An old, familiar ache opened up at the thought of her brother, stinging at the fresh exposure. She missed him, would always miss him, but after all this time, there were so few memories she could remember clearly.

“Weeks,” a velvety-smooth voice said beside her, and they had sat so long in silence that it took Aurora a moment to realize the woman was answering her question. “We have been here near three weeks.”

Aurora swallowed hard. Three weeks? And nothing had been done to help them? No one had provided them with shelter or let them inside the city? Did that mean the Lockes had been in control for at least that long? Or was she right in her earlier fears? Could her mother have still been in control when this started?

“Weeks. Wow. You must know quite a lot then.”

The woman shrugged. “Nothing to know. With the storms how they are, the best we can do is be as close to the Stormlings as possible.”

Aurora nodded. “Right. It’s awful how many villages have been destroyed. Did you live nearby?”

“In the lower plains,” she answered. “Between Odilar and Pavan.” That made sense. From what they had heard, the Stormlord seemed to have laid a path of destruction from Locke up toward Pavan, lingering especially in those areas where Locke soldiers were patrolling. Of course, it was her those soldiers had been searching for—yet another stone of blame that weighed upon her chest.

“Had you been to Pavan before?” Aurora asked. “I heard rumors about a power change or something along those lines. Something to do with the Stormlings. Do you know anything about that?”

The woman stiffened a little and looked around, but after a moment, she seemed satisfied enough to say, “That was before our arrival, but yes, it is true. The Lockes are the Stormlings in these parts now.”

Aurora’s heartbeat was a riot in her chest, as though it only now realized how very close she was to the life, and the man, she had run from not long ago. An image of Cassius Locke rose in her mind—dark and menacing and unforgiving. Her mental barriers faltered, and she felt the press of thousands of other souls against her own, abrasive and clingy all at the same time.

It was not new information, that the Lockes had taken over Pavan, but the way the woman said it, with such matter-of-factness, as though the two families were simply interchangeable, gutted Aurora. She fought down the urge to push for as many details as possible, and instead took a moment to look to Kiran and the bag he carried.

“We brought some goods to share.” She looked back to the group of women. “Some fruits and vegetables.”