Saxony looked at Wesley, and he stiffened like he could sense her gaze and thought maybe it was judgment.

It wasn’t. If anything, she was proud.

Wesley had changed from an underboss into a real leader.

“We’re a team now,” Saxony said, backing him up. “We need to stop thinking of ourselves as Crafters and buskers and start seeing ourselves as one force.”

“I’ll start braiding the friendship bracelets,” Wesley said.

“Good,” Saxony told him. “I like purple.”

Wesley smirked in place of laughing.

This was the feeling she had been craving: the feeling of being a team again. Wesley had a way of uniting people, but it wasn’t just that. Saxony had begun this mission to avenge her people and unite her family. With Wesley by her side, leading one army while she led another, Saxony was doing just that.

All that was missing was Karam. Saxony pushed down the pain that threatened to spill from her and out into the world. She tried to forget, for just a second, about the danger Karam and the others could be in, but it was getting harder every day.

“Does this make me the new future Kingpin?” Wesley asked. “Because the last time I went for that gig, I got kidnapped and tortured.”

“You’re not a Kingpin,” Saxony said. “You’re a true leader and you have a reputation they can trust.”

“My reputation is built on the fact that people can’t trust me.”

“I trust you,” Saxony told him.

Even Wesley, master of lies, couldn’t hide the surprise from his face at the thought of that.

Thing was, it was never truly Wesley that Saxony didn’t trust, but the thing that lived inside of him. The demon she knew clawed at his mind for control. There were two sides to Wesley Thornton Walcott, and Saxony’s problem was that she never knew which side she was going to get. The uncertainty was what had always scared her, but times changed. Wesley wasn’t just an underboss, he was her brother, and he had earned her trust so many times over.

“Did we miss the meeting?” someone called from behind her.

Saxony’s lips parted at the familiar lilt of those words. She almost didn’t want to turn around, in case she was wrong and her mind was playing tricks on her, but she couldn’t help herself.

Please, Saxony thought. Many Gods, let it be true.

And when she finally turned, Saxony saw exactly what she’d wished for: Karam stood with Arjun by her side, alive.

“It was a little hard to find, but I do like the new house,” Karam said.

“Karam!”

Saxony’s heart almost broke free from her chest as she ran toward Karam. She didn’t want to waste a second and she didn’t care who was watching as she dove into her warrior’s arms.

All that mattered was Karam.