The Revinir growled. She hadn’t been pushed around like this since… well, since Marcus and Justine had forced her to stay home when they left for Quill, back when she was a child. And she didn’t like it very much. But she sort of admired it too. She knew she’d seen strength in Thisbe from the very beginning, when she detected that the girl was much more evil than good. She’d chosen her future partner well. And now here the girl was, finally willing to help make the Revinir’s dreams come true, and she was letting her walk away? What was happening?

“I’ll… find a room for you,” the Revinir said. “Wait here.”

Thisbe stopped and folded her arms as a smug smile played at her lips. “The best one you have,” she called out. She eyed a guard who stood at a hallway intersection. When the Revinir was out of sight, Thisbe let out a breath of relief. Everything was going smoothly. Her instincts on how to play this seemed to be pretty good—or close enough. She was keeping the Revinir on her toes. That was working. She straightened again and put on an impatient expression.

A moment later Thisbe could hear the Revinir barking directions to someone. Then the dragon-woman reappeared. “Right this way to your suite,” she said coolly. She turned around, her haunches and tail slamming into the sides of the wide hallway as she navigated the tight space. Little bits of the wall were left crumbling.

Thisbe followed her to a wing of the castle she hadn’t been in before. Finely appointed, completely empty suites sprouted off from both sides. The Revinir stopped at one. “Here you are. I’ve borrowed a servant from the kitchen who will attend to your needs. She’ll be coming shortly with water and food for you. And she’ll be watching your every move, so don’t be sneaky with your spells.” The dragon-woman couldn’t help but smirk. “You’ll notice I didn’t try to disarm you.”

“You’ll notice I didn’t try to kill you,” Thisbe retorted.

“Indeed.” The dragon-woman gave Thisbe a scornful look. “Anything else?”

“What’s my servant’s name?”

The Revinir scowled. “How should I know?”

“That’s going to change.” Thisbe pushed past the dragon-woman into her little apartment. It was well appointed with a sitting room, small kitchen, and bedroom. Doors led from the far wall to a balcony. “That’ll be all for now,” Thisbe called out over her shoulder, and dropped her rucksack on her bed. Then, when the Revinir didn’t leave, Thisbe closed the door in her face. Gently. Because she wasn’t a monster. Yet.

Stressing Out

Maybe Florence will respond to your last send message,” said Dev. “Then you can reply to that one, right? That way you won’t have to use your last component.”