When we woke down in that lightless chamber, my internal clock told me that it was night. The burning pain in my side had reduced somewhat to a miserable gnawing ache, but I desperately wanted my hoard. Grace had seemed to think that Presence would heal with time alone in this magically saturated place, but I knew in my bones that I just wouldn’t be right until I’d had a long, restorative rest in my own lair.

  But I couldn’t focus on that. I had more than myself to worry about.

  “Are you awake?” I asked Herald.

  She responded by nodding silently into my scales.

  “We should get to the palace. We need to join up with the others.”

  “Yeah,” she whispered. In the emptiness of the underground chamber, even that was loud. “I’m thirsty.”

  “We’ll go by one of the fountains,” I told her.

  “Okay.” She made no move to get up.

  “Conscience wanted me to let Instinct know that she’s glad she isn’t gone.”

  “That is kind of her,” Herald said. Then her voice changed, and it was Instinct who spoke, saying, “I appreciate her words, but this is no time for sentimentality. We must investigate the palace, and to lie moping in this tomb is unbecoming for both a dragon and her herald.”

  “She is right,” Herald said after Instinct gave her back her voice. Without another word she got up, her movements heavy, and I followed her out into the cool air.

  It was a cloudy night, but the clouds were light enough for the position of the moon to show by the patch it illuminated. Not that the absence of moonlight made a lick of difference to us. We moved through the dark forest Shifted, two restless spirits, silent and invisible.

  We went to the nearest fountain, and Herald Shifted back to drink, then relieved herself in the bushes. Then we went to the shrine, and my heart broke.

  At some point Behold Her had returned. In her spite, she’d reduced the ancient building to an unrecognizable pile of rubble. The beautiful mural painting, which had been created to honor my father and had lasted undiminished for at least half a millennium, was lost forever.

  I’ll kill her, I swore silently, with only Conscience to hear. For this, if nothing else, I’ll kill her. I don’t know how, and I don’t know when, but one day I’ll find a way.

  If Embers doesn’t get to her first, Conscience replied, her voice full of compassion. She was so moved to see the mural. Even when she came yesterday, aggro beyond belief, she took a second to look around inside. This will break her heart all over again.

  Mercies, you’re right, I said. I partially blamed Embers for everything that had happened—how could I not, when she must have known how malevolent Behold Her was—but I still sympathized with the old girl. And I couldn’t help but wish that we’d come clean earlier. That way, at least, there would’ve been the fact that we told her to soften the blow for her, instead of her finding out for herself.

  Beside me, Herald stood still and stared. If she’d been material, I’d swear that she’d’ve been crying. Hell, I might’ve done so myself.

  Rather than risk finding out, I stayed Shifted. I gestured in the direction of the palace with the part of my shapeless form that corresponded to my head. Herald nodded, and we set off.

  The palace had already been a partial ruin when last I saw it. Now it was a massive pile of rubble. Behold Her had vented her fury on what remained of the once proud building until it was a struggle to find a stone still deliberately stacked on another. I could feel Mak and Tammy below us, but that did me no good. The stones were piled far taller than I was. Even if we could find an entrance to the lower floors, there was just too much debris for me to be able to expose that entrance with my whole right side in the state it was. Walking on those limbs was bad enough; I couldn’t imagine lifting and carrying one of the massive blocks that had once made up the walls of this place.

  “It is all right,” Herald whispered as I gazed forlornly at the pile of collapsed masonry. Her voice was hollow, even more so than it normally was when she spoke while Shifted. “We will just have to find a way to open that gate down below. Or perhaps we can get one of the other dragons to help. If you tell The Winds Weep To See His Grace that both of the healers are… are trapped—”

  Herald’s words disappeared in a pained croak, made otherworldly by the magic that concealed us both. And I did my best to console her, but with no voice, and no tangible body, there was only so much I could do. Hell, even if I’d been corporeal, there wouldn’t have been much I could say to make anything better. I was amazed that Herald was holding together as well as she was. She’d been in a magical coma for days, then in and out of sleep for another day before finally waking to find part of me lurking in her mind, and the most terrifying creature in creation unsure if she wanted to annihilate her. Then the second most terrifying creature in creation had tried to kill us, and got far too close to succeeding. And now her sister, her lover, her friends, and her servants were all trapped under gods only knew how many tons of rubble, with no certain way out. She deserved to have a good cry, if that was what she needed.

  They know that you’re up here, Conscience told me, either to inform me or, more likely, to distract me from Herald’s distress. They’ve been repeating a few things, in case you were listening. They have clean water, and have food to last them for days—a week maybe, if they’re careful. The mules, though… I don’t know about the mules. Anyway, they don’t want you to worry, yeah? They’re going to try to find a way out. Though I figure one of us should check in on them regularly.

  Yeah, I agreed tiredly. Good idea.

  I’d wrapped myself around Herald’s kneeling form, and I waited like that until she’d cried herself out. We could have Shifted back, and I dearly wanted to truly hold her, but we’d agreed ahead of time to keep that to a minimum. Behold Her had proven herself to be cunning and capable of some level of stealth when she wanted to, and we were best off not taking any chances.

