Saxony felt somewhat out of place, hidden among the swells of the city as a soldier readying for war. She longed for the scent of the forest and the echo of its trees, but they couldn’t go back there. Not now that it had been compromised.

“This place is so different from the forest,” Amja said, like she had read Saxony’s mind. “I miss the whispers of the trees already.”

“It doesn’t matter what any of us miss,” Saxony said. “The forest is gone.”

She hadn’t meant to sound so harsh, but Saxony couldn’t seem to keep the edge out of her voice when she spoke to her amja.

“It’s my fault,” Tavia said. “If I hadn’t let Nolan escape, none of this would have happened.”

“I thought you were supposed to apologize when you did kill someone, not when you didn’t,” Wesley said.

“Funny,” Tavia said, but she was looking at Saxony.

Her eyes were almost pleading with Saxony’s for forgiveness, as if there was anything to forgive. Tavia wasn’t to blame for the Uncharted Forest. It wasn’t her job to take responsibility for everything that went wrong in the world.

“It might not have been him,” Saxony said.

She didn’t want to think it, but how could she not? Dante Ashwood knew about the Uncharted Forest and with Zekia by his side, she’d be a fool not to consider that her sister might have told him. Though Tavia seemed sure it was Nolan, Saxony couldn’t quell the doubts in her mind. Her Kin had been hiding there for decades without suspicion and yet their attackers knew the weakest parts of their defenses.

Zekia had betrayed her so many times now. Saxony couldn’t trust that she hadn’t done it again.

It made her wonder whether her sister was truly lost.

“It wasn’t Zekia,” Wesley said.

“How could you possibly know that?” Saxony asked.

“Because she told me.”

“She told you,” Saxony repeated.

Wesley looked reluctant to say more, as if admitting any kind of connection between him and Zekia would be acknowledging the connection that he and Saxony now shared.

“Think of it as using her own tricks against her,” he said. “Mind magic is a two-way street and once a lock’s been broken, it’s not hard to walk through the door.”

If Wesley was suggesting what Saxony thought he was, then that seemed dangerous. He’d only known about his powers for a few weeks, whereas Zekia had been learning to craft since she was a child. If Wesley wanted to try and invade her mind from here, it would take work, and Saxony worried about just how much.