up here, we had a clear view of the entire throne room: the white columns and statues, the brightly dressed courtiers in the upper and lower galleries, and Apolla’s throne.

And of course, beyond that, the bones of the first dragon, lit in the warm glow of flickering sigils. Beautiful. Deadly. Long dead.

When I’d arrived, my friends had been staring at her, hope naked on their faces, but now they turned to me and—after hugs and questions and Aaru slipping his hand into mine—I gave them the short version of everything that had happened since this morning.

“Khulan is rising?” Gerel clenched her jaw and swallowed hard, clearly trying not to cry.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

Chenda took Gerel’s hand and squeezed.

“What do you think she’s going to announce?” Ilina glanced around the throne room, her face hard, and I knew she wanted to talk about Khulan, but not here.

“Nothing good,” I said. “Where are LaLa and Crystal?”

“Outside.” Hristo frowned. “They were already worried when they couldn’t find you, and then they started behaving the same as they did the other night. The skylight above the fountain opens, it turns out. When they started breathing fire, one of the attendants opened it and the dragons got through before we could stop them.”

My heart sank, but I didn’t have time to worry any more, because a young man at the door announced Apolla, and she strode down the aisle, straight-backed and severe in her movements. Of course, she wore white and gold, with a long cape, a perfect and elegant contrast to her court.

As she went by, I caught the way courtiers’ eyes shifted to the gallery below ours, twisted with outright frowns and offended glances.

“Who’s down there?” I glanced at Aaru.

His quiet code was soft, quick against my knuckles. ::Islanders.::