Almond came back the next afternoon.
He walked out of the north with Big D, Rudra, Natalia and Silvester. They were dusty and limping, and Silvester kept stopping to sit down on rocks. The whole camp came out to meet them.
Almond did not see any of it. He was looking for one face.
Lily was standing at the edge of the fresh graves. She did not run to him. She waited until he reached her, and then she put her arms around his neck and held on.
"Kael told you?" he said into her hair.
"Kael told me."
"Sixty thousand beds."
"I heard." She pulled back and looked at him. "You're a D."
"So are you," Almond said. He had seen it the moment he came close, the faint lines still hanging at her shoulder. "Kael told me that too. On the road. He said a Smother came."
Lily nodded.
"He said you used Threshold raw."
"I let go of Shelter first," Lily said. "Kayla checked. Every night. Both of us are fine."
