City of Spells (Into the Crooked Place #2) - Alexandra Christo Page 0,96

were dangerous as soon as she spoke them, because good little warriors knew when to stay quiet.

Ashwood spun Zekia’s chair around and slammed his palms on the armrests. When he leaned in, close enough that she could smell the ash on his breath, he said, “My story isn’t finished yet.”

It’s okay, kid, Wesley said. I’m going to get you out.

There is no out, she whispered back. There never was.

Ashwood righted himself and adjusted his suit in a way Zekia had seen Wesley do so many times.

“After my mother died, I set out to find my father and confront him,” he said. “I vowed to become a man he could never ignore. That’s why I found that busker who gave me the elixir and killed him. Why I approached the then-underboss of Creije with his head as a trophy and earned my place in the ranks. Back then the underrealm was barely organized and poorly maintained, but I had vision. I saw the opportunity to be great and eventually I took charge of the magical trade and became the first ever Kingpin.”

He looked to Zekia.

“When the War of Ages broke out across the realms and the Crafters revolted, my eyes were open to the way the world should be,” Ashwood said. “But by then it was too late. Still, the Many Gods did grant me one favor. Can you guess what it was?”

He continued circling the table until he settled in front of Zekia again and placed a hand on her small shoulder.

“I met my father on the battlefield. I saw the Realm Doyen of Uskhanya, surrounded by death. It was a sign from the Many Gods that my path was true. And so I approached that man, under the light of a shadow moon, the magic of my Crafters embedded into me. I told him who I was. I watched his face change. And before he had the chance to speak, I gutted him.”

Zekia’s hand still itched from the apple, but she was too scared to move to scratch it.

“You see, leaders are born and family must sometimes be sacrificed for the greater good. You know that my vision for the realms will have Crafters take back the world from the weak. I will have magic be worshipped like the gift from the Many Gods that it is.”

He placed a hand on Zekia’s cheek and it was cold, cold, cold.

“I will keep our family safe, little warrior.”

Your family is with me, Wesley said. We’re still in Rishiya and we haven’t given up on you.

I don’t have a family, Zekia told him. I don’t have anything anymore.

Yes, you do, he said. You have me, kid.

Wesley had never referred to Zekia as family before, no matter how hard she tried and how good she was. If something had happened in Rishiya to change that, then Zekia felt very sad that she had not been there for it. She felt a little left out that half of her—the old, with Amja and Saxony and their father—was mixing with the new. With Wesley. All without her.

“You still believe in our future, don’t you?” Ashwood asked.

You never told me your name back when we first crawled into each other’s minds, Wesley said. I guess I never told you mine, either.

Zekia frowned and then righted her brow quickly before Ashwood saw. She knew Wesley’s name, just like everyone this side of Uskhanya did. Only, she also knew his favorite color and his worst nightmares. She knew him well enough that sometimes it seemed like he was a character in a story she had created, each line and curve of his mind a reflection of her own imagination.

Wesley Thornton Walcott, she said to him, uttering a name she knew so many people had whimpered right before their death.

“It’s because of you that we were able to achieve so much,” Ashwood said. “Because of you, I can take the realm that is rightfully mine and carve our new world from the blood of those who challenge me.”

Zekia felt Wesley shake his head inside of her mind and the action jolted her enough that her own head threatened to sway.

Malik, he said. My name is Malik Akintola.

Zekia dug her hands into fists to keep from screaming.

Malik.

The digging wasn’t an effective technique, because her hands started to shake so much, and then bleed from her nails, that she had to shove them quickly behind her back.

You need to listen to me, Wesley said. I can only protect you if you