Children of Virtue and Vengeance (Legacy of Orïsha #2)(13)

Everything we did. Everything we lost.

It didn’t change a thing.

There will be no victory in Baba’s death. I’ll never be free of this guilt—

“Zélie, move!”

Ro?n dives from the side, ramming his body into mine. We roll across the sand, and he curses when a broken piece of the dome’s wall lands on his hand.

“Ro?n!” I scramble forward on my hands and knees, choking in the majacite cloud. When I find him, he presses bloodied metal to my nose. I wheeze as a burst of clean air passes through the golden mask.

“Hold on!” Ro?n yanks me close as we barricade ourselves under a fallen slab. The dome rains down like hail. I flinch with each piece of debris that crashes against our defense.

Someone shouts my name and I stick my head out; Tzain and Amari gallop toward us on Nailah’s bare back. When she spots us, Amari stretches out her hands.

“Grab on!” she shouts.

Ro?n and I latch onto her arms as they ride past. Amari grits her teeth, bracing herself against Tzain as we clamber onto Nailah’s back.

Nailah releases a vicious roar, dodging the giant slabs that crash into the tides.

The dome crumbles in our wake as we ride away from the beach.





CHAPTER TEN


AMARI


A THOUSAND QUESTIONS race through my mind as we ride through the rocky mountainside on Nailah’s back. Behind us, Zaria fades into the night, a dwindling speck on the far horizon. Fires burn in the distance, flickering scars from Mother’s hatred. By now, her guards will have searched the entire town. It won’t be long before her forces scramble after our path.

How did this happen?

I bury my head in my hands, struggling to process the facts. My mother is still alive. Just last night, that would’ve been my greatest desire come to life.

We should be in each other’s arms. We should be mourning Inan. Mother should be backing my claim to the throne.

Instead, she calls for my head.

Think, Amari.

My lips quiver as I wrap my arms around myself. If I close my eyes, I can see the rally in my mind. I feel the vibrations of the cheering crowd in my skin.

In that moment I had everything I wanted for this land. I saw peace and unification. Or?sha’s sun was finally rising.

And in seconds, Mother set it.

“Over here.”

My eyes snap open as Tzain takes a sharp turn, guiding Nailah off the rocky path. With Ro?n’s instructions, we pull into a clearing in the forest, a safe zone I thought we’d never have to see. Moss-covered trees wrap around us, their thick branches shielding us from the world. Heavy footsteps and thundering paws echo past as more maji flee the rally, racing away from Mother’s soldiers.

“Dammit,” Ro?n curses under his breath when we come to a stop. He jumps off Nailah’s back, muttering in Sutōrīan as he rummages through his pockets. He pulls out a cigarette and holds it between his teeth, but when he catches me staring, I look away. Without the royal treasuries, I still don’t have a gold piece to my name.

How will I pay him for this?

“Zél, what happened?” Tzain moves me aside, sliding across Nailah’s back to get to his sister. He tilts Zélie’s chin, inspecting the harsh burns along her dark skin.

“It was the majacite.” She stares at the golden mask in her hands. “The monarchy turned it into a gas.”

Majacite?

I touch my face, peppered with cuts and bruises yet free of any burns. If the majacite did that to her, why didn’t it do the same to me?

Tzain starts to ask more, but stops when Zélie presses a shaking hand to her mouth. I’ve never seen her look this defeated. This empty. This sad.

“I’m so sorry.” I reach out to help her, but Zélie recoils from my touch. My hand falls limp as she trembles, fighting to hold back her sobs.

“Give her some space,” Tzain whispers. A lump rises in my throat when he turns back to her. I slide off Nailah’s back, leaving them alone.

My body feels like it might shatter as I break for the stump across the clearing.

Just when I get the chance to atone for my family’s sins, they go and hurt the people I love all over again.

“That’ll be six hundred gold pieces.”

I glance back: Ro?n struggles to light a flint with one hand. His other hand remains wrapped in a ripped swatch of cloth, bloody bandages barely containing the mangled mess.

“Excuse me?”

“That’s what you owed before your little coronation was interrupted,” he says. “When Harun gets here with the rest of my crew, the price of that extraction’s going to cost you double.”

Twelve hundred gold pieces? I try to keep the shock from my face. “Do you honestly think now is the right time to quibble for your payment?”

“This isn’t a charity, Princess.” I grit my teeth as Ro?n mocks me with a bow. “Oh, where are my manners? Queen.”

He blows smoke in my face and I turn away before I strike back. I cannot play Ro?n’s games when Mother is out there calculating her next move. I picture the cold expression on her face, the golden mask that amplified her cruel beauty and grace. I still can’t tell if she really thinks I killed Inan or if she just wants to paint me as the villain.

There has to be more; something beyond her blinding rage. Spectacle for spectacle’s sake is simply not in her nature.