Kiran’s eyes turned to Aurora, whose face had gone remarkably pale, even for her. Based on her wary expression, he guessed everyone else’s gaze had fixed on her too. “Do you know where you might have been seen?” he asked. “Could someone have caught sight of you in the palace?” Aurora hesitated and an awful thought occurred to him. “Or they could have gotten the information another way.” His eyes flicked to Ransom, then Duke. “From Jinx, or your friend. Jinx is the most loyal person I know, but we don’t know what they are doing to them in there. One of them could have even revealed something by accident.”

All of a sudden, Aurora dropped her arms from where they were wound tightly around her waist. “It was not them. It was me.”

This time, Kiran’s voice joined the cacophony, and Aurora closed her eyes and let the noise spill over her. He wanted to rush over and shake her, then take her far, far away from here.

“What do you mean it was you?” he asked.

Aurora swallowed and lifted her chin. “I was worried for Jinx and Nova’s safety, so I made a choice. Before we left, I wrote Cassius a note.”

It was like a hurricane swept through his head. Kiran needed to sit down. There were no chairs left, so he ended up leaning against Zephyr’s desk, his mind reeling.

“That’s what you went back for,” Sly popped in, speaking up for the first time from the corner she leaned back in.

“It was the best way I could think of to guarantee they stayed unharmed.”

Ransom’s gruff voice joined the fray as he said, “You probably did the exact opposite. All you did was tell the prince that they have information on you. They are likely being tortured for that information as we speak.”

Aurora’s face went ghostly white, and her fingertips found the wall at her back, steadying herself.

“No.” Aurora shook her head vehemently. “No, it was not like that. I told Cassius to treat them well.”

Zephyr snorted. “And you think that despot will do as you ask? You think he has a heart?”

Aurora gritted her teeth and shook her head. “Of course not. I left him for a reason. But I do think that he … he wants me. He could have just taken the kingdom when I left. I gave him the perfect opportunity to have everything he wanted. Instead, he searched for me relentlessly. Obsessively. He sent soldiers to die in the wildlands who could have helped fight the Stormlord here. I do not know why, but if he would go to those lengths for me before, I thought I could save Jinx and Nova by tying them to me. To buy us time.”