“If anyone can take care of herself, then it’s Karam,” Tavia said. “Besides, she’s got a whole gang of Crafters at her back. She’ll probably realize Wesley is nowhere to be found, come back here looking all glum at having failed her mission, then see his smirking face and threaten to punch someone.”

“You don’t know that,” Saxony said.

“You don’t know anything either,” Tavia told her. “So let’s give it a few more days before we go panicking. Okay?”

Saxony nodded, but even Wesley could tell that all she wanted to do was run from the forest and to wherever Karam had ventured off to.

To save him.

She’d left this place to go look for him, which shouldn’t have surprised Wesley so much, but it did. Arjun, too, who Wesley had made a point of irritating at every moment he could. And Asees? A Liege who once didn’t want to give him a speck of power, now agreed that he was an ally worth saving?

Just what kind of topsy-turvy world had Wesley walked into?

“You saved my life on Ashwood’s isle,” Saxony said. “I never thanked you for that.”

A moment of silence passed before Wesley realized that she still wouldn’t.

“You’re welcome,” he said anyway.

“How was Zekia?” Saxony asked. “What happened?”

“You mean aside from the torture?”

Tavia winced and Wesley inwardly cursed himself for revealing that little tidbit in front of her. He didn’t want her to think of him as powerless, but he didn’t quite know how to hide it.

“She’s fine,” Wesley said. “I tried to get through to her, but Ashwood has his claws in deep. I don’t know if she can see reason. I wanted—”

He broke off.

I wanted to take her with me, he thought. I wanted to save her.

“She’s a little lost right now,” he said.

“I’m not giving up on my sister,” Saxony said.

“I didn’t ask you to.”

Tavia let out an audible sigh, stepping in front of Wesley like some kind of a shield. “Many Gods,” she said. “He’s been back five minutes.”

Saxony’s jaw tensed and Wesley looked between them curiously. Something had fractured their bond, and that only made this forest seem more peculiar.

“How about we stop the interview and try asking if he’s okay?” Tavia said. “Or if he wants a healer? Or a damn nap? I mean, look at him!”

Wesley wished that they wouldn’t.

“I’m fine,” he said. “Apparently, I’m a badass Crafter, so I can heal myself. And a nap sounds boring.”

The lie was so easy that he hadn’t even considered telling the truth.

“How about a new suit and some food though?” Wesley asked. “And what I wouldn’t give for a pint of Cloverye.”

Tavia laughed. “Sure. I happen to know a great cook.”