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“My mother cannot learn of this,” Cynna says firmly. “She would only feel threatened by it, and it’s clear she already does, given the impossible deadline she gave you to emerge.”

Her words only deepen the unease that’s been gnawing at me for weeks. I had wondered if the queen had set me up to fail. And now, with everything I know about the lengths she’s willing to go to protect their way of life here, it’s impossible not to see how she would perceive me as a threat. And I can’t bring myself to believe she’d simply let me go.

“Agreed. We’ll need to be careful,” Silas says, his expression pensive. “If anyone else saw what happened, it could complicate things.”

“But did anyone else see?” I ask, my brow furrowing as images of Silkbank flash through my mind—the fleeing citizens, the bodies, the blood.

“By the time we had the chimera herded onto the ice, I ordered those who were able to start getting the injured to safety,” Lyxander says.

“But it’s still possible….” My words trail off as I glance between them.

Titaia shrugs, her tone light but her gaze sharp. “So you lie.”

The others turn to her, and she rolls her eyes. “The idea of someone possessing wind magic is unbelievable enough as it is. If anyone asks, you either say you saw nothing, or you say it was something else. It won’t take much for people to dismiss it.”

“And what will we tell them?” Cynna asks.

Lyxander’s gaze flicks to me, then back to the group. “I struck it with lightning,” he says firmly. “That’s what we’ll say. If anyone brings up the wind, we deny it. Understood?”

I release a long, slow breath as, one by one, they nod, their expressions resolute.

Then, a pounding knock reverberates through the tower.

As Lyxander had predicted, the summons from the palace came swiftly.

Fortunately, we were allowed time enough to wash the worst of the gore away and change into fresh clothing, but the cloying scent of chimera blood still clings to the back of my throat.

The palace’s council chamber isn’t quite as intimidating as its throne room. It’s smaller in scale, with high, arched windows that let cold light spill across the marble floor and a table at the center shaped like a crescent moon. The way the pointed tips aim toward us, though, feels like a threat.

As we enter, we fall into the same formation we’d taken the first time I met the queen—Lyxander and his cousins in front, me flanked by Rhaya and Kato behind—and the hum of conversation vanishes like a snuffed candle.

Queen Khione sits at the center of the table, her posture rigid, draped in twilight silver that matches her stark white hair. To her right sits an empty chair—a void that instantly draws my gaze. Flanking her are six Harpaurai, three on either side, their wings tucked tight against their backs.

The Diarchy Council.

Our group comes to a stop between the crescent table’s points and bows toward the queen.

“Rise,” Queen Khione says.

I straighten, keeping my gaze lowered like I had last time and attempting to make myself look as small and inconsequential as possible. I won’t escape their notice entirely, but if all they perceive is a girl who is overwhelmed and out of place, then it’s less likely they will believe I’m capable of breaking bones and spilling blood with the weight of the wind.

The three councilors to the queen’s right are all men with faces that are weathered and stern, with silver streaks threaded through their dark hair. To the queen’s left, a man and woman of middling years sit with an air of quiet authority, their postures poised but less rigid. Beside them, a younger woman—her features smooth and untested by the years.

“Twenty-two of our citizens are dead, countless more injured,” the queen says, drawing my attention back to her as she sweeps her icy gaze over our group. “And I would like to know how.”

It’s Cynna who speaks first, clasping her hands behind her back in a way I’ve seen so many others do before the masters at the Aviary. “Seven chimera breached the city limits at Silkbank. Silas, Rhaya, Kato, and I were in the city at the time, so we were able to respond immediately once we became aware.”

Eyes around the table widen at the number, but Cynna continues, “Three were taken out in the streets, and the remaining four were driven onto the Myrios and drowned when the ice broke.”

“And where were you?” The queen’s gaze narrows on Lyxander.

“I was at the tower—”

“Wasting time while your people were in need,” Queen Khione says, her voice hardening.

“I came as soon as I heard the distress,” Lyxander says. “And as Cynna has said, the chimera were handled soon after.”

“Handled,” echoes a councilor to the queen’s right, a man with feathers that look like dried leaves. “Other reports describe a rather…messy end for one of them.”