A huge cheer rose up from the crowd of people he’d assembled, calling for our deaths, calling for the new world.

I bent my wrists and felt around for a way to free my hands. But they were bound tight, held in place with another rope tied around a column. If only I could find the knot— But my fingertips grazed over the prickly fibers, and there was no way I could get enough leverage.

My heart kicked faster as I considered my options.

1. I was still the Hopebearer, and I wasn’t gagged. If I spoke up over Paorah, surely someone would object to his treatment of me. But . . . no. They all knew who I was. They didn’t care. They wanted him to do this. Or, at best, they were just going along with whoever seemed the most powerful right now.
2. I could summon noorestone fire, but there was no guarantee it would burn off the ropes without also hurting Aaru or the others.
3. Even if I tried to burn only my ropes, it might not work fast enough—before Paorah and his guards noticed.
4. Perhaps if I just pushed the noorestone fire into Paorah . . . But that was the same problem as before. Even if I managed to bring him to his knees—or worse—we’d still be tied up and at the mercy of all his guards. And, from what I’d seen so far, they outnumbered us.

But I had to do something. We had only hours before the eclipse and slaughter began. And with two gods left in the sea, Anahera and Darina, one was sure to rise any moment now.

I took a deep breath, forcing myself to think past the sedatives making my mind like sludge. I’d come here for a reason: to merge with the first dragon.

I needed to find her. Get to her. Stop the gods from rising.

I closed my eyes and felt for her presence.

She was nearby, not even a league away, but she might as well have been across the ocean. I needed contact to merge. Which brought me back to the problem of how to get free.

Just then, someone touched my hands, fumbling around the rope. I stiffened, but as the ropes began to loosen, I forced myself to relax, even as the cool skin—no, not skin—brushed over my wrists.

Aaru shifted toward me and murmured, “Chenda says to wait until she’s finished.”

Her shadow.

She’d set her shadow to freeing us.

I resisted the urge to twist my head and look.

Finally, the bonds slipped, and I caught only the edges of darkness flitting away—toward the wagons and the rest of the people we’d brought with us. I forced myself to look at anything else while she worked.

I wished Chenda would hurry. And where were the dragons? In the distance, I could feel LaLa and Crystal circling in the sky, being of absolutely no help. But that was for the best; they were safe.