Her grandma nodded. “He is necessary,” she said. “And it’s time he came back to where he belongs.”

“Well, Karam can still punch him if he gets mouthy,” Saxony said. “Don’t kill him, but make sure to kick his ass if he doesn’t at least say thank you.”

Karam had no doubt that once Wesley was back, he and Saxony would settle into the same routine of rolling their eyes at anything the other said, while secretly valuing each other’s stance on things. They had a lot of forgiving to do, but Wesley had saved Saxony’s life and sacrificed himself so she could escape, and that should have earned him absolution.

WHEN THE sun rose the next morning, Karam, Arjun, and Asees had already been training for hours. Karam was glad to finally have a fighting session that didn’t end with Tavia trying to teach her all kinds of shifty magic tricks, with a busker’s gleam in her eyes as Karam failed to master any one of them.

This was familiar.

This she knew.

She would miss it when she left.

“Time for a break,” Asees said in Wrenyi. “I may faint if we continue.”

Karam nodded in agreement, wiping the sweat from her brow. She swallowed a gulp of breath that made her chest sting.

“Agreed,” she said. “There’s only so many times I can beat Arjun to a pulp before it gets boring.”

Arjun pointed at her with his sword. “Don’t get cocky. I’m only letting you win so you feel good about yourself. We can’t have your bruised ego costing us this war.”

“You’re bleeding,” Karam said.

“You threw a rock at my face!” Arjun protested.

Karam shrugged. “Expect the unexpected.”

She slumped onto the log beside Asees.

“You’re getting better,” she said to the Liege. “Fighting without magic.”

“I’m not sure why I need to know how to do that,” Asees said.

“You can’t rely on one thing to win a battle,” Karam said. “Who knows what kind of spells Zekia and Ashwood have created? Perhaps there’s one to strip you of your powers or disorient you. Or maybe you just won’t have enough time to conjure your gifts.”

“You’ve really thought a lot about people trying to kill me,” Asees said, with an amused smile.

“It’s mostly about people trying to kill Arjun,” Karam said.

He laughed and squeezed himself into the small space between Karam and Asees. “We would’ve made a great team back in Wrenyal. The three of us against the world.”

“You act like we can’t still do that.” Asees rested her head on his shoulder. “When we go back home, we definitely need to kidnap Karam and take her with us.”

“Good luck with that,” Karam said. “The way you two punch, I won’t even need to try.”