Theo caught Kellan at the inner relay, where the passage split toward the unfinished tunnel and the ordinary receiving rooms.
“You missed it,” he said.
Kellan stopped with a coil of guide rope over his shoulder. “I couldn’t reach the relay while the hunters held the approach.”
“Then that was a reason for someone to tell me.”
“There wasn’t—”
“Don’t say there wasn’t time. Tell me what happens now.”
Eli stood a little farther down the tunnel holding a lamp while the engineer checked the first temporary brace. He heard the brothers clearly. Kellan looked toward the waiting carts, then back at Theo. Another assurance was ready on his face, the kind that described an intention without giving the person waiting anything to act upon.
Theo shook his head before it became words. “No promise to come when everything’s done. What does done mean?”
