That is irrational. He’s no more to blame for what happened in the lab than I am.

“Don’t say anything,” Kael says when I open my mouth to tell him as much. His voice is husky. “I’ll get over it in time. But seeing her this week, speaking with her, it’s just brought it all up again. Opened a fresh wound. Made me remember things I’d forgotten. People I’d … started to forget.”

The sadness in his eyes has me reaching for him, clasping his hand between my own. His fingers are cold, but his grip tightens on mine, almost desperately. I instinctively know what he isn’t saying—who he’s talking about. I thought my parents were dead, that I’d killed them, that I’d never see them again. I had to deal with that every day for years. Now there’s a possibility that I was wrong, that they’re out there somewhere and I just have to find them. But Kael’s dad is dead and his mum …

I realize I know nothing about her, so I carefully ask, “Is your mother …?”

His fingers twitch in my hand. “She passed away. Nearly three years ago.”

My voice is barely a whisper when I ask, “How?”

“A rare, untreatable disease. She was in a lot of pain. But it was … it was … quick.”

The way he says it makes me wonder if that was a curse or a blessing. I have no recollection of her, even if he once claimed that she and my own mother were best friends.

“I’m sorry, Kael.”

I wish I knew what else to say. Not so long ago, I would have been able to share that I understood how he feels, with both my parents gone. But now, that might not be true. I’m in limbo, uncertain of their fate, and unable to offer any comfort for what he has gone through. For what he’s still going through.

The yacht begins to slow as we pass under the Harbour Bridge, drawing the two of us back into the present, reminding us of what we’re about to face.

Shaking off his rekindled grief, Kael straightens, and I release my hold on his hand. As I banish my floating orb, he pulls out his phone, his brow furrowing with concentration as he sends a quick message.

“We’d better get inside before Arryn comes looking for us,” he says, waving the phone in the air. The brightness of the screen in the darkness blinds me, but I still catch Kael rolling his eyes as he adds, “She wants to brief us all before we dock.”

I find it interesting that Arryn texted him to tell him this, when she could have just walked over to find us, or even called out loud enough for us to hear. Instead, she didn’t interrupt us. Maybe she’s not as contemptuous as she seems.

I follow Kael back into the cabin and through to the navigation deck, where Cami, Keeda, and the captain have been joined by Arryn and Pandora. Unless there are other Remnants elsewhere on the yacht, it’s only the six of us tasked with retrieving the breakout. I wonder if that’s a standard number or if, normally, without Cami and me, and even Keeda when she was at Lengard, they’d only send three. Then I wonder how often they do this, and how they decide who goes. Perhaps it depends on what Liana sees.