ItCP46

## Chapter 46

**Chapter 46** of **Into the Crooked Place** follows **Saxony**.

## **Full Version**

SAXONY DID NOT OPEN her eyes, even after she woke.

She didn’t know how much time had passed since the Kingpin’s island turned to dust. It could have been hours. It could have been days.

She didn’t really care.

Zekia had tried to kill her.

Her *sister* had tried to kill her.

And not with blades and charms, but with their family’s magic. Zekia had tried to drive her to insanity, flooding Saxony’s head with visions of all the possible futures where she was the Kingpin’s puppet. Images of Saxony killing innocents. Images of her killing Karam.

Saxony thought she would die with that being the final thing she saw. Instead, the Many Gods granted her mercy in the form of Wesley Thornton Walcott.

Saxony wasn’t sure why he hadn’t let Zekia kill her, when just moments before she’d been ready to take him out. She didn’t understand why Wesley would risk his life to save hers.

It didn’t matter.

Wesley was gone and so was Zekia, and Saxony couldn’t promise that she’d repay the blood debt Wesley had earned. She wasn’t sure what she’d do when she saw him again. *If* she saw him again.

Saxony opened her eyes and found Karam sitting on a small wooden chair by her bedside. Her eyes were tired and bloodshot, as though she hadn’t blinked, let alone slept.

When she saw Saxony was awake, her smile was cutthroat.

“Well-rested?” she asked. “You slept for days.”

“Don’t nag,” Saxony said. “You never used to rise before noon.”

She pushed herself upright and her bones creaked with the movement.

“Is Tavia very mad?” she asked.

“Yes,” Karam said. “But she will get over it. Buskers have a quick recovery time.”

“She thinks I betrayed her,” Saxony said.

“You betrayed Wesley.”

“I think that might be the same thing.” Saxony took in a long, tired breath.

She had fences to mend and they’d be difficult. Tavia was stubborn and blinded when it came to Wesley. Any slight against him, no matter how much she tried to deny it, was a slight against her.

“At the very least, I have you by my side,” Saxony said. “I wasn’t sure you’d want to talk once you found out what I’d done.”

Karam’s hard edges disappeared and though Saxony usually found them quite nice, she was grateful. Seeing Karam look at her with love in her eyes instead of hate was the greatest relief in the realms.

“If you are talking about the messenger bats, then somebody sentimental might tell you to stop blaming yourself,” Karam said. “They might tell you that we have all wanted to kill Wesley at some point and that the Kingpin holds the blame for what happened to the Grankan Kin. You should not steal such a thing for yourself.”

“It’s a shame you’re not sentimental,” Saxony said. “That would’ve been real nice to hear.”

Karam’s grin strained. She looked at Saxony with a new seriousness. “I know what it is like to lose family,” she said. “If you wanted to talk about Zekia.”

“I haven’t lost her,” Saxony said. “When I get back to Rishiya, I’ll tell my amja about everything that happened and she’ll know just what to do. I can still save my sister.”

“How about you tell me what happened first?” Karam asked.

So she did. Saxony told Karam about Zekia standing beside the Kingpin like a doting daughter and how she wore his insignia so diligently. How Zekia went to the Kingpin to help Wesley become underboss. She explained how Zekia had plans for Wesley and how she must have used her Intuitcrafter magic to trick him into escaping with her.

Saxony told Karam how her sister had tried to kill her.

To her credit, Saxony waited until after she finished to cry.

She sobbed against Karam’s shoulder, and her beautiful warrior let her tears soak her collar in silence. When Saxony finished—when it seemed impossible for her to have any tears left—she gathered her breath and slumped against the headboard.

“What could have made Zekia turn like that?” Karam asked. “From what you have told me, she would not betray everything she believed for some pretty words.”

“It wasn’t just her,” Saxony said. “You saw the other Crafters. Some wanted the future the Kingpin spoke of. They were *loyal* to him.”

It made her sick to think it. The War of Ages was fought to grant Crafters freedom from exploitation. It killed countless people and destroyed cities. It didn’t seem real that any Crafter who knew the stories would willingly join with a Kingpin.

“It could have been the elixir,” Karam said. “Asees said that every time they gave it to her, it wore away a little bit of her spirit.”

“Zekia was the one who created the elixir,” Saxony said. “She wasn’t under its influence. My blood connection to her is how I was able to overcome it back in Creije.”

“Then the Kingpin brainwashed her,” Karam said, like there couldn’t have been another option. “Three years spent as his captive meant plenty of time to twist her mind.”

Saxony wanted to believe that, but she couldn’t quite convince herself. Karam hadn’t seen the look in her sister’s eyes. It was not that of a broken girl, but someone who did the breaking.

“It doesn’t matter what happened,” Saxony said. “I’ll get Zekia back. I won’t lose another member of my family, I can promise you that.”

“Whatever it takes,” Karam said. She linked her hand in Saxony’s, like a vow. “I am with you.”

And Saxony knew that she meant it. That Karam would always be there.

They’d go to the ends of the realms, if that was what it took. When Saxony next saw her sister, she’d have Karam by her side and they’d save Zekia together.

They would bring her home and cut down whoever dared stand in their way.