Anahera’s major aspect was the destroyer—life and death and life again—but she was also a trickster, the asker of answers, known for being exceedingly clever. She painted a picture too complex for anyone to see until it was already unfolded, and the high magistrate was her devoted apprentice.

He’d twisted it, though. Like the Luminary Council made love a weakness, and the Silent Brothers made silence a weapon, and all the others perverted their gods’ commandments in some way: the high magistrate turned his divine gifts into a trap, and all the Fallen Isles were caught in this fire.

Voices buzzed around the chamber, tight with questions and uncertainties, but when the high magistrate lifted a hand, everyone went quiet.

“The Great Abandonment is inevitable,” he said. “We all know that. We will lose our gods. We will lose most of our people.”

My stomach twisted with hot anxiety, but I didn’t dare reach for a noorestone for comfort.

“But I have secured other measures of safety. I’m here to offer you a chance to join me.”

“Just say it.” Mother’s tone was knife sharp, one that would have caused me to wither away, but Paorah just smiled and bowed his head.

“Very well.” A smug smile tightened his face as he gazed over the chamber. “I have entered into a”—he paused, as though searching for the right word—“partnership, shall we say, in which we will be granted passage to a new haven. To a new home.”

“Where?” someone shouted.

“Who is this partnership with?” asked another.

The angry buzz felt like walking too close to a bee’s nest, tense and filled with danger. A few guards rested their hands on their swords, ready to draw, but it wasn’t until Paorah said the words that a few of them actually did.

“The Algotti Empire.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

BLOOD RUSHED THROUGH MY EARS, DROWNING everything but shock. The cacophony of protests, chairs scraping hardwood, and other guards freeing their swords: it was all lost under the thrum of my own heartbeat and the screaming in my head.

Seven had lied to us.

Nine had lied to us.

Every time I thought I understood our situation, every time I thought I had a grasp on the truth, a dangerous new facet turned up—and this was worse than I had imagined: the empire and Anahera working together.

The chamber rang with movement as people lurched for the doors and guards sidestepped to block them. But they were right. We had to leave.

I found Aaru’s eyes right away, but before I could get him to escape with me, he looked at Nine.

The color had drained from her face as she shook her head, like she somehow didn’t know about this. Like she wasn’t an imperial spy.

I felt sick, and I wanted to leave, but all the guards were moving inward and blocking the door, ready to quell the outrage in here as quickly as they had on the streets after the explosions.