  It was some time later when we left. I hadn’t paid attention to the passage of time. Herald had a lot of stress and anxiety to express, and I hadn’t rushed her.

  “I’m hungry,” she whispered in her ghostly voice. “I have not eaten since this morning.”

  I bobbed my shapeless neck in acknowledgement. Not only had she not eaten since breakfast, but she’d been on mostly broth and anything else Kira could feed her comatose patients before then. The poor girl must’ve been starving.

  That, at least, was a problem I could do something about. She had her bow, but she was in no state to hunt for herself. No more than ten minutes later I presented her with a bird, something like a brown parrot that I’d found roosting in a tree. I’d Shifted back into my solid form for long enough to bite its head off and stuff the whole thing into my mouth before Shifting again and returning to Herald. Then I did the same thing in reverse, Shifting back only long enough to drop it.

  “Thank you,” she said, and for the first time in a while I heard a hint of her normal humor. “A hunting dragon of my very own. Just what I have always wanted.”

  Normally I would have tried to reply with some snark, but I didn’t want to Shift back just for that. And even if I had, I was probably too elated about hearing anything except anxiety or sadness in her voice to manage anything appropriate.

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  Herald bled and gutted the bird before we returned to the underground chamber, using the utility knife that was her only weapon besides her bow. Once we were back and she’d finished dressing it I expected her to make a fire, but she didn’t. She simply took her knife and started slicing off strips of meat, eating them raw.

  “Won’t that make you sick?” I asked, curious and more than a little worried.

  “Never has before,” she said, covering her mouth with her hand and speaking as she chewed. After swallowing she said, “Ever since I got my Major I have been favoring meat above other food, and I have preferred it more and more rare. Even more so since my first High Minor. This is far from the first time I eat raw game. I have found I quite like it.”

  I opened my mouth to protest that we had no idea what kind of parasites or other pathogens might be in that bird, but she continued before I could say anything.

  “Besides, this chamber is large, but we don’t know where the smoke of a fire will exit from. I would rather not do anything to make it easier for Behold Her or the other dragons to find us unless it is absolutely necessary.”

  I didn’t argue the point. If she said that she knew what she was doing, I had to trust her. That, and redouble my efforts to get my healers free, just in case she was wrong.

  “What about you?” she asked. “I have not seen you eat today, and you are hurt.”

  “I’ll be fine,” I reassured her. “I ate a lot a few days ago, and the magic helps. I’ll be fine until tomorrow night at least.”

  “Oh. Good.” She looked down at the stripped carcass of the bird. “Still. Do you—”

  I gingerly leaned down and grabbed the carcass with my front teeth then tossed it back, swallowing it whole.

  “And now I do not even need to worry about what to do with the bones!” she chuckled before resuming her sad expression. Her gaze turned toward the tunnel with the closed gate that we hoped led toward the palace. “You said that they had plenty of food, right?”

  “They’re going to be fine,” I told her with all the confidence I could muster. “Honestly, they may be in the safest place in Malyon right now. They have food and water and they have our lightstones. And they have two healers, and each other for company. They will be fine until we find a way to get them out.”

  They would. I had to believe that, because to even imagine anything else was unbearable. I’d rather suffer Behold Her’s breath a thousand times than lose any one of my humans, and I refused to see Herald lose one of hers.

  “We’ll get them out,” I told her again. “You’ll see.”

  The next morning found us at the top of the tallest tree still standing in the Palace grounds. It wasn’t comparable to one of the giants, but it stood at least a dozen feet taller than its closest rivals and gave us a spectacular view of the city. I was Shifted; my bulk and weight would be a problem, even in such a stout tree. Herald wasn’t.

  We’d been up there for well over an hour, the sun standing a fair way above the horizon, when Herald became rigidly still and said, “Someone is coming from the southeast. Bright in the sunlight. Fire and gold. I think it is Embers!”

  My heart lurched. My relief at the return of our protector, who was doubtlessly strong enough to dig out the rubble and free the humans, was matched by my fear of what she might have decided. Embers had been furious when she left; a cold fury, but no less dangerous for that. With a human I might expect her to have calmed down by now, or to set her anger aside when she saw what had happened in her absence. With a dragon, I didn’t know what to expect. For all I knew the only reason she was even coming back might be that her fury had turned hot, and she’d decided to end us before returning home to mourn the daughter she’d thought she had.

  Part of me wanted to hide. I knew how futile that was; she could sense me weakly, and in Herald she could sense Instinct as strongly as she ever had in me. Instinct didn’t even seem to need to be speaking, the way she’d had to be fronting in me; in Herald, Embers seemed to feel her just as strongly no matter what. Embers would find us wherever we hid, and I’d seen her heat rock until it sagged, then scoop it out like half-melted ice-cream. Sure, there was something to be said about never giving up, but when running would only annoy her, throwing ourselves at her mercy seemed like the more survivable option.

