City of Spells (Into the Crooked Place #2) - Alexandra Christo Page 0,83
conquering the Halls of Government is a surefire way to cement his hold on the realm,” Saxony said. “So Schulze will want to make that a priority before anything else.”
“Ashwood will expect us to come at him in Yejlath,” Wesley said.
Saxony turned to him. “You don’t know that,” she said. “You just want to be right all the time.”
Wesley smirked. “Does that mean you’re admitting that you’re wrong all the time?”
Saxony threw her hands in the air and Tavia was half-surprised when fire didn’t erupt from them and head straight for Wesley’s face. She was showing a new restraint now that she knew Wesley was her blood. Saxony cared about him—she couldn’t help it—and Tavia understood that. Wesley had a way of making you feel for him, against all odds, in the face of all the bad he might have done. There was just something magnetic about him that made you want to keep him by your side.
Tavia had been longing for some alone time with him ever since he’d gotten back, so they could talk about the moment in the tree house when he had wiped the rain from her lips and looked at her like she was the only person he saw.
But war had a funny habit of getting in the way.
“Whatever we do, we need to have a way to take down the Loj-crazed army,” Tavia said.
“Zekia is still our best bet,” Wesley said.
Zekia. Wesley wouldn’t have had such blind faith in her if he knew what Tavia knew, or if he had seen the future Karam had seen.
Still Tavia nodded. “If she comes to our side, do you think she can cure everyone of the Loj and put an end to this?”
“I hate to break it to you,” Saxony said, “but she can’t just whip up a cure in the heat of battle and disperse it to the thousands Ashwood has enthralled.”
“And what if she does not join us?” Karam asked. “What if your sister cannot be saved?”
She emphasized your sister, as though she still couldn’t quite believe Wesley was related to Saxony and Zekia. Tavia couldn’t either, but the reminder that they were related made her think.
It almost gave her an idea.
“She’s your sister,” Tavia said, mirroring Karam’s emphasis.
They all looked to Tavia and she felt her heart begin to race as the idea sprang up in her mind, so obvious, she couldn’t believe none of them had considered it yet.
“Yes,” Wesley said, shuffling a little uncomfortably. “I appreciate the update.”
“She’s your family.”
“Yes,” he said again. “You can stop now.”
“You’re her Kin.”
“Are you on something?” Saxony asked her. “Did you break into a secret stash of Cloverye and not spread the love around?”
“You’re her blood,” Tavia said. “Both of you.”
“I think you’re right,” Wesley said to Saxony. “She’s definitely been at my stash.”
“Shut up,” Tavia said. “I’m onto something.”
She paced the length of the room, her hand fiddling with a blade to keep her thoughts steady.
“You both have immunity from the Loj elixir because Zekia does.” Tavia tapped the knife on her palm. “A Crafter can’t be enthralled by their own magic. That’s why Saxony was able to fight against it when she attacked me back in Creije.”
“And then recover so quickly,” Karam said.
“Exactly!” Tavia pointed the knife at her. “And why they couldn’t use it to turn Wesley when they kept him captive. So if the immunity is in their blood, then couldn’t the cure be in it too?”
“You think that we could create an antidote without Zekia,” Wesley said. “With our own blood.” He turned to Saxony. “Would that work?”
Saxony blew out a breath and leaned against the wall with a frown. “I’m not sure,” she said. “It would mean creating an elixir of our own, infused with our blood. Nobody has ever tried something like that before.”
“But theoretically, it’s possible,” Tavia said. “You could do it?”
Saxony shrugged. “Theoretically, we could do anything. We’re Crafters. Miracles are kind of our thing.”
“So we make our army immune by using your blood,” Tavia said. “Stop Ashwood and Zekia from trying to turn our own people against us during the fight. And then when the battle is over, if Zekia still isn’t on our side, we can use it to cure the others that aren’t with Ashwood willingly.”
“She’ll be on our side,” Wesley said, a little more sternly than Tavia had expected.
Tavia bit down on her lip, harder than needed. Wesley frowned.
“She tried to kill Saxony once before,” Tavia said. “None of us are different.”