“We are, but the Dragon is much scarier.”
I grinned.
"I can tell you that we're going to leave the main house to get you dressed. You'll ride with me on my golf cart."
"Okay."
We moved quickly.
Down the hall.
Through the door.
Outside into the cool air.
The sun was setting, painting the sky in streaks of orange and gold. An ocean breeze lifted the hem of my phoenix gown.
The air carried the scent of ocean and woodsmoke, and unlike this morning it smelled more like a smoldering campfire, not carnage.
I looked to the left.
The pyre was gone.
Only embers remained, glowing orange in the fading light. But the people were still gathered around it. Some talking. Some singing. A few strumming instruments I didn't recognize.
Children chased each other through the grass, their laughter bright and unafraid.
No one seemed sad or traumatized. They actually looked like a family gathering after a long day like burning traitors alive was just another Tuesday.
This was what Hiro had told me about earlier. How the burning made the people feel safe. Protected. How it brought them together instead of tearing them apart.
Wow. This is definitely a different world.
As I walked toward the golf cart, people noticed me.
Conversations paused.
Heads turned.
A woman near the embers saw me first. She straightened, pressed her hand to her chest, and bowed.
Deep.
Respectful.
Then the man beside her did the same.
Then two more.
It moved through the crowd like a wave. One by one, people stopped what they were doing and bowed. Not out of fear. I knew what fear looked like on this island. I'd seen it directed at Kenji. At Reo. At the Fangs.
This wasn't that.
This was gratitude.
Hiroko smiled.
My throat tightened.
