“We had our chance for that, First Matriarch. We had our chance, and we squandered it away. We cannot turn back the days and nights and set our nations on a different path. The Great Abandonment is coming, and we must be prepared to save as much of ourselves as possible: our people, our culture, our values.”

“Our people are our families,” she said, emboldened now. “How can we choose who to leave behind?”

“Don’t think of it as leaving anyone behind,” he said. “You’ll be deciding who to save.”

“And who’s not worth saving,” someone else muttered, but that was the only dissent. Everyone, the dissenter included, was already accepting this new direction for the Fallen Isles, and now they were thinking more of the mechanics of the move and what—if anything—they would tell people. Worth saving. Not worth saving. Whether Damina would be allotted one ship or two.

My chest squeezed with the need to act, but they’d already made their decisions. They would go. They would select a few people, and leave everyone else here to die.

It was incredible how little time it had taken for them to surrender.

I tried to tell myself that it made sense; he’d just killed one of them, and survival instincts were hard to overcome. And he was going to do it regardless of their cooperation. If they resisted, that left another spot on the ship for someone else. They saw no other options.

But they hadn’t even attempted to resist, save the one senator. They outnumbered the guards. Three were warriors—not just any warriors, but the tribunal. I didn’t know much about the selection process for the tribunal, but everyone understood that it involved combat, so the tribunal was always composed of the most powerful warriors on all of Khulan.

I could do something, a small voice whispered in the back of my head. No, not a small voice. It was enormous. Powerful. Winged. There was something huge inside me, something straining to get out and loose white-hot fire upon my enemies.

But if I released it, I couldn’t be sure what would happen, only that the last two times I did—

I sucked in a cooling breath and shook away the memories of debris raining down inside the Pit, and molten wings boiling the theater floor. Yes, I was better at controlling my ability over noorestones now, but I still needed to be careful. I couldn’t risk killing everyone in here.

Still, if only one matriarch had made a move. One senator. One warrior. If only one had said no, Aaru and I could have helped. And I could have believed they hadn’t completely abandoned the people of the Fallen Isles already.

As the tones grew more resigned and people began to discuss which inventor they’d bring, or which banker was the best option, the high magistrate kept nodding to himself, a pleased smile curling the corners of his mouth.

The hum carried through the chamber, both on the floor and in the galleries above. He let it go on for a few minutes, and then he cleared his throat. “I’m glad we’re all agreed. It is not an easy decision, yet it is the right decision, the only decision we can, in good conscience, make. Now, you may be wondering what the remaining ships will be carrying.”