City of Spells (Into the Crooked Place #2) - Alexandra Christo Page 0,37

small group is better to go unnoticed.”

The last thing they needed was to march half their army into Tisvgen and alert the Kingpin to where they were and what they were doing.

“And the mountains?” Arjun asked. “How perilous are they?”

“The Uskhanyans call the mountain pass the Looming Valley,” Karam said. “So take from that what you will.”

Arjun sighed, as though he regretted agreeing to the mission already.

“We’ll need to amass the most powerful of us,” Asees said. “If it’s a small group, then we will need the best of us in case we are attacked. Come, let’s speak to the Kin.”

When Karam next let out a breath, it felt like she was pushing all of the frustrations she had been feeling over the last few weeks out of her. It would be good to finally do something of her own. Tavia had brought the buskers to them, Saxony had brought the Crafters, and now Karam could bring them something too.

Wesley was an asset that, once lost, had been a serious blow to their armies. The buskers were restless without him and Tavia wasn’t herself. Even Karam found herself missing Wesley’s insights. He had been the one to help shape her into a warrior, after all.

She owed him a lot, and a rescue from Ashwood’s clutches seemed like the perfect repayment.

“WAKE UP,” a voice said. “You should probably get going if you want to catch the morning train to Tisvgen.”

Karam opened her eyes to see Saxony hovering above her, the sun casting a halo through her wonderfully wild hair. Curls flowed in every direction, large ringlets to tight coils.

By the spirits, she was so beautiful.

“Good morning,” Karam said.

“Bad morning,” Saxony corrected. “You’re leaving me. For a man.”

Karam snorted and stretched out in a yawn among the bedsheets.

“Enjoy this bed while you can,” Saxony said, tapping the pillow. “You’ll be sleeping on the ground for most of your trip, I bet.”

Karam reached up and cupped her face. “The best thing I can do for this war is to bring Wesley back,” she said.”We have been over this.”

“For once I’m not actually thinking about the best thing for the war,” Saxony said. “I’m thinking about the best thing for me, and that’s having you by my side.”

She picked at the fabric of the bedsheets, biting the corner of her lip like she always did when she was frustrated.

“I know that you have to leave,” Saxony said. “But I don’t have to like it.”

“I would be insulted if you did,” Karam said.

“Just don’t try to be too much of a hero,” Saxony told her. “Make sure you don’t put yourselves in danger for Wesley. If he’s there, then Ashwood won’t be far behind, and you can’t engage with the Kingpin or Zekia. It’s too risky.”

Karam wasn’t about to argue with that.

She pulled Saxony toward her and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

“I promise,” she said. “Stop worrying so much.”

Saxony only sighed, and Karam felt that in her bones. The sun was rising, but part of her didn’t want to get out of this bed. This mission would be the longest time Karam had been away from Saxony since they had first met all those years ago, and she wasn’t quite looking forward to the distance.

Still, they could be back within a couple of weeks if they took the floating railway all the way to the Shores of the Dead and then walked through the Looming Valley to Creije. And Karam was fairly certain that it would be worth the missed moments and empty nights.

“Here,” Saxony said, pulling off her ring and placing it in Karam’s hand.

It was the one she had always worn, since Karam had first met her. A serpent that twisted from her fingers and around her palm, its eyes green as the forest that surrounded them.

“It’ll help you find your way home,” Saxony said. “Back to me.”

Though the two were strangely the same.

“No matter what happens, swear to me that you’ll come back okay.”

“There is not a person in the four realms who could stop me from returning to you,” Karam said. “I swear it.”

She pressed her head against Saxony’s. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she said. “Remember not to die.”

“Remember not to kill Tavia while I’m gone,” Karam said back.

Saxony laughed against her and Karam closed her eyes, making sure to memorize the sound. When they parted, she pushed a coil of hair from Saxony’s forehead.

“Remember that Tavia does not hate you,” Karam said. “Remember that you