For once, the room fell into quiet. But though the world might have been silent, Kiran was screaming on the inside. To think that that monster wanted Aurora made him ill. The fact that she’d had to run away to keep from marrying him made it hard not to resent the vulnerable old woman sitting silently only a few steps away. It made him want to break things, starting with the prince’s face against his knuckles.

“Well, that settles it then,” he said. “He will not rest until he finds her, not if he knows for certain she is here. We need to either get her into hiding or get her out of the city.”

“And we need to get Jinx out of that damn palace,” Ransom barked.

“I have connections in a small outpost north of the city,” Zephyr said. “We could hide her there for the time being until things die down.”

“No,” Aurora cried. “I am done hiding. We need supplies to rescue Jinx, right? Did you not mention the possibility of sending me into the wilds to stock up on magic? We could do that. Then I am out of the city, and we are preparing for the next steps. We will come back with everything we need to rescue Jinx and take down the Lockes once and for all.”

Zephyr stopped where she was and turned to meet the gaze of her lieutenant, Raquim, who stood silent and still in the corner of the room. Kiran had forgotten he was there entirely. “That could work,” she said. “Though you will be in danger in the wilds as well. And I am not sure how long you will have to stay. I can smuggle you out of the city, along with supplies in and out when needed.”

“How will you do that?” Aurora asked.

Zephyr gave her a hard look and jerked her chin toward the queen. “I think I have given away enough of my secrets in present company.”

Aphra Pavan held up her hands, and the movement was graceful despite her illness. “Please, we have the same intentions. I would see my daughter safe, and the kingdom restored to her guidance.”

Zephyr raised an eyebrow. “Not your own?”

“I am an old woman. And if age gives one nothing else, it should be the ability to learn from one’s past. It was my decisions that brought the Lockes to this place, that allowed them to enact their schemes. My daughter clearly saw what I could not. I will provide any help or information you would like, but…” She trailed off for a moment and glanced at Duke. “The crown is not everything.”

“Then it is settled. Tonight at midnight, we smuggle you out.”