“Ward,” I say, and he tenses behind me, as if fearing I’m about to reveal all our cards—our only card—before we’re ready. But that’s not my intention as I continue, looking at Kael, “When you and I were with him in the holding cell, when we were trying to free him from”—I start to say Manning, then Vanik, but it was Jeremiah all along—“the mind-control …”

I trail off, waiting for him to follow what I’m asking, while I’m scrambling to focus on my brother, on Cami and Arryn.

“We always planned on Ward ending up at the catacombs so we could ultimately get you here,” Kael shares, halting his approach to Cami to turn to me again. “He’s your greatest weakness, Lyss. He was always going to be the one you followed, the one you tried to save.” A low chuckle. “You won’t even admit the reason to yourself. It made kissing you all the more entertaining, just to see your reaction afterward. It’s so obvious to everyone how hung up on him you are—obvious to everyone but you.”

If we make it out of here in one piece, I’m going to be mortified when I think back on this moment. I may even ask Riley to modify my memory again. Or Ward’s. But I can’t show any reaction, not even when the arms around me give an involuntary twitch. I don’t read into Ward’s response, I just focus on fighting the blush that’s rising to my cheeks.

“So we knew he’d end up at the catacombs, one way or another,” Kael continues. “That’s why my dad gave him clear orders for when that time came—inject you with the serum, and tell you just enough to keep you desperate for more answers.” He pauses, then adds, “The problem we faced was how to keep you from freeing him once he was there. How to keep you from realizing that I wasn’t destroying his ability, but yours.”

Seems you’ve dodged a bullet, Roscave.

I hear Ward’s voice in my head and realize that Kael never tried to help me free Ward.

Instead, he stopped me.

“After that, everything fell into place,” Kael says. He tilts his head to the side and admits, “Granted, you weren’t supposed to get innovative and go to Smith to regain your memories. That almost ruined everything before we were ready. But it was simple enough for me to redirect his power once I realized what memory we were about to watch, throwing us all into my own mind instead, before going back to yours. By then, he’d lost enough control that we couldn’t get back to the original scene, and the danger was averted.”