I didn’t trust the empire, or the empress, or even Nine. I’d meant what I said about looking for more options, but trust needed to be earned.

That went both ways. If I wanted the bones of the first dragon, I needed to figure out how to ask her about them. And after two thousand years, they could be buried. Broken. Lost to time.

I still had to find them.

Ahead of us, Crystal and LaLa were flying off all the seagulls they’d eaten the day before. Gold and silver flashed and vanished and shimmered in the morning sun as the skimmer carried us farther east than any of us had ever been.

Two or three at a time, we abandoned the main deck and climbed to the quarterdeck, all of us gazing off the aft of the skimmer, where mist sprayed in our wake.

Fingers twisted around mine: Ilina’s on my left, and Aaru’s on my right. Slowly, the horizon ate up the scrape of land that was Darina’s northern edge, and then the tall red cliffs of Anahera, and finally towering Idris all the way on the far side of the Fallen Isles.

They were gone. Out of sight.

My heart twisted, pounding painfully as we all stared westward. Homeward.

Just then, when it seemed like we’d be able to pull away and talk about things that didn’t matter, LaLa and Crystal jerked straight up and screamed.

Their little wings pumped as they threw themselves into the sky, shrieking mournfully, and a huge wave of desolation crashed against me. The force was so strong that I staggered back a few steps before catching myself.

“What?” Ilina touched my arm. “Is it—”

I let out a choked sob. “It is.”

Another god was about to rise.

SEVERAL HOURS AFTER we lost sight of the Fallen Isles, the dragons calmed and returned to us. It could only mean that the earthquake was over and the god had risen, but I was so relieved to have LaLa back in my arms that I could almost put the horrible truth out of mind.

Almost.

“Who do you think it was?” Tearstains marked Zara’s cheeks. “Does it even make a difference?”

Ilina looked up. “What do you mean ‘does it even make a difference’?”

“It’s terrible no matter who,” my sister whispered. “No matter who it was, people died, and—” Her voice caught and she couldn’t finish.

Cautiously, I put my arm around her shoulders. “I know what you mean.”

My sister sniffed and leaned against me.

We stood together in silence, all of us grieving people we knew and people we didn’t, and what a horrible, unfair world this could be.

Later, Nine shouted for us to look ahead. Something new had come into view.

“Is that the empire?” Zara wandered toward the bow and leaned forward.

Nine snorted. “No. The empire is much larger, but I think you’ll be pleased anyway. We’ll be able to get off this skimmer. And just in time, too. It won’t be long before a wave reaches us. We want to be on something more solid when that comes through.”