CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR Sev 
The sound of moving water sends a prickle of awareness down my arms. Then the smell—old books and a hint of pipe smoke. I know where I am without opening my eyes.
My parents designed this house together, and we came here every summer of my childhood. I know that the jar where the cook hid jelly tarts is on the bottom shelf in the pantry. I know if I shift to the left, one of the floorboards will creak under my weight. Callum and I fought battles with wooden swords over every foot of this house while my parents read before the fireplace. And as long as I don’t open my eyes, I can pretend they are still here, waiting for me.
“Sev.”
I open my eyes. Maren stands in front of me, a somber look on her face. “I miss you. I don’t know how—”
“How did you get to Ruzi?” I ask. “What are you doing there?”
She frowns. “There’s a Talon blockade around the kingdom—the emperor is starving them out. I’m working with a rebel group to break it. But your house—”
My throat is suddenly tight. “Whatever you need to do, do it. I’m running out of time.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve been appointed commander of the army. The fleet leaves for the Seda Serat in seven days. If I’m with it, I’m as good as dead.”
I look around. There is the table that my mother accidentally scorched by putting down a hot pan. There is the daybed where my father read his letters. Sunlight filters in through the window. There is peace here. Or the memory of it.
“Seven days,” Maren repeats. “I can do it.”
She reaches out to me, and the house dissolves into fire.
The door slammed, startling me awake.
I sat up, alarmed, as Rafael burst into my room, a lit torch in his hand. “Get up. Now!”
I scrambled out of bed and bowed. “This is an unexpected honor, Your Excellence. I admit I’m surprised by the hour.”
“Don’t play coy with me, you impudent worm. You know what you did.”
Rafael backhanded me casually without missing a beat. My head snapped to the side, my cheek burning. The mob.
“I gave you specific instructions to visit the army. There was no provision in those instructions that covered interfering with civilian activity.”
I licked my lip and tasted blood. “I was only trying to act as a commander should, Your Highness. As I thought you might. I meant no disrespect—I had no idea it would lead to a riot.”
“In the future, you will do exactly as I tell you. Nothing less, and nothing more,” Rafael said. “Now follow me.”
I had a bad feeling about this but didn’t dare argue. Instead I just dressed and pulled on my boots, shivering in the cold. Faris was standing outside as we left the room, but she would not look at me as six guards escorted us down the hall. At least she was upright again.
I was still close to yawning as we reached the front of the palace, but as the doors opened, I became abruptly awake. The mob had not abated—rather, it seemed to have been emboldened by nightfall. The air was filled with furious shouts and the sounds of destruction.
The courtyard was lit and busy with activity. The military guard was standing just inside the gates, and archers lined the walls, their bows drawn and ready. Vix the Ruiner crouched in the center of the courtyard, wings spread menacingly. I looked up and counted six Talons flying overhead.
The emperor strode to his dragon and leaped into the saddle. “Faris—take Prince Vesper to the wall. Let him see what he has wrought.” He leaned forward in his saddle, murmuring to Vix.
The dragon launched into the air, its great wings sweeping a gust of wind about the courtyard.
Faris touched my elbow. “Let’s go,” she said.
We climbed to the top of the palace wall. From here I could see the city laid out before me, a sea of torches marking the protesters. I gripped the wall in front of me, my jaw clenched. What was the emperor about to do?
Rafael and Vix circled above the palace gates. The dragon roared, letting out a burst of flame, and the crowd quieted.
“Citizens of Irrad,” the emperor cried. “It appears that some of you have forgotten that we are a city at peace. We do not raise our arms against our fellows! We do not cry out in the streets like children!
“Prince Vesper has suggested to me a solution. It pains me to consider it, but consider I must. He tells me that the only way to make you understand how fortunate you are is to take something away. Something precious.”
Now he truly had the people’s attention. The streets were as silent as death.
The emperor raised his arm. “I have no choice but to take his advice. Tonight, and every night until these protests are finished, I will burn one building in Irrad. Vix!”
Vix flapped its wings and rose higher in the air, then burst away from the palace. I watched as it flew over the noble districts and past the merchant houses. Soon I could no longer see it clearly, but everyone saw when it dipped in the air, opened its mouth, and let loose a river of flame onto a building in the southern part of the city.
The wood must have been bone dry—it caught within moments, sending a pillar of fire into the sky. Someone in the crowd shrieked. I looked down. It was a woman, kneeling in the street and sobbing. More cries of anguish joined hers—but there were shouts of anger, too. Not everyone was cowed by this act of cruelty. I saw movement at the back of the crowd. Some of them must have been running to save what they could and stop the fire.
Vix and the emperor hung in the sky a safe distance from the flames. Once he seemed satisfied that the building would fall, the emperor pulled Vix’s reins, and the two tore away into the night. Faris leaned heavily against the wall, her shoulders slumped—in exhaustion, or in sadness?
“Is this still the person you want to serve? You are more powerful than him. What holds you?” I said quietly.
She pretended she hadn’t heard me and walked quickly away. I decided to consider that a success—on another day, she would have slapped me down for daring so much.
A small stone broke away from the wall into my hand, and I rolled it between my fingers. The emperor had meant this night as a lesson—to the people about where my loyalties lay, and to me about the consequences of disobeying an order. But the crowd was subdued, not vanquished. Rafael had struck them, and they had risen once more. I had no doubt that in the morning, they would still be there. I could only hope to be so brave.
It was only once I was alone again in my chambers that the dragon dream came flooding back to me.
It had been foolish of me to think that I could put Ruzi behind me. Remembering my family’s house caused a pain in my chest, and Maren’s words had done worse. I’d thought I’d buried everyone I loved, but I had forgotten about the kingdom itself, and its people. I didn’t know all of them. I wouldn’t even see all of them over the course of my life. But Owain had indicted me for everything I had done wrong, and I had killed him. Now the emperor was starving Ruzi because of me. I couldn’t abandon them.
Even if Maren was able to break the blockade, Ruzi was still mine, and they needed help. The Dragons could not be diverted—they were already on their way here and could not split their forces. They only had a small army. But Callum had loved Ruzi the way I did, and I knew there was at least one other person in Irrad who understood that devotion.