Dev moved to slip it into his money pouch and realized he wasn’t wearing it. “Hey!” he exclaimed, breaking character. “Where’s my pouch?”

“Fifer has it, I think. She’s keeping it for you—you left it at their camp when you went to follow the Revinir’s roar. I didn’t think to grab it for my return. I’m sorry.”

Dev narrowed his eyes.

“I promise you’ll get it back with everything in it.”

“All right.” Dev slipped the vial into his pocket instead. He let his face slack and his sight blur once more. “Here I go.”

“Thank you,” Thisbe whispered. She watched him leave.

When she heard a noise from the other direction down the hallway, she snapped back into her mind-controlled character and turned slowly. With relief, she saw it was Rohan coming with Prindi and Reza, all of them dragging bones toward the kitchen.

Breaking Out

Rohan, Prindi, and Reza reached the kitchen, and Rohan hurried the other two inside. “Thisbe will finish explaining everything,” Rohan told them, then said something in the common language. The two nodded. Rohan turned to Thisbe. “I’ve given them their doses. They know the basics and know they can trust you. I’m going after the rest of them now.” He glanced inside the steaming kitchen. “Where’s Dev?”

Thisbe told him everything. “He’s on his way to the castle now. We need to move.”

Rohan cringed, then nodded. “Okay. Let’s make it work.” He blew out a breath and shored up his resolve. “These two don’t speak much of your language. They understand it better than they can speak it, though, so you can try to explain more if you like. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He checked the hallway for soldiers, then sprinted in the direction of the crypts where the others were working.

Thisbe tried explaining to Reza and Prindi everything she could to help them understand what had happened to them and what was about to go down now that they were free from the Revinir’s spell. She gave them each a vial of the ancestor broth as she’d done for Dev, then stuck the remaining vials of ancestor broth inside a small sack and handed it to Prindi.

“You’re in charge of these,” Thisbe said. “This is the antidote to the Revinir’s mind-controlling dragon-bone broth. When she roars, you’ll still feel a pull, because you are part dragon. But the ancestor broth is strong, and as long as you’ve had more ancestor broth than dragon-bone broth, you will be able to resist the Revinir’s call. Understand?”

The two shrugged uncertainly.