“Not just in Creije,” Wesley said. “Fenna Schulze is crossing over to Yejlath with half of our forces. They’re not going to let the government city fall.”

Ashwood flinched a little upon hearing the Doyen’s name, as though that, rather than all Wesley had done before to bring him down, was the true betrayal. The Kingpin recovered quickly, though, and replaced his slight frown with a wicked smile.

And then he clapped.

Not slow and tense, but loud and erratic, bubbling with laughter as he did so. His shoulders shook with glee.

“Bravo, Wesley,” Ashwood said, delighted. “You really are a wonder. So many great plans inside of that head. It’s a shame that you waste it all.”

“He has a lot of potential,” Zekia agreed.

Karam didn’t like the way she stared between Wesley and Tavia.

“Your armies will fall,” Karam said.

When she spoke, Zekia’s eyes shot to her, taking her attention from Tavia.

Ashwood shook his head. “Every soldier I have can be replaced,” he said. “Can you say the same?”

Karam couldn’t.

Each loss she had felt was a blow, and Asees’s death had nearly been the thing to kill her spirit. If she lost someone else—if she lost Tavia to that awful future she had seen—then Karam would never forgive herself for it.

“I don’t need an army to deal with you four,” Ashwood said. “You’re just children who must be disciplined.”

“Why don’t you quit talking and try to kill us?” Wesley asked. “And then I can take back my sister.”

Karam could see Zekia’s lips shaking and how her hand flinched to move forward, as though to reach out, maybe, and grab on to Wesley, like a child clinging to her favorite toy.

Or, Karam supposed, a little girl clinging to her big brother.

But it was too late for that now. It was too late for Zekia.

Ashwood inclined to face Wesley, his shadows shifting to reveal the point of a smile on his narrow face.

“She was never yours,” he said. “She was always mine.”

Zekia brought a hand to the back of her neck, like she was rubbing away old strings.

“Don’t forget, kid. You get to choose,” Wesley said to her. “I trust you.”

Zekia sighed.

At him. At herself.

She looked at him with those same graveyard eyes that Wesley had, took in a breath, and said—

“That’s dangerous.”

No sooner did the words float from her lips than a burst of lightning exploded from the sky and snapped at Tavia’s feet. Without thinking, Karam shoved her out of the way and the two of them toppled to the ground in a heap.

Ashwood clapped his hands again, applauding Tavia’s near death.