They stood in silence as their plans crashed around them. They weren’t ready to make a move yet. Rohan was probably still rounding up the other slaves. They’d have to get here, and then they’d require at least as much time as Dev had taken to understand what was happening—and even longer for Reza to drink the extra broth. Dev couldn’t wait that long, or the Revinir would know something was up.

Thisbe turned to her friend, desperation written all over her face. Could Dev pull off the biggest acting job ever? Could he fake his way through a direct meeting with the Revinir just to give Thisbe and the others the time they needed? And maybe even the chance to escape without the Revinir finding out for at least a day?

Even if he could, how would he get away from the castle?

Minus One

Thisbe and Dev stared at each other. “You have to do it,” said Thisbe in a low voice. “You have to go to the castle. Or else the Revinir will know something’s happening down here, and we’ll all end up in the dungeon.”

“Thisbe, no!” Dev gripped his hair in his fists and turned to look out the door. The hallway was empty. “What if I mess it up? She’ll kill me!”

Abandoning all pretense and not caring about soldiers, Thisbe took Dev by the shoulders and turned him to face her. “Listen to me,” she said, trying to be calm. “This is going to be easy.” She nodded firmly to convince herself of that. “Just do the face I taught you. Speak in monotone, and don’t say much—yes, Revinir. No, Revinir. Nice and steady, no emotion. Find the stuff she needs as quickly as you can. When the dragon returns you to the elevator, don’t go back down into the catacombs. Instead, run away. Go to Maiven’s house in the village.”

“Who? You mean Maiven from the dungeon?”

Thisbe dropped her hands. “Ugh, that’s right. You missed absolutely everything, didn’t you?” She turned to glance out the door, trying to think. “Okay, new plan. Go to Alex’s grave. You know where that is, right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, good.” Thisbe breathed a bit easier. “Great. One of us will find you there.”

“If the Revinir doesn’t kill me.”

Thisbe’s eyes went wild. “Dev. You have to pull yourself together. You can do this. You just convinced the guards that you were still under the Revinir’s spell. Just do that exact same thing. She’s not going to kill you.”

“Easy for you to say.” Distraught, Dev turned to the soothing familiar action of stirring his pot of broth. “Can’t we all just escape when Rohan comes back? What happens if I don’t go?”