He looked proud, but more than that Wesley looked relieved, as though he hadn’t expected their plan to go so smoothly. They weren’t used to winning when it came to Ashwood.

“Up ahead,” Karam said.

She pointed over the bridge, to the river that led out into the winds of the other Uskhanyan cities.

For a moment Saxony thought it was strange that Arjun and Schulze would approach with their half of the army from the river, rather than through the outskirts as they had planned. She wondered where they had commandeered the small train from and who was navigating, but when she saw the train fully, she knew that it wasn’t Arjun and her Kin or the Doyen inside.

The train was an obstinate black, with just a single carriage small enough to carry a handful of people, not an army. It glided through the waterways as though time was not pinned in place. It docked just under the bridge, stopping in the center of the river, and a small hatch opened up on the roof.

A figure drifted out, made of darkness.

And then following him, a small girl climbing the ladder to the top.

They stood on the roof of the train and looked up at Saxony and the others.

Dante Ashwood, who looked like death incarnate.

Zekia, who looked so small from the bridge’s slope.

“Hello, sister,” Zekia said.

She smiled up at Wesley.

“Hello, brother.”

Saxony was surprised at how happy her sister looked to see them both, and how happy she felt to see her sister again. They had spent too long apart, and now that Saxony had found one half of her family, she wanted the other half back more desperately than she could say.

“Zekia,” she said. “How are you here?”

“You froze Creije, but not the waters that bind the cities,” Ashwood answered in her place. “Time cannot touch those.”

“You can see your light show all the way from Yejlath,” Zekia said. “It’s very pretty. We were already on the train, so I missed most of it, but the flowers were nice.”

“Already on the train?” Saxony asked.

Ashwood laughed, like she was just some silly little child.

“Did you really think I would not know?”

He looked up at Wesley, whose hand was still precariously entwined in Tavia’s.

Saxony saw the moment Ashwood’s eyes met his.

“My boy always finds his way home.”

34

KARAM

“Shall we make this quick?” Ashwood asked. “Or slow?”

Karam stepped closer to Tavia, keeping her eye on Zekia.

“It will be quick,” Karam said. “Just like the quickness with which our armies are slaughtering yours.”

“Ah yes,” Ashwood said.

He did not look afraid, or surprised by what Karam had thought would be a revelation.

“I have to admit, using magic to freeze my forces in Creije was a smart move. I imagine your treacherous little army is making its way through the city now?”