We kept moving as we made it to the market and I used a few coins to buy some food for our trip. I wanted to just go back but I knew Baghra could only hold him back for so long as we kept going. We made our way out of town as I knew my way sort of to get back out. I had my locket and knew that it wasn't going to be easy.

How far can we go before I get caught? I thought

The worry was always there and it wasn't going away as we made our way through the forest. I wasn't a tracker, actually, none of us were but we managed to make our way through. Baghra had provided a map in Nadia's bag to help us sort things out.

"Amira, is this safe?" Marie asked

"You could have stayed back there with Sergei." I said

"I.." Marie blushed at my words from what I could see at the corner of my eye "No, Amira. You're my friend and this is important."

"If he gets the stag before I do. My life as his wife won't possibly be pleasant." I said

I still couldn't tell them everything but I knew one thing no matter how it ended Aleksander was my soulmate. I would be with him no matter what happened but I looked at my wrist where his initials were and they were gone for now. I knew that I needed to keep my distance for as long as I could.

After so long Nighttime hit and we had no choice but to make due as we sat eating some of our supplies and working out a plan. We all were cold and I put my hands together to use the sunlight to warm us a bit before we decided to sleep grouped together so that we were protected. I couldn't sleep at first with everything but we had our Keftas so if we were shot at we could endure it.

When we got up in the morning we started to walk, eating some more food as we made our way. I knew that we wouldn't get far but we could travel as we pulled our hoods over our heads. I knew his guards were looking for us, for me in probably every city. I knew that we needed more supplies for our appetites as summoners were not going to last with short supplies. We found a market and the three of us decided what we wanted so we had a few days' travel while heading to my parents home.

We have enough and now we just need to get out of this town. I thought

As we kept walking we knew that there was nothing better than keeping our heads down. People didn't think much of a group of three going through the town and we kept our hands and faces concealed. We were outside the city and we headed for the forest like last time as I saw guards heading out of the town following our tracks but we'd covered our tracks going into the forest as I saw they were Alexander's guards.

So you are looking for me. I thought

"The footprints are heading out of town but the hoof tracks are heading to the next city." One of them said

"I don't think they're here, let's keep going to see if they are in the next town." The other said

We made our way through the forest as I looked at our map again as we decided to head to Keramsin instead of the next town. It was going to be a three day trip but we were ready to face whatever we had to. We kept our pace going but we made camp and took our time to do things. Marie had hunted her amplifier so she knew how to hunt but we had to do without a camp so I had to use the light to cook our food.

Not really sure this is good for us but I know we can survive. I thought

We ate but I still felt bad for the animal though we had a few things more to worry about we never really said anything. Somehow I'd been able to learn how to read a map but something was just pulling me to Keramzin and I just needed to figure out what. We slept but we had to take turns on keeping watch so we weren't entirely rested when we got back up and doing this for two more days was a pain. I smelled food though as we soon were close.

"We're close." I said

As we came to an opening we saw it was a festival and I was happy to see something I'd never been to before. We walked for a bit and things seemed fine until a woman grabbed my arm. I worried for a second as I looked at her but she seemed to be looking at my locket.

"Amira?" The woman said

"Who are you?" I asked

"I'm your grandmother Catalina." The woman said as she looked at my company "come with me."

We followed her to the house where she gave us shelter but I wanted to go out to the celebration to see what was there. She had us drop our bags and remove our jackets revealing our 2nd army keftas. My grandmother seemed to look at the three of us, my friends in blue Keftas with their inferni and Tidemaker design and my black Kefta with my dual summoner design.

"You girls are from the 2nd army. So explain why you're out of there." Catalina said

"they're with me, I had to run to get ahead of my fiance who wants the stag." I said

"Dual Summoner Amira, also known as Sankta Amira to the people." Catalina said

My grandmother gave us different clothes and styled our hair differently so that we were not spotted out like the others. She made me wear gloves to conceal my engagement ring and even though I didn't want to, she removed my necklace with the darkling's symbol which she examined seeing the metal it was made of. She also removed my bracelet saying that if I didn't want to be noticed as the Dual Summoner I needed to lay low without my gifts that the gloves would conceal my engagement ring.

"I do not agree with my son's decision to promise you to a Darkling but I will respect your decision to say yes." Catalina said

"I am capable of smooth talking to him if I see him again." I said

I thought that was the end and we would be going out but she went a step further leaving for a minute before coming back as she told us that her friend was a tailor. Having met Genya I knew what a Tailor could do so we all sat and she slowly made us look different so we could blend in even more. It worked well on Marie and Nadia but for me not so much due to Genya had worked on my looks a little bit so she could only modify my hair color to blonde and make my eyes look a different color. Honestly when I looked in the mirror I wouldn't recognize myself either so I knew the guards wouldn't even look twice at me.

cool. I can have a little fun. I thought

Grandma Catalina took us out and we were able to enjoy the festivities trying everything that was available to everyone. The bread tasted amazing and I knew that we only ate peasant foods at the little palace but tasted way better than I could have ever imagined. Still I was enjoying myself and felt truly free like I could do anything without being Grisha and worried about a Fjerdan finding me.

Night soon came and the three of us were a little tipsy that we ended up crashing at my grandparents place for the night. The tailor turned our looks back before we went to bed so that we didn't freak out if we had a bit of a hangover. I felt safe like I was with people who truly understood me and knew what it was like.

By morning our heads hurt but we managed to remember what happened as we came down to meet with them. I realized I never met my grandfather with everything going on so when Grandma Catalina was sitting at a table with food already prepared we noticed the man sitting by her.

"Amira, I see you're awake." Catalina said

"Thanks for letting us stay the night but we should be getting back on our way to my parents." I said

"No, you should sit and eat. I've taken the time to ask my son to come here." My grandfather said

"Jorge, be nice. she's on the run." Catalina said

Marie and Nadia convinced me to enjoy this time with my grandparents and we all sat having breakfast with them. I started to really take notice of soulmate markings cause I noticed on my grandmother's wrist was JS and on my grandfather's wrist was CDR. I realized that things were not as easy as they looked but we somehow managed with everything. Though I panicked when I noticed the AM starting to faintly appear on my wrist.

He's close. I thought