“Do you think she’s trying to rally them to her side?”

“They follow her amja,” Karam said simply.

“A woman too scared to lead properly.” Tavia pocketed her knife, a sign she was done with the lesson. “Saxony should just take the reins from her and become Liege already.”

Saxony gestured with her arms wide and one of the Crafters, a man a little shorter than she was, shook his head.

“I do not think it is that simple,” Karam said, watching their interaction. “They will not follow Saxony because she asks them to. I believe she has to show them that she is the right choice. She has to earn it.”

“And the way to do that is by standing around with her thumb up her ass?”

Karam didn’t bother turning to glare at Tavia.

She kept her eyes on Saxony, who looked up to the sky with a defeated exhale. Karam almost felt like she could hear the sigh from where she stood across the camp. And then, as though she could sense Karam’s focus, Saxony turned to look at her.

She gave her a small, secret smile and Karam’s heart pounded furiously.

Even now. Even still.

Everything Saxony did made her pulse quicken.

Probably because the moments they spent together were so fleeting and nearly constantly interrupted, leaving Karam to grasp at the smallest things for satisfaction and building a thirst for Saxony that could never quite be quenched.

When Saxony began to walk over to them, Tavia cleared her throat like she was preparing for an onslaught.

“Good conversation?” Tavia asked. “You looked like you were really getting through to them.”

“They’re just as scared as my amja is,” Saxony said. “And they won’t go against an acting Liege.”

“I guess that means I’m the only one pulling my weight in this war, then,” Tavia said.

This time, Karam did glare at her. Not because she disagreed that the steps the busker had taken were necessary, but because she was getting a little tired of having to play peacemaker and diplomat in this newly fractured group.

Karam was a warrior. A guard. A soldier. She was not a mediator and it seemed she spent too much time these days ignoring her strengths in favor of fixing other people’s weaknesses. Sometimes, she couldn’t help but feel that she’d be better used somewhere else in this war, doing something that really mattered.

She would have said as much if a delg bat hadn’t then swooped down from the sky, cutting through the trees. It circled overhead, around the three of them, squeaking mercilessly as it awaited the code word it needed to land.

“Who would be sending bats to us?” Karam asked. “Everyone we know is here, in this camp.”

Everyone except for Wesley, of course. Though none of them would draw attention to that if they could help it.