“Did I?” asked the Revinir lazily. “I don’t recall that.”

Thisbe shrugged like it wasn’t a matter to quibble over. “What shall we ask him?”

“Why don’t you start?”

“Will he listen to me? I thought people under your mind control only listen to you.”

The Revinir preened with power. “The red dragon listened to you, didn’t he? It’s because I commanded him to. But only if you said you wanted to come here.”

“Tricky,” said Thisbe.

“Rohan,” said the Revinir, turning to him, “I command you to listen to Thisbe and answer her questions as truthfully as you would me.”

Rohan blinked. “Yes, Revinir,” he said.

Thisbe felt like vomiting to hear him say that. To speak in that voice. Things had been going so well, but now, with the constant reminder of what she was doing sitting right next to her, she felt like quitting. She shifted in her seat and thought she saw a ghost dragon floating by the window, farther away now. Was Quince still out there? “Okay, um…,” she began. “What, uh, what made you come here, Rohan?”

“I had to talk to you,” said Rohan in a monotone.

Thisbe’s hands started sweating. Was Rohan sold on the plan that she and Fifer and Dev had concocted? Had he somehow gotten the truth out of Fifer or Dev in the past few days? Thisbe didn’t know where he’d been or who he’d been with—anything could have happened between the time he’d sent that message to Thisbe and now. But the Revinir was most certainly testing her, waiting to see if Thisbe would ask real questions. Thisbe plowed forward. “Talk to me about what?”

“I wanted to tell you not to betray the black-eyed people by making a deal with the Revinir. You can still change your mind. It’s not too late.”

Thisbe sucked in a breath. Okay. She looked up at the Revinir. “Your turn?”

The Revinir seemed pleased with the answers so far. “Rohan,” she said, “does Thisbe want to rule the land of the dragons with me?”

Thisbe frowned. “What kind of question is that?” she said. “I thought you wanted information about where everyone is and what he and the others are doing.”

“No, that was a bluff,” said the Revinir. “I want to know if you’re lying to me. If there’s anyone besides Fifer that you’ve confided in, it would be Rohan. So I want the truth.”

“So that’s why you put dragon-bone broth in his tea? Because you want to know more from him about me? That’s disgusting. I’ve told you the truth.”

“I didn’t get to this position by trusting people,” the Revinir said lightly. “Rohan, answer the question. Does Thisbe truly want to rule this land with me?”