“The dragons were dying, thanks to being kept in captivity, but I lifted them out of death. I poured Noore’s own fire into them and gave them new life. You saw that.” The bones behind me rumbled—or maybe that was the thunder.

Her eyes narrowed. “And then, when they began to scream, you told them to leave.”

“One of our gods is rising!” My shout rang across the throne room. Stunned silence rang in response. “Khulan is rising. The dragons would have burned everyone in that park if I hadn’t told them to go. They were distressed. Frightened. Grieving. Because right now, Khulan is pulling himself out of the ocean, throwing off tens of thousands of innocent people. Right now, a way of life is ripping apart, and irreplaceable artifacts are being crushed under buildings and mountains.”

In their gallery, the islanders gasped and whispered, and the warriors there stepped to the rear of the crowd to hide their emotions.

“Yet,” Apolla said, “it is not my problem anymore. I want everyone to go. Now. Before I change my mind and have my ships called home. Leave the Algotti Empire and do not return; there will be no safe harbor for you here.” She swept her hand toward the great doors.

“You’d condemn hundreds of thousands of people to death.” I made my voice softer. “That’s what you’re doing, Apolla. You know that, don’t you?”

“I did not become the Algotti empress by acts of charity, Hopebearer. You know this.” We glared at each other for a moment longer. “I’ve given you ten ships. And I’m giving you the lives of these people—some who were complicit in the attack on my city—and rations to feed them during the long journey home.”

“Where they will die.”

“Where they will no longer be my problem.” She just shook her head. “This is the height of my generosity. There is no more after this.”

At last, I bowed my head. We’d gotten ships. Our people. Our lives. “All right,” I said. “We will go.”

“Everyone but you.” Apolla’s voice was low, but the room was quiet—save the droning rain—so everyone heard. The reactions were immediate:

“No!”

“You can’t have her!”

“This is outrageous!”

The noise erupted throughout the throne room, and all I could do was stand there in shocked silence.

Chaos broke out above, as Gerel and Hristo pushed their way down the stairs to the main floor, the others following in their wake. Guards rushed in to stop them, but Gerel was stronger than fifteen of them put together, and Hristo would never let anyone come between him and me. Together, they shoved a path for the others to follow, and then they were all marching up the aisle.

Even Eka, Dara, and some of the other government officials had broken free of their assigned area.

But the empress’s guards were fast. They stepped in front of us, creating a human wall as they drew their swords.

Gerel and Hristo stopped short; neither was armed.