“But don’t you see? I can communicate here, with the ones that came before us. I can learn from them. And then—”

“And then what?”

“And then we will take revenge.”

Kess’s eyes went wide. “We are children. What revenge could we possibly take? I would settle for living. That is more than I thought I would have the day they put the rope around my neck.”

“Damn it, don’t you see? They got rid of us because they are scared of what we could become. They want us to die out here because we are strong enough to one day challenge them.”

“And how do you expect to challenge them when you can only talk to ghosts?” Kess snapped.

Cruze felt like he had been slapped. And for just a moment, a violent urge swelled through him that told him to return the damage, to give as good as he got, better, even. To return tenfold the pain upon whoever dared hurt him. But then the moment passed, and Kess looked at him apologetically.

“I am sorry. But our decision is made. We leave at first light tomorrow. I hope you will come with us.”

Cruze let her walk away, knowing he would not. He had finally found a place where he felt at home. Yes, it was among the dead, but they accepted him; they called him their own. And he would avenge them no matter what it took.

“Again,” Cassius yelled, and on his order the small contingent of soldiers he had built began the conditioning drill anew.

Since his brother had burned the city’s black market in a bid to impress their father, he had no way of obtaining the supplies to allow his soldiers to practice against true storm magic, so he had devised a compilation of the most difficult training exercises he could think of, and he put his men through their paces as often as possible, pushing them harder and harder until they moved with speed and fluidity. Soon, he would begin to test them by allowing them to cover the palace’s defenses in shifts. He would be there, of course, in the case of an emergency, but they needed more field training, and fighting the storms that plagued the city was the only option.

Eventually, they shifted to weapons training, and he joined in, trading off with different partners to test their skill levels, trying to determine who were his strongest men.

Someday soon he would need them at his side because he would not react defensively forever. To win they would have to pursue the Stormlord on their own terms, and he would make certain they were ready. Or as ready as they could be.