"Yes, sir."

"And yet, it made your ankle heal properly, didn't it? Otherwise you wouldn't be able to walk now, right?"

"Yes, but"-Gus shifts his weight-"that's not the same as what you're saying."

"But it is, Gus. Sometimes pain is necessary to fix a problem that cannot otherwise be corrected. It's unpleasant and unfortunate, but then it's over and everything is set right."

"Do you hear yourself?" I shout. "I bet that's the kind of c.r.a.p Raiden spews out to his Stormers to try and justify the evil things he does."

Os stalks toward me. "Raiden cares only for his own selfish needs. I am thinking about the good of our people. Trying to bring together the shattered pieces of our world."

"And who put you in charge?"

"n.o.body." He steps back, clutching his blue guardian pendant. "This matter will be brought to the full force of the Gales, and they will decide. I'll simply be one vote. However, they're a very reasonable group of soldiers. I have no doubt they'll decide what will benefit everyone."

"Everyone except me and Audra.'"

"With time you'll see that isn't the case. You two were not meant to be."

"Can I say something?" Solana asks, her voice shaking as much as her legs as she steps forward. "I don't want to bond with someone who's being forced to do it. If Vane loved me"-she clears her throat-"or if there were a way to keep my family's heritage without us having to be together, well . . . that would be different. But if Vane really needs to be the king and I'm not who he wants to be with, then . . . I guess that's how it has to be."

Her eyes dart to mine, so sad and broken that a part of me can't help wishing I could love her.

But I just can't feel that way. Not when I know what real love feels like.

"Another young person thinking they have a choice in all this," Os says through a sigh. "Though I notice you're being awfully quiet, Audra. Feeling guilty now that you're seeing the consequences of your selfish actions?"

"Actually, I'm trying to figure out how you know about the power of pain. Aston gave me the impression it was one of Raiden's tricks, and not something the Gales knew anything about."

Os steps closer, pointing to the scar under his eye. "It's no secret that I know Raiden better than others. Back when we were friends, he used to share some of his theories with me-it was partly how I knew to distance myself from him. And when he started attacking us with shattered winds, I knew it meant he'd proven at least one of his theories correct."

"And now you want to use it-knowing it's one of his tricks?" Audra asks, standing up to face him. "Don't you realize how it will affect you?"

"Affect me?"

She steps closer. "Aston told me the power corrupts anyone who uses it. It becomes an addiction you can't cure, can't fight, can't satisfy except to break and destroy more-and after seeing how he behaved, I believe him."

"Sounds like someone with a guilty conscience trying to blame his wickedness on another."

"Or perhaps you're just tempted by a greater power than you understand."

"Watch yourself," Os says, his scar twisting with his scowl so it looks more like an X. "Given your recent crimes, you would do well to be as polite and obedient as possible."

"Why?" I ask, stepping between them. "You already threatened to break our bond-what's next? Lock us underground in your Maelstrom?"

The word makes Os freeze, and for a second his mouth just hangs there, begging for a fly to zip in.

I'm just as stunned when I realize the mess I've walked into.

I turn to Audra, feeling my heart sink when I see the horror in her eyes.

"Do you mean the Maelstrom in Death Valley?" she asks me.

"No," I say slowly, trying to choose my answer carefully. "Os built one in Desert Center."

I don't mention who he's keeping there, hoping she won't guess. But her whole body starts shaking.

"You built a Maelstrom?" she asks Os, leaning on me to stay standing.

"I had no choice!"

"Wait, when you say Maelstrom . . ." Gus starts, but his voice trails off when I nod. "Whoa."

"Yeah." I pull Audra closer, silently begging everyone to drop this. Now is not the time to give Audra anything else to worry about.

But Audra isn't letting it go.

"How could you?" she yells at Os. "How could you do that to the wind? To innocent people?"

"Who said anything about innocent?" he snaps. "The only person trapped in my Maelstrom is a violent murderer who used her gift to nearly escape-twice-from our regular prison."

Audra sucks in a breath, and I tighten my arms around her, wanting to hold her steady as she puts the pieces together.

She pulls away from me, stumbling to my window and staring blankly outside.

I should've found a way to tell her before this.

She should've heard it from me.

But even now, I have no idea how to say it.

"What prisoner is he talking about?" Solana asks when no one says anything.

I open my mouth, trying to force out the words. But I can see in Audra's eyes that she already knows.

