They were one thousand two hundred and three pinpricks of light against the darkness of my thoughts, glowing brighter with every moment. Warm humming set into my bones, comforting in its harmony. There was something deeply right about these crystals, the fire they contained, the way they felt connected to the island itself.

In the driver’s seat, Chenda and Gerel spoke in low tones to each other, though most of their conversation was lost under the clop of horse hooves on the packed-dirt road. Altan had his arms crossed, his head tilted back, and his eyes closed, but I doubted he was sleeping. Maybe he was reconsidering every move he’d made to bring him here. I certainly couldn’t think of a good reason not to toss him out into the desert. Aside from perhaps needing another person who knew how to use a weapon.

I sighed, letting my attention drift through the wagon a little more. Zara and Ilina both leaned on Hristo’s shoulders; his eyes were closed, but his breathing didn’t have that slowness of sleeping; he, too, was awake and waiting. And across from me, Safa had curled onto the bench, and now she was using Aaru’s lap as a pillow. Through the dimness, he looked at me and tapped, ::Do you feel them?::

The noorestones.

I nodded.

::Are you afraid?:: he asked.

Of course I was afraid. Every moment of my life was terrifying these days, but it helped to know that we had so many people who believed in this cause—who believed I could affect the decisions of the gods. People had believed in me all my life, but only because they’d been told to, never because I’d done anything to deserve it.

Now was my chance to prove that their faith in me was not misplaced.

I was the Hopebearer. I would give them hope.

But before I could figure out how to put all of that in words, or if there was even any point in telling him, an enormous bang rocked the road in front of us.

A thousand things happened at once:

1. Fire bloomed from the packed sand, blindingly bright against the nighttime desert.
2. Horses shrieked and lurched away from the explosion, toppling wagons in their effort to escape.
3. Everyone threw themselves into motion, drawing weapons as they leaped free of the wagons.
4. New explosions burst from the ground around us, confusing everything.
5. LaLa and Crystal launched into the air, while Kelsine gave a long, low whine.
6. Hristo lunged for me, pushing me to the floor of the wagon to protect me from falling debris.

But none of it mattered. The explosions were merely a distraction, a net meant to ensnare us. Because while we were all struggling to make sense of the noise and fire, Paorah’s blue-jacketed soldiers swarmed in with darts, and one by one, we all went down.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

THE DARTS MUST HAVE HELD A SEDATIVE, NOT A POISON, because I awakened just as the sun crested the horizon, bathing the desert in a million shades of gold and red, contrasted sharply by the deep pockets of shadow that stretched from plateaus and ridges. Light shot through the delicate stone arches that stretched from rock to rock. Dragon’s breath bridges, they were called, because people said Drakontos sols had carved them from the stone a thousand years ago.