And then my friends and I had not only freed the dragons, but destroyed the ruins as well.

“How do you think their disappearance affects his plans?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” I began switching my clothes for the ones she’d given me. “Dragons have no quarrel with the goddess of destruction, only the man ruling the island, so they could still be here.” My heart ached at the memory of all those dragons lying there, sick and trapped in their own minds.

“He won’t rely on that.”

“No,” I agreed. “He won’t. I didn’t want to believe that one island could betray the others, even after everything Seven said. But the evidence is too strong. The dragons, the new fleet, bringing what’s left of the governments here.”

Nine shot me a look that might have been described as sympathetic, but she didn’t seem like the kind of person to express such feelings. “I believe he intends to establish his rule here and hold out as long as possible.”

“I suppose, but what if the Great Abandonment doesn’t work like he thinks?” I finished changing into the clothes she’d given me. “What if it doesn’t matter whether he has dragons here? Anahera might still rise.”

“He has ships.” Aaru appeared from behind the crates. The clothes didn’t look like much—just shapeless and gray, the same sort that I was wearing now. On both of us, the sleeves and trousers were too short, as if Nine had given us her own clothes.

Nine nodded at him. “Perhaps the high magistrate intends to find another place to bring his chosen few, once the time is right. There are other islands in this ocean, you know. And other oceans. Other continents across the horizon. There’s an entire world out there, beyond these shores.”

I knew that. Mostly. I’d just . . . never thought anyone from the Fallen Isles would ever want to leave. This was our home. The seat of our power. The place where our gods rested beneath our feet.

We were destroying it.

I plucked at the sad, gray clothes. “What is this? How will this help us get into the summit?”

“We’ll walk right in.”

“In this?” I gestured at the too-short sleeves and how silly everything looked on Aaru.

Nine smiled. Really smiled, not just the smirk she’d used on us before. “Your island magic is interesting. I know people back home who’d love to study it. Our empress finds it fascinating, in fact. But let me give you a taste of the empire’s power.”

Then she took a small metal device from the box and pressed her fingers against the flat side that faced her. She murmured something under her breath, too soft for me to hear—and when I glanced at Aaru, he just shook his head. When she finished whispering, Nine drew a short metal rod from inside the device and tapped it against my sleeve.

My shirt transformed into the flame-blue top of an Anaheran guard uniform.