“We should start with the Still Blue,” Sable said, “since that’s why we’re all here. It’ll help if you all know the challenges we have in reaching it.”

“Why should I even believe you know where it is?” Aria asked. “Why should any of us?”

Sable smiled, his pale eyes unblinking. She couldn’t tell if he looked pleased or furious at her interruption.

Hess seemed so soft, so tame at his side. In a trim black coat, with a shining Blood Lord chain at his neck, Sable looked electrified and in control.

“Then I’ll start with how I discovered it and let you decide whether you believe me or not. Three years ago, one of my trading ships, the Colossus, fell into the grip of a storm and was swept out to sea. The crew suffered a tragic loss of life. Only two young deckhands survived. Inexperienced sailors, coincidentally both Seers, they were adrift for weeks when they came to something quite unbelievable.

“We’ve all seen the funnels of Aether, but what these men described was very different. A wall of Aether. Or, I should say, a waterfall of Aether. A barrier that flowed from the sky, extending endlessly upward, and across the horizon as far as they could see. An astonishing sight, but no comparison to what lay beyond. On the other side, through small gaps in the Aether flows, these young men glimpsed clear skies. Still skies. No Aether.”

“Where are these men?” she asked.

“No longer available.” Sable opened his hands, the gesture matter-of-fact. “I had to secure the knowledge.”

He was ruthless. Admitting he’d killed these sailors so frankly and with no remorse. Aria looked around the table. No one seemed surprised.

“You believe this story without proof?” she asked Hess.

“It corroborates our theories.”

“What theories?” she demanded. Answers were coming at last. She wanted to know everything.

Sable nodded at Hess, who answered. “It was an early theory that linked the disruption of Earth’s magnetism with the arrival of the Aether. Magnetic north and south shifted, a clash that we’re still in the midst of. But it was theorized that pockets of magnetism would form . . . cohering the way water droplets do. We think the Still Blue is one of these pockets. A magnetic field that’s keeping the Aether at bay. What those two men saw was the boundary—Aether pushing as far up to this field as possible and pooling there to create a wall.”

“Why didn’t we know this before?” Aria demanded.

“Those who needed to know did,” Hess said. “And the knowledge led nowhere. We conducted extensive searches, but nothing was ever found. The idea was abandoned.”

It was so much to take in. Aria’s entire body felt numb. “And the plan to get through the barrier?”