Despite myself, I laugh. Tessa’s easy optimism feels like a patch of sunshine, tempting me to curl up and let all my worries drift away.

For a moment, I wish it were possible—to let go of my hatred for Latham and move on with the rest of my life. That my need for revenge didn’t burn so brightly inside me that sometimes I worry it will consume me long before it hurts him. But I can’t. I need to find my mother’s bones, and Gran’s, too. And Latham has to pay for what he’s done. Besides, even if I could let go, Latham never will. He won’t rest until I’m dead.

So I won’t rest until he is.

But the last thing I need is for Bram to get tangled up in my plan. Better for Latham to think I’ve fallen for someone else in this reality, and that Bram has nothing to do with the slender red tattoo etched around my wrist. If I can’t save myself, I can at least save him.

“I think the fewer people who know what we’re up to the better,” I tell Tessa. “It’s going to be hard enough for two of us to get around Rasmus.”

“That’s where Bram can help.”

“Help with what?”

Both Tessa and I spin around to find Bram standing behind us.

I shake my head. “Nothing.”

At the same moment, Tessa says, “A little side trip in Leiden.”

Bram’s gaze skips between us. Then he leans so close, I can smell the soap he used to bathe this morning. “Is this about Latham?”

Tessa watches me closely, inclining her head slightly and widening her eyes for emphasis. Tell him.

“Yes,” I say, finally. There’s no point denying it. Bram was there when I found the spell book Latham left. And he did promise to help me before we left Midwood.

Tessa quietly fills him in on the details, and his total focus on her gives me license to study him without fear of being noticed. His hair is wind-tousled, and he has a bit of scruff along his jawline. Both only add to his appeal. He taps his thumb absently on the callous at the edge of his forefinger—a callous no doubt acquired from quickly snapping small bones in training. A crease appears between his brows as Tessa tells him we plan to find Avalina.

“Rasmus is going to be a problem,” Bram says quietly.

“Yes,” I say, glad he agrees with me. “That’s what I keep telling her.”

“It’s not like I haven’t thought this through,” Tessa says. “I have an idea.”

Bram gives her a skeptical look. “To trick a member of the Ivory Guard away from his post?”