His tone, honest and vulnerable, brings me back to when we were kids. When I glance back at him, his eyes are pleading. I feel bad for him. Worse, I feel guilty, as if his pain is somehow my fault. Asher always had this power over me. Like that day when the Loyalists spotted his scar from across Alkali Lake. He was the idiot who took his rusted shirt off, yet for months after—years, even—I felt like it was my fault. If only I’d made him put it back on sooner, if only I’d never let him take it off, the pack wouldn’t have split. Those men never would have come. Everyone would have lived.

“Asher was careless with the map, not you,” Ma told me the night we learned of the massacre. “Is it awful? Yes. Do we wish it didn’t happen? Of course. But do not carry the mistakes of others as though they are your own. Life is hard enough already.”

He’s still staring at me now, as though I can somehow relieve whatever pain he bears. As if I can change the past.

“I know,” I say finally. “And if you get us to Powder Town, maybe I’ll forgive you completely. But right now, every minute I waste is a minute closer to one of my pack dying. So no more talk till we’re at the iron mines.”

He nods, and we carry on in silence.

The tunnel gets smaller, but not by much. Shallow ruts on the ground show where modest cargo wagons have been pushed through this space over and over, carrying iron from the mines to the Barrel. For about a click I have to walk with my head ducked down, but otherwise I can move upright.

When my legs are aching and the lack of sleep from the night in the corpse wagon is catching up with me, Asher’s hand closes over my wrist. He puts a finger to his lips, nods ahead.

Squinting, I can see it—a faint glow.

He blows out the candle, and the tunnel is swallowed in darkness. After a few breaths, our eyes have adjusted and we creep forward ever so slowly. By the time we reach the tunnel exit, I’m squinting fiercely even though the sky has bruised into a deep shade of purple. It’s dusk, and I’m glad for it. Were it midday, my eyes would be burning from the brightness.