  But that was my rational, human side speaking; my draconic side was a creature of stealth. It wanted to find the deepest, darkest crevice on the island and hide there until Embers got bored and left, or an opportunity presented itself.

  Herald’s next words rendered my worrying moot. “Wait, that cannot be Embers. The colors are right, but whoever it is they are too small by far. Might be the smallest dragon I have seen other than you. No spines like Embers has, either. It must be that other one, the distant relative you told me about.”

  Sandstorm! I couldn’t see her; Shifted as I was I could barely even see anything at all of the tree we were in, beyond the patch of shadow where I lurked. The world beyond might as well not exist. But who else could it be?

  I wasn’t entirely surprised, but her approach raised questions. What were her intentions with coming here? The one time we met we’d begun to understand one another at the end, but I didn’t know her anywhere near well enough to guess at what she might want. And if she was coming, where was Indomitable? He’d seemed so protective of his several times great granddaughter; would he let her fly off on her own with a murderous old female around? Was he watching her from somewhere? And finally, where was Embers? As much as the thought of her returning filled me with anxiety, why hadn’t she? If she were to return home, I would absolutely prefer her to do that without killing me and everyone with me first. But if I had a choice, I didn’t want her to go. She was still my mother, and I’d come to like the old girl. Never mind that I desperately wanted her protection; even if I was in absolutely no danger, I’d be sad to see her gone. And while Instinct might never admit it, she’d be heartbroken. She loved her mother as much as any child I’d ever met; I couldn’t even begin to guess how it might affect her if Embers had truly abandoned us.

  “She is definitely heading our way,” Herald said, turning to look directly at me. “Do you want to confront her?”

  I waved my half-formed shadow neck sideways, which we’d agreed would mean no.

  “Do you want to keep an eye on her, then go and see what she does if she lands?”

  I bobbed my head up and down.

  “All right.”

  We stayed where we were, with Herald softly reporting on Sandstorm’s movements. She dipped low over the acres of newly destroyed forest, and over the completely ruined palace and shrine, but she never landed. She took a few turns, then returned toward the giant where she and Indomitable roosted.

  I thought that would be the end of it. I was wrong.

  Sandstorm soon returned, this time accompanied by Indomitable. And he made no secret of why he had come.

  “Young one, daughter of my niece, little Draka,” he called, his voice ringing across the high city. “If you yet live, reveal yourself!”

  I didn’t much fancy revealing myself to anyone right then. The same was true of Indomitable as of Sandstorm: I didn’t know him. I’d had one very short meeting with him where he’d given me a decent impression, but that was it, and it didn’t mean I could trust him. Sandstorm needed a new territory, after all, and my island was prime real estate.

  As though he knew what I was thinking, he then followed that with, “No harm shall come to you! I swear it upon my hoard! I only wish to know that you live, and to learn what happened here.”

  That was apparently enough for Instinct. Herald spoke in her passenger’s voice, shouting at the top of her lungs, “I am here! I live! If you wish to speak, land by the ruined palace and await me there! By the ruined palace!”

  For all that I was relieved to have Instinct back, I truly lamented that she shared a neck with Herald. It meant that I couldn’t throttle her the way I very much wanted to. And Shifted as I was, I couldn’t even tell her a few choice words!

  Instinct, of course, didn’t spare my silent outrage a single thought. “Do you think he heard?” she asked, only to be answered by Herald saying, “It looks like they are turning for the palace! I think they heard!”

  “Excellent. Get us out of this tree and head there. I shall speak with Indomitable. Little Ghost, are you coming?”

  “I think it is best if Draka speaks with them,” Herald suggested as she started her climb down. “We cannot assume that your mother has told Indomitable about your situation, nor can we expect him to understand.”

  “Hmmf, very well.”

  I had the good taste to be embarrassed about the wave of betrayal and jealousy that washed over me when Herald didn’t even question Instinct’s decision. I knew and had known for a long time that my humans, Herald included, all saw Instinct and Conscience as equal parts of my whole. And it wasn’t like she just left me in that tree. She climbed down past me, but when I didn’t immediately follow she stopped and waited patiently until I got over myself.

  I didn’t bring it up as we walked through the forest, even after I Shifted back and regained my voice. I couldn’t see it doing anything except antagonizing Instinct and putting Herald into an impossibly uncomfortable position. Instead I asked, “What should we tell them?”

  “I am not sure,” Herald replied when Instinct remained silent. “Do you think they would accept that it is private?”

  “I have no idea,” I confessed. “I’m not convinced that talking to them is a great idea. But not talking to them now is probably worse, so…”

  “I would suggest not volunteering anything, but not lying directly either,” Herald said, every word clear and considered. “Admit that you angered your mother if you must, but decline to explain why and see if they will let it be. And be fully open with what happened with Behold Her.”

  The tree where we’d been watching from wasn’t too far from the palace, so the walk there only took minutes. When we arrived Indomitable was alone, poking curiously among the ruins while Sandstorm circled high above. I left Herald among the trees, hoping that Instinct wouldn’t demand she approach, then steeled myself and went to meet my granduncle.

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