I know he’s saying all this to make me feel better. And I know my response should be to offer my own attempt at a smile, but I just can’t summon one. Instead, I lower my gaze and give a hint of a nod, showing my acceptance, my understanding … and my reluctant agreement.

Kael accepts my weak offering and gives me one final squeeze before releasing me. He barely glances at the silent Cami beside us—he hasn’t looked at her once during our confrontation, and even though I now know the reason why, I still think he’s going to have to find a way to move on if we’re all living down here together for the foreseeable future.

“I’m wiped,” Kael says, covering a yawn that I’m not sure is entirely genuine. “We have to be up in four hours for the meeting, so I suggest we all get some shut-eye while we can. Yeah?”

I nod again, my throat feeling too constricted to talk. But Kael takes my response and returns it with another smile, this one showing that he’s pleased I’ve backed down and am willing to listen to reason.

As Cami and I follow him along the tunnel while he escorts us to our room, I think over everything he said, acknowledging the validity of his argument. Even if we were to break into Lengard and stop Vanik and save the other Speakers, there are still so many unknown variables. What, exactly, does “stop Vanik” even mean? Because Kael was right in saying that there’s no way to hold him—no way to hold Manning, either.

There are too many holes in an already weak plan.

And yet, when Kael finally leaves us alone in our dark room and I hear the shuddering breath Cami releases, I know none of that matters.

“What do we do now?” she whispers.

My eyes haven’t yet adjusted to the limited light, so I can’t see her. But I can hear the heartbreak in her voice, I can sense the desolation emanating from her. I don’t light the space between us, instead giving her what little privacy I can offer.

“Kael’s right,” I admit aloud, and in response, I hear another broken breath from her. “We can’t free everyone from Lengard until we know how to deal with their reactions to learning the truth. And we can’t do anything about Vanik without having a way to contain him and Manning indefinitely.” I’m not willing to consider the death option Kael put forth—that isn’t on the table. For nearly three years I thought I was a murderer, and it destroyed something in me. Now that I—potentially—have a clear conscience, there’s no way I will consider going back to that dark place in my mind, no way I will consider deliberately killing someone.

“So we just sit here and twiddle our thumbs?” Cami asks croakily. “Help them identify this new Speaker group and act like every second we’re not doing anything to save our friends—my brother—isn’t time spent wasted?”