After a few feet of crawling they were able to stand upright, and Aurora answered honestly. “I did not have much of a childhood at all.”

They continued on in silence for a few steps, but Jinx was never one to leave things alone.

“And who is Nova to you?”

Aurora sighed. “A friend. The only one I ever had really.”

“A princess with one friend? That’s not how I ever pictured it.”

“What do you mean?”

“You do know most little girls dream of a life like yours, don’t you? Myself included, once upon a time.”

Aurora swallowed something between a laugh and a cry. “I suppose we have that in common then, because I dreamed of a life like yours. Don’t misunderstand me, I know how blessed I was to grow up in a place like this, with food to eat and a safe bed to lay my head, and a mother who would protect me at all costs. But … there were costs. My brother, the original heir, died when I was a child. And when we realized that my magic was not coming, at least in the way we expected, I had to isolate myself in every way. Each word I spoke had to be turned over and over again in my mind before it could leave my lips, lest it give me away. I was a nervous, emotional child, especially after my brother died, and I—I could not be trusted to keep my own secret. So instead, it was me that had to be kept. Away from the world, from other people, including my one and only friend.”

“So that’s why you left.”

Aurora met Jinx’s eyes in the flickering ember light and nodded. “Part of it. There was also my looming marriage to Cassius Locke. It was the only way my mother could see for me to keep the throne and have a Stormling present to protect the city. But … he was cold and cruel. A life tied to him would have been like a life bound to the tempests we fight.”

“To hear Kiran talk of the Lockes, they’re like monsters.”

Aurora shrugged. “My mother kept me too sheltered to know much, but I learned enough to know they had a cruel edge I wanted no part in. With my secret, I felt very much like I was bleeding in a pool of sharks. Now I know they were even worse than I feared.”

“So that’s when you decided to kidnap yourself?”

“Nova helped me escape, even though she thought the idea was mad. She did not hesitate, despite the fact that I’d pulled away from her years before. Truly, I do not deserve her.”

Jinx said, “You don’t have to feel guilty for wanting to be free. It’s hard to live under the weight of that kind of secret. I left my home for a fresh start too.”