City of Spells (Into the Crooked Place #2) - Alexandra Christo Page 0,115

her patented glare.

They all looked like they’d rather not have seen Tavia and Wesley kissing.

“So we’re alive,” Tavia said to them, in case they didn’t already know.

“Yeah,” Saxony said. “And some of us are enjoying it a little too much.”

Though she was smiling, and Tavia hadn’t thought about how much she missed Saxony smiling at her until then.

“Want to celebrate with me?” she asked.

“I’ve seen the way you celebrate,” Saxony said. “I’ll pass.”

But Tavia was already running toward her and she practically tackled Saxony into a hug. Her old friend arched her neck to raise her eyebrows at how Tavia was clinging to her like some kind of weird animal.

“Many Gods,” Saxony said. “Let me breathe, will you?”

Tavia loosened her grip, just enough for Saxony to take a breath, and then she squeezed her back into a tight hug once more.

“Okay, you win,” Saxony said, laughing. “I surrender.”

Tavia broke away, grinning, and Saxony ruffled her hair. Tavia turned to Karam and her warrior friend took two steps back.

“If you hug me, I will stab you,” she said.

Tavia weighed this up in her mind for a moment, but decided it was worth it. She swung her arms around Karam and though she heard her friend let out a long groan, her hands still wrapped around Tavia’s back and squeezed. Just once, brief and strong.

“You’re the world’s worst hugger,” Tavia whispered in her ear.

Karam pushed her away with a frown. “Now I stab you. That was the deal.”

“We should check on the army,” Wesley said. “See if Arjun and Schulze are still alive.”

“You care about Arjun?” Karam asked.

“No,” Wesley said, all too quickly. “I just want to make sure he protected the Doyen. I need Schulze alive for our deal on new magic rules going forward.”

“Can we also get me a healer?” Zekia asked. Then, her voice a little smaller as they all turned to look at her: “If anyone still wants me healed. My magic did most of it, but I feel a little odd. I could try myself if nobody wants to.”

Tavia felt a pang of sympathy for her would-be murderer.

Zekia was the youngest of them and she had sacrificed the most in a lot of ways, and now she looked as though she didn’t know if she had anything left.

With Ashwood gone, she seemed unsure whether the family she still had would take her back.

Wesley sighed and limped over to Zekia so that he could place a hand on her head. The trick dust Tavia had sprinkled on his leg was good at easing the pain temporarily and even stopping the bleeding, but it hadn’t healed him.

Just like his sister, Wesley would need true magic for that.

“You’re kind of an idiot, kid,” Wesley said to Zekia.

Tavia knew that was Wesley’s way of saying that he cared and there was no way he was going to accept anyone not jumping at the chance to help his sister.

Saxony took Zekia’s hand in hers. “Come on, little sister,” she said. “Let’s go home.”

Heading down from the bridge and onto the shores that separated Creije from the rest of the Uskhanyan cities, Tavia wasn’t sure what to expect.

But it sure wasn’t Arjun and Doyen Fenna Schulz, followed by dozens of their soldiers, climbing out of a small train, similar to the one the Kingpin had slithered out of.

“Aren’t you all supposed to be in Yejlath?” Wesley asked.

The Doyen’s back straightened. “Yes, well. We defeated Ashwood’s people there. With the help of your Crafters and buskers we . . . Well, it was a fair fight,” she said, as though she hated to admit it. “We came back with a few of our people to see what had become of Ashwood and if you had been able to uphold your end of the bargain.”

“Consider it upheld,” Wesley said.

“Great, now you will brag about it until the end of days,” Arjun said.

Tavia couldn’t hold back her smile at the sound of his stubborn voice.

“It’s good that you’re not dead,” she told him.

Arjun scoffed, in that haughty and unsmiling way that only he could make endearing. “Grankans do not give up easily,” he said. “We are warriors. We are champions and we—”

“You bored them all to death, didn’t you?” Wesley asked. “Be straight with us. That’s how you won, isn’t it?”

“Don’t be so mean,” Tavia said. “I’m sure that he bored some of them into surrender. Give the guy credit where credit’s due.”

Arjun’s eyes narrowed. “I cannot wait to go back to Wrenyal and never have