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At least he was here At least, now that he ith her, comfort seemed possible

Kami forced herself to smile "Is Lillian awake?"

"I don’t know," Jared answered His voice sounded very loud in her ears, now that she knew there was no way for him to speak to her silently His one"

Kami opened her mouth to ask where, and then closed it She turned her head back toward Sorry-in-the-Vale, where Rob waited for the other Lynburns to see the error of their ways and come to hione "I’m sorry," she told him She wanted to reach out and console Jared, but she did not kno to any longer She couldn’t reach out with her mind, and he had always shied away from her touch She did not think she could bear for him to do that now

"It doesn’t matter," Jared said "Except that it et us"

"At least we knoho she is and what she looks like," Kami murmured "There are at least twenty-six other sorcerers"

"You counted them?" Jared’s mouth curled at one corner, and the ache in Kami’s chest turned almost sweet, the sudden force of hope a welcoht be people froht be newcomers I saw one of each If they’re nee can find out about thehbors are secretly sorcerers ant to kill us, and I’ it that way lifted her heart It all sounded slightly ation

"I’ure it out," Jared said

Had his voice always been this hard to read before, and Kaht he sounded detached, but perhaps it was that he was so removed from her She didn’t know Kami decided to take his words at face value and s and it was oddly hard to do

Jared crossed half the roolass-fronted cabinets full of books Even when he alking slowly and she kneas in pain, he was graceful She had never noticed that before either

"Jared, I want to talk," she began, and stopped helplessly She did not want to talk She wanted it not to be necessary to talk

"Letfirst," Jared said "Thank you"