City of Spells (Into the Crooked Place #2) - Alexandra Christo Page 0,23
Saxony’s. She only squeezed tighter, until Saxony could feel the woman’s Spiritcrafter magic tingling against her fingertips.
The power of a Liege, feeding Saxony’s magic with her own and imbuing the spell with the sacred power it needed.
Any person could use a delg bat, any Crafter could contact a blood relative with the help of a crystal ball, but only a Liege, someone trusted to lead the ancient power of their Kin, could call another Liege.
And Asees was calling them all.
Help us fight for peace.
The Kins scattered across the realm of Uskhanya that Saxony called home.
The Kins revered in Asees’s home realm of Wrenyal.
Those hiding in Volo, or blending in on the streets of Naustrio.
Every Liege in the four realms, however many or few there were, would hear this call.
Help us destroy the man who would destroy us.
The air hummed and crackled and burned.
Saxony pushed harder.
She felt Asees push harder.
And then, like a wave bursting from the ocean, Saxony heard the voices of her people echoing back to her.
Crafters, across the realms.
Lieges.
Saxony squeezed her eyes shut tighter and their shouts grew louder and louder until finally, after her head began to pound with them, they escaped her mind and traveled into the air. When Saxony opened her eyes, ghostly figments of the Crafter Lieges from the four realms stood in front of her.
They were seventeen altogether.
Saxony swallowed.
Nearly all of them had answered.
This was it.
The time for waiting was over. They wouldn’t stand around in fear that the Kingpin might attack and disrupt their sanctuary. They would strike him first. They would be the ones to wage war and Dante Ashwood would cower before them.
Asees smiled and let go of Saxony’s hand, nodding in a bow to their new guests. Her dark hair swayed against her stave-covered arms. They were not silver, like Saxony’s and her Kin’s, but a deep gold that made Asees look almost royal. She felt royal. She was a Liege, as Zekia was once destined to be, as Amja was now acting, as the summoned Crafters in front of her were.
As Saxony could only ever hope to be.
“Thank you for answering our call,” Asees said. “Are we all happy to speak in the Uskhanyan tongue?”
“We all have translation charms, Asees,” a man, whose accent she thought might be Volen, said. “Continue as you plan. Like everyone, I am eager to hear what is to be said.”
“There is much to discuss, Lionus,” Asees replied. “But though I had the power to bring you here, the idea was not mine. You should speak to the woman whose plan I believe we should follow. Her wisdom has taught me many things.”
Asees turned to Saxony, and for a moment Saxony almost froze under the pressure.
Asees nudged her firmly forward.
“Hello, my name is Saxony Akintola of the Rishiyat Kin.”
Her voice was too small. Too fumbling. She cleared her throat and tried again.
“We called you here to talk about Dante Ashwood, the Kingpin of Uskhanya,” Saxony said.
Louder, firmer, like a leader would.
There was a murmur among the Lieges. They had all heard his name, whether they were from this realm or not. Ashwood had been a driving force in the War of Ages and so there was not a Crafter alive today who didn’t know the shadow man.
“He has a new magic,” Saxony said. “He calls it the Loj elixir. It’s something he has been trying to perfect for many years, which caused the magic sickness across our realm. Now it’s finally perfected and he’s using it to build an army.”
“We’ve heard whispers,” a Liege said—a woman, whose accent was familiar. “I am Theodora of the Kythnu Kin. My people have heard of Creije’s battle and since their Liege hasn’t joined us today, I’m assuming that means their Kin has fallen? Do you have word of this?”
“Fallen?” the Volen man—Lionus—asked. “I cannot believe that’s true. What is this magic that could take a whole Kin? How did Dante Ashwood create it?”
Saxony wondered if she should lie to them about Zekia, because telling a room full of powerful Crafters that her sister had helped to invent a magic that had started a new war wouldn’t make the best impression.
Even so, she didn’t want to begin this alliance with lies.
She didn’t want to hide things from them, when now more than ever they needed to come together as a team.
They had to trust her.
“It’s mind control,” Saxony said. “And my sister, who was taken by Ashwood, helped him to create it.”