She reaches out her hand, letting a small mockingbird land on her finger as she whispers, "My mother."

CHAPTER 32.AUDRA.

M.

y mother is in a Maelstrom.

I . . . don't know what to feel.

I stare at the tiny bird roosting on my finger-drawn to me because of the gift my mother and I share-and try not to imagine her gray-blue, withered body dangling from the ceiling on a chain, her limbs twisted and tangled, her face contorted with agony.

I knew her punishment would be severe. But I never imagined . . .

"How long does she have left?" I whisper, wondering if I really want to know the answer.

The tiny bird tenses as Vane comes up behind me and puts a hand on my shoulder. "She was only guessing when I talked to her. But she thought maybe a few weeks."

Weeks.

My hand shakes so hard the bird flies away, and I grasp the windowsill to steady my balance.

"Did she look . . ." I can't even ask. I don't want to picture it.

Vane spins me around and pulls me against him. "She looked weaker," he whispers. "Kind of pale and greasy. But not like someone who's . . ."

"Dying," I finish for him.

My mother is dying.

A slow, painful, horrifying death.

But she's a murderer, I remind myself.

A cold, cruel monster who killed Vane's parents and cost my father his life and let me blame myself for all of it.

And if I'd been weaker, she would've killed me.

But . . . does that mean she deserves to be eaten alive by the winds?

The winds.

"How could you do that?" I ask, turning to Os. "How could you ruin the wind?"

I can still hear the Easterly's mindless wailing after Aston shattered it in front of me-still remember the restless spinning of the devouring winds in the Maelstrom.

"I thought my heart might break along with them," Os whispers. "But my first priority is to protect our people, and your mother was uncontainable without the Maelstrom. I used the absolute bare minimum of winds that I could, stopping the second I had enough."

"And how many was that?" I ask.

Os's hand darts to his scar, his fingers tracing the thin red lines. "Twelve."

Twelve.

Twelve times he called the wind to his side.

Twelve times he let them sweep around him like loyal friends, then watched them writhe and scream before their songs fell silent.

Tears blur my vision and I don't want to smear them away. I don't want to look at the man who could do something that horrible twelve times.

But the tears fall on their own when Os tells me, "Believe me, their cries will haunt me until my dying day. And I keep hoping that there's a way to restore them. Perhaps with the power of four, or . . . just, somehow. I refuse to believe they'll forever be this way."

I can hear his grief in every crack in his voice.

He doesn't seem like the power-crazed monster Aston described, but . . .

Hadn't he been threatening to break our bond only a few minutes ago?

Aston sent me to Death Valley so I could see Raiden's Maelstrom-see the depths of his horrors and the level the Gales would have to sink to in order to defeat him.

Is that what's happening?

My knees can't seem to hold me any longer, but Vane catches me and carries me to the bed. He lays me down and I want to pull the blankets over my head and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist. I settle for pulling him next to me and leaning against his side, soaking up as much of his heat as I can.

"Are you okay?" he whispers.

I'm not sure how to answer.

I feel like I've just found out the sky is green, and can never see blue the same way again.

Os clears his throat. "We're wasting precious time. None of this is going to help us face down Raiden."

"You're right,"Vane agrees after a second. "But we will be talking about all of this with the Gales when we're done. No more secrets- for any of us."

"As you wish, Your Highness," Os says, his voice almost sounding sincere as he dips his head in a bow.

That's when I realize why my world has turned sideways.

Not because of my mother. I lost the real her years ago in the same storm that stole my father.

Because of Os.

I don't trust him.

I've dedicated my entire life to the service of the Gales-sacrificed food, water, even my childhood.

But I believe what Aston told me about ruining the winds coming at a cost.

No matter how careful Os was, he will still have to pay it.

"So . . . I guess we're ready to go," Vane's mom says from the doorway, startling me back to the present.

She stands next to Vane's dad, suitcases piled at their feet along with a thick stack of books.

Vane smiles sadly. "I don't think you'll need the family photo alb.u.ms."

"We thought it might be a good idea this time to bring the things we can't replace," she says quietly, and from the way she's staring at Vane I can tell she wants to shove him in her bag and take him with her.

Instead she runs over and strangles Vane with a hug until he reminds her that he needs to breathe and she finally lets him go.

I'm completely caught off guard when she throws her arms around me.

"Take care of yourself, too," she whispers.