“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.”

She turned away from Wesley, before he could see the look on her face, but Karam was watching her too. Tavia cleared her throat and tried to focus anywhere but on Karam’s hardened stare.

Zekia will try to kill me whether I make eye contact with Karam or not, Tavia thought.

Many Gods, she wanted more than anything to tell Wesley. Now more than ever she needed to hear him say that things would be okay, but revealing that possible future would mean him turning his back on his new family for her. Tavia knew what it meant to lose family, and she wouldn’t be the reason that Wesley threw his away.

“So now we have an idea for a cure, we just need a way into Yejlath,” Tavia said.

“That’s the easy part,” Wesley said. “Yejlath is a central city, so it’s bordered on all sides.”

“Meaning we could access it on foot through Tisvgen,” Tavia said, with a slow nod. “Or—”

“Creije,” Wesley said. “We go at it from Creije.”

He had a look of determination in his eye that Tavia knew was never a good thing.

“I don’t think that’s the best idea,” Saxony said. “Creije has been entirely conquered by Ashwood. It’ll be heavily guarded. He won’t want to lose that stronghold.”

Wesley did not budge. “That’s why we need to take it back. We can split our forces, so half go to Yejlath and the other half stay on in Creije to take the city back.”

“But Creije will be full of Ashwood’s soldiers.”

Wesley looked overly irritated by Saxony’s interruption. “Creije is our home,” he said. “So we have an advantage that Ashwood and his army will never have. I know every street in that city like the back of my hand. Every turn and nook and where every shadow falls. I could navigate my way through Creije blindfolded, with a million enemy soldiers, and still never be caught.”

Tavia didn’t doubt it and she knew in her heart of hearts that she could do the same. Creije was home to them all, in some way. Tavia’s family may not have come from there, but she was made in that city. She was shaped and she knew it just as well as it knew her.