He cut her off. “And we will do that. We can all make trips into the camp for reconnaissance and communication. Yet another reason to set up camp elsewhere—Jinx can grow us food and herbs to trade, and that will be our best way to form relationships in this camp.”

Some part of her felt like she should argue because that was their way. Even when they agreed on things, they still argued, examining every aspect of a situation until it had been exhausted. But she was the exhausted one now, and his plan truly did seem reasonable. He was not insisting on the location only for her sake.

She did not want him coddling her. She could not afford that. If the presence of souls was just as numerous inside the city, she would have to learn how to deal with the effects quickly, because she could not wait any longer than absolutely needed to get inside the city and find the answers she required. Something had happened to her mother. There was no other explanation for how the Locke flags could be flying. Queen Aphra was a proud and powerful ruler above all else, and she would not part easily with her crown. Not unless … Aurora had to stop thinking about the possibilities or she was going to be ill, right there next to someone’s home.

She could not let herself waver now. She imagined it not unlike the preparation one took to battle a storm. The other hunters had taught her tricks and put her through training and endurance exercises, but in the end, they said it always came down to which heart was stronger—yours or the storm’s. She had to face this the same way. She did not know what waited for her back in the city of her birth; she only knew it was not for the faint of heart.

“Let’s go find a spot to set up our camp then,” Aurora said. The sooner they got settled, the sooner they could get to work, and she could do what had to be done.

Cassius’s mood was as black as the clouds that seemed to ring the city in perpetuity. It did not matter when he dispelled one storm because there were always more waiting just on the horizon. But he had learned from the last time his city had been under siege; he was not so arrogant to make the same mistakes again. This time, he would be ready.

It was not enough to simply fend off the Stormlord’s attacks. He was too powerful. The Stormlings here were used to a fierce Rage season with near daily storms, but they had never known what it was like to be beset by multiple storms at once, from different directions that did not play by the rules of nature.