He hated himself for that almost as much as he hated her for lying, for making him believe something was possible when it wasn’t.

They had nearly reached the wing where the Locke family resided, and the group began to split apart, so that they could surround the wing and cut off escape.

He and Ransom had naturally been paired together, as they were the ones to initiate the next part of the plan. Zephyr and her lieutenant, Raquim, were the last pair to leave. She asked, “Ready?”

Kiran only nodded.

“This is important,” she added.

“This family killed my sister,” he snapped. “Trust me, I know the importance.”

She began to turn, looking satisfied, but then a loud, blaring siren cut through the air, shattering the stillness that had been their friend up until this point. A door swung open in the hallway beyond, then another, followed by a woman’s voice.

“Onto plan number two,” Ransom growled, ripping a glass jar from his utility belt and throwing it around the corner into the hallway where they hoped at least one royal family member would be. The shattering of glass was followed by a quiet whoosh of noise and the spread of moisture in the air. Kiran knew thick tendrils of fog were unfurling from the broken jar, spreading to consume the hallway.

Each of them reached for a small vial containing powdered fog Stormheart, and threw it back. The powder melted in seconds on Kiran’s tongue, tasting like some odd mix of mist and ash. Their supplies had been low, so they only had enough to give each member of the rebellion a small amount. It gave them a limited window of time during which they would be immune to the fog storm’s particularly potent effects of confusion and sedation.

Duke, the one member of their crew who had remained back at command for this mission, had been unable to say exactly how long they would have, so they needed to get in and out as quickly as possible. They had intended to use this method for escaping the palace. Now they would need to make it last through the capture too.

He and Ransom entered the now eerily clouded hallway with Zephyr, leaving Raquim out as a fail-safe in case something went wrong. Hopefully, the rest of their group would be making their way back too now that the plan had been upended. There were ten of them in all, and he thought they were likely to need every single hand to get out alive.