Strange how Safa didn’t seem to hate Altan. She probably didn’t know how he’d tortured Aaru.

Well, Aaru would tell her if he thought she needed to know.

::I’m proud of you for leaving. That was brave.:: Aaru squeezed Safa’s shoulder, and the way he looked at her was enough to break my heart. He’d feared everyone he’d loved on Idris was dead, but here was Safa, against all the odds. ::What about Mother? What about our sisters and Danyal?::

Safa went still, then shook her head. Quickly, she glanced over the clattering wagon to see if Ilina and I were still watching, and she moved her quiet code to the back of Aaru’s arm, where no one could see.

I looked down to where LaLa was curled in my lap, and Kelsine rearranged herself against my leg, but from the corner of my eye, I caught the way Aaru’s shoulders slumped and his expression went carefully blank, as though she’d confirmed his worst fears. Whatever had happened to the rest of his family . . . they were all gone.

As our caravan continued through the desert, Aaru and Safa kept the rest of their conversation private, and I turned my thoughts inward again. To the Great Abandonment. To the Fallen Gods. To the dragons.

Would anyone even understand a new covenant with the gods? Maybe I should tell them what was going to happen, but I couldn’t risk them stopping me. If it was the only way to help my people . . . I’d do anything.

I shivered, even though the air was warm.

Ilina touched my arm, her quiet code coming soft against my skin, hidden from anyone’s view. ::Are you all right?::

I raised an eyebrow, and she inclined her head toward Aaru and Safa, who were still talking privately.

::Fine,:: I tapped back. ::I’m glad she’s here.:: And I was. He was devoted to his family, and he’d always intended to go back to them. I had no idea how he’d thought the two of us might continue to be together—or if he’d even considered that it might be difficult—but after Idris had risen, it hadn’t mattered anymore. There was no going back home.

But now Safa was here. She knew his history, his world, his hopes and dreams. She was a sister he’d chosen, which meant that whatever happened in the next few hours, he wouldn’t be left entirely alone. I could take comfort in that.

Still, the selfish part of me wished he would pay attention to me, too. If I was about to turn into a dragon for the rest of my life . . .

It was still my choice.

I picked up a noorestone from the floor of the wagon and let its energy flow through me, burning away the knot building in my chest. With all the hope I’d passed on to others, I wished I had saved some for myself.

A FEW HOURS later, when the stars were wheeling away from midnight and the caravan was quiet with the sounds of people resting—saving their strength for whatever was to come—I began to sense the Archland Ruins. Or, rather, the noorestones embedded there.