“And he became an underboss,” Saxony said bitterly. “He grew up as an orphan on the streets, until Ashwood groomed him to be a killer. That’s the future that gave him the most hope? Zekia and I could have had a brother! Being with us could have saved him because we would have loved him. 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.