Aaron understood what Rohan was implying. He didn’t blame the boy, who was only looking to make sense of something that was unfathomable. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

Rohan couldn’t take any more. He thanked Aaron and apologized for the probing questions, then removed himself from the area, going to the back end of Gorgrun to be alone.

Aaron let out a defeated sigh. Ten times the amount of guilt he’d had before rushed over him now. He wasn’t the only one wondering it. Thisbe seemed to be following in his way of life, and no one had seen it coming, not even him. It was a mistake that could cost Artimé more than they’d ever risked losing before. A mistake that could end the future of an entire land.

On Tenterhooks

Late that night Fifer applied another layer of the magical salve to Dev’s burns and gave him another capsule to swallow. Florence hadn’t responded, which left Fifer stressed out and worried about what was happening. She didn’t want them coming here—the red dragons would likely destroy them as they’d destroyed Fifer’s birds.

And she wasn’t sure what Florence was thinking. Was she buying Fifer’s story? Had Fifer and Thisbe misjudged how everyone would react to this plan? Feeling stressed out and unable to sleep, Fifer picked up one of Dev’s new weapons and a small chunk of the meteor they’d found in one of the tower stairwells. She brought them to the east window and used the stone to sand down the wood while she pondered and watched.

Not to mention Fifer was suddenly weary of this place. How long would she be stuck here, especially if her Artiméan people couldn’t approach or attempt to rescue her, and the dragons were being hostile? Had Thisbe made it to the castle safely? How were things going for her? Was there any way Thisbe could communicate with Fifer so she and Dev would know what was happening? Did the Revinir buy Thisbe’s story?

And now there was Dev, with his not-very-well-thought-out plan to penetrate the mind control and speak to the dragons… in their language. Which Dev didn’t know. What if Dev had said something really horrible or offensive in his roar? Sure, it got the red dragons to pay attention when they normally didn’t react to anything that was spoken to them by anyone other than the Revinir. But that was not the reaction Dev had been hoping for, nor expecting.