City of Spells (Into the Crooked Place #2) - Alexandra Christo Page 0,67

You stole that.”

“Zekia wouldn’t—”

“You shouldn’t even say her name,” Saxony snapped at her amja, angrier than she had ever been in her life.

Amja blinked back the surprise of it.

“Because of you, Zekia grew up with the weight of a Kin on her shoulders,” Saxony said. “You destroyed her future.”

“We couldn’t tell anyone the truth about Malik,” Amja said. “We didn’t know if the Kin would accept our choice.”

“So you lied and let them thrust his destiny onto my little sister? Because of what you did, she was driven into Ashwood’s arms, just like Wesley.”

As soon as Saxony spoke the words, something in her mind clicked.

That was the reason that Zekia had been able to stumble into Wesley’s mind and forge a connection in the first place. Not just because they shared the same specialty, but because they shared the same blood. And that was why Zekia and Ashwood hadn’t been able to use the Loj elixir on Wesley while they held him captive.

A Crafter couldn’t be swayed by their own magic.

My magic is your magic, my blood is your blood.

Zekia had told Saxony once that the only reason she was able to overcome the Loj was because they were sisters. Saxony shared Zekia’s blood and so that made her immune to her sister’s elixir.

Wesley was the same.

His sister, their sister, had no magical hold over him.

“You shouldn’t have kept this from me,” Saxony said. “I spent years by Wesley’s side. I could have done something to prevent all the death Ashwood brought. If Malik, Zekia, and I were together, we could have stopped him as a team.”

Amja went to grab her hand again, but Saxony stepped back, disgusted.

“You told me to kill him,” she said.

She wanted to be sick.

“Back in Granka when we were first trying to recruit Asees, you told me that the underboss of Creije had to die, no matter what.”

“Saxony—”

“You should feel ashamed of yourself, standing in place as Liege of this Kin,” Saxony said. “You’re not worthy of it.”

Her amja hadn’t just lied, but she’d cursed their entire Kin with dark magic.

That was the reason no children had been born to them since. It wasn’t because they were waiting for their rightful Liege. It was because they had been damned by the magic and lies of Saxony’s family.

“Everything that’s happened is your fault,” Saxony said.

She turned from them, but Amja stepped quickly in front of her, face desperate and frown deep enough to look like a wound.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“I’m going to speak to my brother.”

Amja grabbed hold of Saxony’s shoulders. “You can’t tell him yet,” she said. “He isn’t ready.”

“I’m not going to turn my back on him like you did and I’m not going to lie to my family like you did.”

“Please, listen to me,” Amja begged.

“I’m done listening to the two of you.”

Saxony snatched herself from Amja’s grasp and ran from the room. She didn’t care what they thought or what two Intuitcrafters thought. The future wasn’t set and she had already wasted years that could have been spent by Malik’s side.

Saxony might have lost her mother, but she could still save her sister and her brother.

She could still have her family.

22

Wesley

“YOU SAID YOU WANTED to talk, so talk,” he told Saxony. “I’ve got to help Tavia and the buskers move the magic so we can get out of this place before Ashwood sends another ambush.”

Saxony only stared at him, her eyes running up and down the length of Wesley’s arms, taking in his staves and his scars and the way they blended into his tattoo of Creije almost too perfectly. Like those parts of him had always been intertwined. A city of wonder and a boy of magic.

“You might want to sit down,” Saxony said.

“I’m fine standing.”

Wesley didn’t like the way she looked at him.

He didn’t trust how worried her eyes were.

Saxony had never looked worried for him before.

“Are you going to try to kill me again?” Wesley asked. “Because I thought we’d moved past that stage of our relationship, and fighting for my life is going to make me super late for packing.”

Saxony crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at him. “You make everything so difficult,” she said. “Before, too, but especially now.”

Wesley didn’t know what had changed, but he knew he had a habit of pissing people off—especially Saxony—and so he just shrugged.

“I promised myself once that I’d do whatever it took to save the people I love,” Saxony said. “I think now that means going