By morning, in the magical moment between asleep and awake, Thisbe had a good feeling about what to do. Her instincts had been on so far. And even with Rohan throwing a wrench into things, it had ended up working in her favor. The Revinir had seemed to believe Thisbe even more after seeing the message from Rohan.

Her eyes flew open, and her stomach pinched. Rohan. Thisbe’s heart ached. He must be falling apart—he’d said as much. But she could picture the pain in his eyes. It was a desolate feeling, as if all of their deep connections, their soul-binding companionship, had gone down the drain. All for the singular reason of Thisbe trying to get close enough to the monster to do away with her. It had to happen soon.

She went to the ballroom for breakfast. The Revinir was there with her servants. Was the dragon-woman ever alone in this place? It didn’t seem so. Which wasn’t good for Thisbe, but she didn’t let on. Instead she walked with confidence and surveyed the large amounts of food on the table. Apparently the Revinir still preferred to eat at a table like a human, despite the fact that she was almost all dragon by now. Her curled talons clinked the china plates as she shoveled great amounts of food into her toothy maw.

“Hope you saved some for me,” Thisbe said. “We have a big day ahead of us.”

The Revinir growled like a wild animal and ate like one too, which was a bit unsettling. And while the dragon-woman was half the size of an average dragon and tiny compared to a ghost dragon, she could still be extremely ferocious, and Thisbe didn’t want to ever find herself too close to her chompers. She sat down near the foot of the long table, within reach of a large tray of crispy bacon, and helped herself.

The Revinir took a cloth napkin and wiped her mouth. “We’ll meet at noon to declare our partnership,” she said. “Once that’s in place, we can talk about your request.”

Thisbe laughed. “Um, no. That’s not how this is going to work. I want a trial period of a week to make sure you treat me right. And if you don’t, I’m not declaring anything.”

“A week!” said the Revinir, lifting her head and straightening her neck to its full height. “Not a chance.”

Thisbe paused, holding a slice of bacon in midair. She turned sharply to her servant. “Will you pack my bag, please? I’ll be leaving right after I finish my meal.” She glanced at the Revinir, who was seething, then added, “I may as well fill my stomach first. I’m a very hungry girl.”

“I can stop you from leaving at any time,” said the Revinir. Flames curled up around her jowls.