Before She Ignites (Fallen Isles Trilogy #1)(71)

I staggered forward, but a Luminary Guard held me back.

“Stay,” said Elbena. “It’s too late for them.”

“For them,” I repeated, like a question, though it wasn’t one. I already knew what she meant, and it made my voice tight and high. “How many dragons?”

“There were three aboard the Whitesell. I suppose the other two are lost now.” Disappointment filled her tone—the kind of upset that came from a bad investment or a burned meal. Like the loss of two dragons was simply an inconvenience that she’d have to deal with later.

Seven gods. What if the other two were LaLa and Crystal?

My knees gave out and I would have fallen to the ground again, but one of the Luminary Guards stepped forward to hold me up, and a spark of clarity hit. They weren’t LaLa and Crystal. The voices were too big, too loud to belong to anything other than a large species.

It was a cold comfort. Two dragons were dead. One was captured and on the verge of death.

I didn’t understand it. I didn’t understand her. She felt none of this devastation for lives lost, but it was the only thing I could feel. All I could hear were the shrieks of the dragons burning and drowning within the ship.

The Great Abandonment threatened a catastrophe of tremors and landslides. Why didn’t the ground open now and swallow everything?

Right before my eyes, the Whitesell was sinking into the sea. A brigade had already put out fires on the neighboring ships and on the docks, while police and guards coordinated to secure Lex and push back the growing crowd of onlookers. Because of course people wanted to gawk at her suffering.

All the while, a Luminary Guard held me upright, and Elbena muttered under her breath. Already preparing how to deal with the inconvenience.

When Lex was sedated and the guards had the crowd under control, Elbena took my hand and strode forward.

“Here she is!” She lifted our fists into the air and let her voice ring out over the din of shocked cries and groaning wood. “The girl who stopped the beast from destroying the Shadowed City: Mira Minkoba!”

As one, the crowd turned to us and began to cheer. “It’s Mira!”

“The Hopebearer!”

“Look at her!”

“She charmed the dragon and saved us!”

Elbena looked at me askance. “Smile, Mira. You’re a hero now.” And then, when my expression didn’t change—couldn’t change—she gave me a little shake. “Smile, Mira. Or there will be consequences.”

I forced my mouth into the correct shape, but I couldn’t imagine anyone would mistake it for something real. Still, as long as I did what she ordered, maybe it didn’t matter.

“Why is Mira here?”

“Where is her family?”

“How did she know what to do with the dragon?”

“Why were there dragons on that ship?”

Distantly, I registered that those were good questions, and at least I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know all the answers.

“How did the dragon get out of the ship?”

Elbena held up her other hand to quiet the crowd. “We don’t have time for questions. All we can say right now is that these dragons were on their way to your local sanctuary as part of an interisland breeding program. Unfortunately, one mistook our intentions and escaped.”

People nodded.

How easily they accepted her lies. Elbena had long ago mastered that talent.

“Thank the Fallen Gods and the Upper Gods, too: Mira has extensive experience with dragons, and she was perfectly aware of what she was doing. As soon as Mira and I heard the crash, I sent her to calm the dragon, because I knew she was the only one here who could possibly accomplish such a feat.”

“She knows their hearts,” someone said. “Mira the Dragonhearted.”

“Yes!” Elbena shouted. “Mira the Hopebearer, and Mira the Dragonhearted!”

A dark chill ran through me as Lex drew my gaze once more. Rope bound her wings tightly to her sides. A steel muzzle caged her jaws—something that would never have been possible even a decan ago. But now that she was weakened by starvation, the metal held her teeth shut together—not that she tried to open her mouth and shoot fire anymore. She knew it was pointless. Her golden eyes had dulled into dim acceptance of my betrayal.

Like when Aaru discovered my identity.

I hurt everyone I cared about.

I wanted to scream that I hadn’t done this on purpose. That Elbena hadn’t wanted me to run toward Lex, and this was her effort to make the situation work in her favor. But Elbena squeezed my hand so tightly my bones rubbed together, and I forced my grimace into another smile.

“She saved the city! Mira the Dragonhearted saved the Shadowed City.”

The cries of joy went on and on, rising in fervor as the Whitesell sank deeper into the sea. As salt water quenched dragon fire. And as the voices of two dragons were silenced forever.

THE STORM ARRIVED and loosed its fury across the Isle of Shadow.

It was to the drum of rain and roar of thunder that we drove to a grand inn, which loomed over the water-shrouded street. Wind made palm trees dance and bow, and cold air seeped into the carriage through the windows, but when we pulled into the drive, Elbena held up a hand.

“Wait.” She nodded at the Luminary Guard who’d been sitting next to me. “Make sure everything is secure.”