Oran stood with his back to the window of her office. Outside, storm clouds rolled slowly across the western sky, giving the room a liminal quality.

“Remi,” Oran said, disapproving.

“Yes, Remi.” Caledonia let defiance slip into her tone.

They’d had this conversation twice already. Each time, Oran had urged her to forget Remi’s words. Even if they were true and Donnally had killed the other Fivesons, Oran argued there was nothing new that Caledonia could learn from Remi. Better to verify the information on her own and leave Remi to her recovery.

Caledonia was in the process of doing exactly that. She’d sent Gloriana and her crew out days ago to confirm the deaths of Fivesons Venn and Tassos, but now that Remi was recovered, it was harder to ignore that she was a potential source of information.

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t see her. Only to be cautious. Don’t let her inside your head.” Oran spoke carefully, watching her as she twisted her hair into a thick braid. “I’m afraid she’s already there.”

“That’s why I have to go,” she said. “To get her out of my head.”

Oran was quiet for a moment before he spoke again. “At least take the mountain with you.”

As Caledonia exited the fortress, the sky above rumbled and the western distance flashed with lightning, brilliant blue against the black coil of a storm. Undeterred, Caledonia struck out for town, Sledge and Pine following close behind. Though Sledge followed like a dark cloud, Pine was the one who matched his stride to hers.

“There’s only one way to get good info from a Bullet,” Pine said, the opening bars to what had become a very familiar song. “Pain.”

“We aren’t torturing her,” Sledge growled.

The dawn air should have chilled her, but adrenaline fueled her steps and even though her breath came in small white puffs, she broke into a light sweat.

“Pine,” Caledonia warned.

“What choice do we have?” Pine protested. “You can’t unmake a Bullet in two weeks. The only language she understands is pain and pleasure.”

“We aren’t torturing her,” Sledge repeated, voice growing more dangerous.

“You don’t have to.” Pine tossed the answer out casually. Even now, it was easy to forget how swiftly Pine shifted between the Blade he was and the Bullet he’d been. Caledonia was suddenly reminded of the night he’d killed that Bullet in Slipmark, how he’d moved to intercept before she’d fully registered the threat.

Pine knew Bullets better than Caledonia could, but that didn’t exactly recommend his methods.

“Withdrawal is torture enough. This is just a discussion,” Caledonia said, putting the matter to bed as they journeyed through the heart of Cloudbreak.