When next she woke it was daytime, the soil beneath her was still soggy, but the sun was shining, and the warmth felt like salvation against her skin. It took a long time for the heat to seep down to the layers of cold that had claimed her so completely the night before. She could hear the clank of the manacles every time a shiver coursed through her body.

The Stormlord was by the fire, some kind of game already roasting above it. Her stomach seized painfully, and her mouth began to water. He looked up at the air, talking to another soul, she guessed, then immediately turned his head to her.

“You are awake.”

She did not know how to respond. So she nodded, the world spinning dizzily with that simple movement. When her vision settled, she eyed the meat with naked desperation. The smell of food so near had nausea rising in her throat, and she knew it would only take one bite to make it go away.

Finally, he took the stick on which the roasted animal was skewered and came toward her.

“Today, you have your first lesson. So you need to eat.”

He held the stick directly in front of her face. She waited for him to release her hands or tear off a piece, but when he did neither, she gave in to her hunger. Craning her neck upward, she tore at the meat with her teeth. Juices splattered over her face, but she was too hungry to care. Again and again, she gnawed at the food he presented, tearing big strips away with her teeth. Her jaw was tired after only a few bites, but she kept chewing.

Whatever his idea of a lesson was, she knew she would need all her strength for it.

When she had eaten enough that she began to feel ill, she stopped and nodded for him to take it away. He did, throwing the entire thing back on the fire rather than eating any himself.

Then to her surprise, he knelt and began undoing her manacles. The first touch of air on her wrists burned, and she pulled them down to find raw, red abrasions where the irons had been. The Stormlord moved quickly and efficiently, standing to undo the manacles at her ankles next. When he had freed her completely, he stood up and looked at her.

She curled her legs up to her midsection, her bare feet scraping through the dirt.

“What’s the lesson?” she asked and was relieved when her voice barely shook.

He gestured toward her chest, and she looked down to see the frenetic flash of her skyfire through the material of her shirt.

“If you are going to be any use to me, you need more than one storm at your call.”

Aurora froze, trying not to let the horror show on her face.

“You—you want me to take another soul?”

“Yes. And I have selected the perfect one.”