“Well,” Morrowseer said. “So that didn’t go as planned.”

“You ne glected to mention a few things,” said Blister calmly. “Such as the fact that your five dragonets are remarkably annoying.” She draped her barbed tail pointedly over her talons and folded her wings back.

“Yes,” said the NightWing. “True. But you might have tried to be a little less sinister at them.” He stared down at the charred ruins of the Summer Palace. Fires were still smoldering on a few floors of the pavilion. Three days after the battle, nothing remained but smoke and corpses.

“At least Webs is dead,” he said.

“Should be by now,” she answered, flipping her tail up and down.

“Queen Coral survived?” he asked.

“And both her brats as well,” said Blister. “It wouldn’t be convenient for me if she died.” She bared her teeth and hissed softly. “Of course, now she’s hiding in her Deep Palace where I can’t get to her. And she insists that my secret weapon will be no use to me for years still. She’s gotten all squeamish about animus powers since finding out about her first daughter — like she’d rather waste that little one’s magic just to keep her from turning homicidal.” Blister sighed a small burst of flame. “It’s not been my favorite week of the war.”

She batted away a piece of smoking foliage. “So, NightWing, I hope for your sake that you bring me news I want to hear.”

“There is another option,” Morrowseer said, “but I’m not sure you’ll like it much better.” He spread his wings and beckoned to a green shape circling in the sky overhead.

The SeaWing landed carefully on the cliffside, vines crumbling to ashes below his claws. He glanced down at the palace and shuddered. Morrowseer noticed that he stayed well away from Blister. Perhaps he’d heard — or guessed — what had happened to Kestrel.

“This is Nautilus,” Morrowseer explained. “One of the leaders of the Talons of Peace. Nautilus, explain your backup plan to the queen.”

“Possible future queen,” Nautilus corrected, then jumped back ner vously as Blister raised her poisonous tail. “Er,” he said quickly, “we have a . . . a set of alternatives.”

Blister’s black eyes glittered with interest. “Alternatives?” she said. “Really. My, my. I had no idea the Talons of Peace could be so devious.”

Nautilus frowned. “We prefer to think of it as planning for every contingency,” he said. “We have to do whatever’s necessary so the prophecy will come true.”

“Or true-ish,” Morrowseer interjected.

“Of course,” Blister said. “Dragonets can be so unpredictable. You are very wise.”

“Well,” Nautilus said, pleased, “it was my idea.”

“Of course it was,” she said. “Very clever. We are talking about false dragonets, yes?”

“But,” rumbled Morrowseer.

“Yes,” Nautilus said. His tail twitched. “But. They’re, ah — not quite perfect.”

“Hmmm,” said Blister. “Worse than the originals? Is that possible?”

“Well . . . different. Or else they’d be plan A,” Nautilus said. “Obviously.”

“All I want to know is whether they’ll do as they’re told,” Blister said.

“Um.” Nautilus wrinkled his snout and stared at the sky. “Maaaaybe?”

“This does sound promising,” Blister said drily. “I can’t wait to meet them.”

“Perhaps we can take the best options from each group,” Morrowseer said. “Kill the RainWing, obviously. We can probably work with the original MudWing.”

“Your NightWing is useless,” Blister said. “Worst traitor I’ve ever seen.”

Morrowseer shook his head. “That is very disappointing. We don’t often kill off our dragonets, but . . .” He sighed. “If we must.”

“Uh,” said Nautilus, “you might want to meet our other option first. I mean, not to interfere. Just a suggestion.”

“And we’ll definitely kill the SeaWing,” Blister snarled.

Nautilus flapped his wings, backing away in a hurry.

“Not you,” she said impatiently. “Well, not right now.”

“I thought Tsunami had some potential,” Morrowseer muttered.

“Potential to annoy my tail off,” Blister growled. “No, she definitely has to go.”

“We have dragons working on it as we speak,” Morrowseer promised. “Recruiting assassins is surprisingly easy in the middle of a war.”

“Good.” Blister flicked her tail menacingly. “Those dragonets need to know they’re not as valuable as they think they are. Anyone can be replaced.” She smiled with all her teeth. “After all . . . there’s more than one way to fulfill a prophecy.”