Safire swallowed the lump in her throat, thinking of Kor and the others. Pirates who hadn’t been given a trial. Wouldthe empress give Dax a trial? Would she dare execute a king?
“I need to go,” she said, rising from the wood floor. “Before the worst happens.”
“Wait,” said Asha, stepping between Safire and the door leading outside. “There’s something else. Something you both should know.”
Torwin seemed to anticipate what she was about to say, because he emerged from the room beyond this one with a scroll, handing it to Asha. She unrolled it across the table beneath the window, revealing three pieces of parchment. She laid them out side by side.
Roa rose from the carpet and joined them.
“The stones I showed you?” Asha said to Safire. “There are stories carved into them, worn away by time and the harsh elements here. Dagan says they’ve been there since before his great-grandfather lived.”
She touched the words scribbled across the parchment, many scratched out and rewritten.
“From what I’ve managed to decipher, they tell the story of three gods: the god of souls, the god of shadows, and the god of tides.” Picking up the parchment, Asha handed it to Safire. “The god of tides disguised herself as a human woman and convinced Skyweaver to kill the Shadow God. Only Skyweaver couldn’t do it. She imprisoned him instead—in a world between worlds. Somewhere no one would ever find him.”
Safire handed back the parchment, every inch of her body wanting to go. To mount Sorrow and fly to the citadel. “I don’t understand what this has to do with Dax.”
“It has to do with the empress.” Asha looked out the windowin the direction of the sea. “According to the stories, Leandraisthe god of tides.”
The room fell silent.
Safire thought of the paintings in the citadel. Ones that told the story of Leandra coming to save the Star Isles and petitioning the Skyweaver for help. She shook off the strangeness of it. Mortal or immortal, it didn’t matter what Leandra was. Dax was imprisoned. She needed to get him out of there.
Roa must have seen it in her eyes, because she said, “I’m coming with you.”
“Me, too,” said Torwin.
Safire thought of Kor and the other pirates, executed without a trial. She thought of the scrin burned to the ground with all the weavers inside it.
The likelihood of any of them—ofallof them—getting hurt...
Safire shoved the thought away. She hated to think about it.
“It has to be me. Alone.” She looked from one friend to the next. “It’s my job to protect you.”
Asha reached for her hand, lacing their fingers together. Those black eyes met hers. “No, Saf. We protect each other.” She squeezed hard and didn’t let go. “I’m in no danger so long as Kozu’s with me. We’ll follow at a close distance and keep to the sky. Just in case you need us.”
“I’ll return to Firgaard,” said Torwin, looking from Safire to Roa. “If she refuses to release Dax, we’ll want the army on its way.”
Roa nodded her agreement. “And I’ll propose a truce. If she’s willing to hand Dax over, we’ll leave these islands immediately,quietly and peacefully. If she refuses”—her eyes darkened at the thought—“then we go to war.”
But there were four of them and only three dragons.
It took some coaxing, but Sorrow seemed to understand he was needed, that their friend was in danger. Despite his fear, the skittish dragon seemed willing enough to do his part. So Torwin and Sorrow headed across the sea while the rest of them flew for Axis. Once the grid-like city streets came into view, Asha and Kozu stayed in the sky, keeping their distance from the citadel. Roa and Safire continued on, landing Spark in the empress’s courtyard while the rain lashed the earth around them.
They were swarmed by Lumina soldiers immediately. Spark hissed and spread her wings while Roa tried to soothe her.
“Go,” she whispered against Spark’s scaly throat, pushing gently. “Find Asha and Kozu.”
Spark looked conflicted as the soldiers dragged Roa away from her. She seemed to understand, though. And before the soldiers came for her, too, Spark flung herself into the sky.
Safire watched the dragon’s golden form disappear into the mist as they shoved her inside.
They marched Safire into a familiar, circular room with rain-streaked windows on every wall. As the doors slammed shut behind her, she turned to find herself alone with four soldiers at her back, guarding the entrance.
Roa wasn’t behind her.
“Where have you taken the dragon queen?” she demanded.
