Saxony stopped eating and turned to look up at Karam. “Do I need to stay sitting down for this?” she asked.

“I have been thinking and I have decided that it is time I went to look for Wesley,” Karam said.

“Wesley can wait.” Saxony waved her spoon, dismissing the idea.

Karam sighed. “He cannot. And it is important that I find him.”

“Why?”

“Creije will fall soon if we do nothing,” Karam said. “And now that we know that the Loj is spreading to the other cities, the time for delaying the inevitable is over. You know the Crafters and Tavia knows the buskers, but I know how to fight, and to do that properly, we need Wesley. He is the one with the ideas and he will help us in this battle. If Ashwood turns him, then I fear our fight will be lost.”

Saxony slammed her spoon suddenly onto the table, sending grains of rice across the floor. She stood and all signs of the smile she’d had just moments ago quickly dispersed.

“Damn it,” she said. “Why you? I get that Wesley is important, but I’m not trading your safety for his.”

“And yet you may need to,” her grandma said. “We must not let him be under Dante Ashwood’s thrall.”

Her voice was stern but gentle, and when she looked to her granddaughter, Saxony brought her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose, as though just the thought of having Wesley back gave her a headache.

“Since when do you like underbosses?” Saxony asked her. “Amja, I would have thought that you of all people wouldn’t want to trust Wesley Thornton Walcott.”

“There is a lot you don’t know about what I want or what is best,” her grandma said. “Which is why you summoned the other Lieges behind my back instead of heeding my warnings.”

Saxony thrust her hands into the air. “Are you ever going to stop being angry about that? I won’t apologize for trying to help our people.”

“I’m not asking you to apologize. I’m pointing out that you went against the wishes of someone you love to do what is necessary, because you felt it was right. Karam clearly feels the same.”

A smile found its way onto Karam’s face. If Saxony’s grandma thought she was making the right decision, then that must have meant that she’d made a good impression.

“If I do not go, Tavia will,” Karam said. “And she will get herself killed doing it. You know how reckless she has become. You have seen how much she has changed. It is as if she is trying to be Wesley because he cannot be here.”