FOR A LONG MOMENT, shock steals my words. I don’t know how to process what’s before me. What it means for my clan. For the Iyika.
But when the shock fades, my body shakes with a hatred that reaches new depths. Magic bites at my skin as I throw up my hand.
“Give me one reason I shouldn’t kill you both!”
“Zélie, no!” Amari throws herself in front of Inan, nostrils flared. But the sight of her only makes my magic surge. I aim my other hand at her chest.
“How could you betray us like this?” I yell, scanning the trees for more soldiers in golden armor.
“No need to search.” Inan steps out of his sister’s protection. “I came alone.”
“Like hell you did.” Being this close to him makes me feel like glass. My fingers tremble as I try to keep my hands steady. I don’t know which incantation I should unleash.
Hearing his voice, seeing his face—it makes my chest ache. It takes me back to the dreamscape; to the feel of his hands around my back. I remember every promise he made. Every lie he told.
I feel every time he held my heart, only to crush it in his hands.
“Zélie, please,” Amari begs. “Inan came here to offer a treaty to the council. He’s prepared to give you and the Iyika everything you want!”
“His offers mean nothing.” I bare my teeth. “The maji won’t be free until every member of the royal family lies in the ground!”
“Including me?” Amari yells. “I am the daughter of King Saran. The daughter of Queen Nehanda. I am part of the same family, yet you’ve trusted me to fight for your people! Why can’t you trust that I’m doing that now?”
“After this, I don’t trust you at all!” I charge forward, making them stumble back. Shadows of death begin to build around me, wisps of smoke waiting for my command. I want to tear into them. I want to see their bodies crumble to ash. I can’t believe that after everything, Amari would do this.
That she would put all my people at risk.
“Do you honestly think a battle at Lagos’s gates is going to be enough to tear down the monarchy?” Amari asks. “Even if you win, think of your Reapers. Think of how many will die!”
“Don’t you bring them into this!” My voice shakes as the shadows condense. But Amari raises her own hands. Blue light sparks at her fingertips.
Her silent threat is an arrow to my chest. A chain wrapping around my neck. I taught her how to use her magic.
Now she wields it against me.
“I’m fighting for you now,” Amari whispers. “I’m fighting for Mâzeli and Mári and Bimpe. Even if you can’t see it.”
I clench my teeth as Inan takes a step toward me, moving though Amari tries to keep herself between us. But Inan doesn’t let her act as a guard. He approaches me despite how my shadows froth and hiss at my back.
“You keep acting like you don’t know me,” he speaks up. “Like you don’t know my heart. But I know you do. Zélie, I know because I still know you. The louder you scream, the more you fight, the more I see you haven’t changed.” He shakes his head. “You’re still that little girl. Terrified that the king is going to take away everything you love.”
The same terror he speaks of bubbles to the surface, but now it’s so much worse. Back then, Tzain and Baba were all that I had left. All I thought I would ever have in this world. But now I have Mâzeli and my Reapers. Mama Agba and the clans. If I lose them now, I won’t survive.
I won’t be able to stitch the pieces of my heart together again.
“You know me.” Inan’s voice drops to a whisper. “You know this is real. I want to keep every promise I made to you, Zél. I want to build a kingdom where you laugh every day. A land where you feel safe!”
A slight quiver rocks his chin as he closes the distance between us, not stopping until my palm rests against his chest. His life lies in my hand, yet he still looks at me like I’m the only girl in Orïsha. Like I’m the only girl in the world.
Tears prick at my eyes, but I don’t let them fall. I can’t when I know the cost of letting him into my heart. Giving in will only lead to more scars.
“We’ve already done this dance,” I breathe. “You’ve already promised me a new Orïsha.”
“I wasn’t the king before.” He lifts his hands. “This time I have the power to keep my word.”
Pretty lies. I close my eyes. Pretty lies.
I believed them once.
Then Baba paid the price.
“He’s drawn up a treaty.” Amari steps forward with raised hands. “One that gives you everything you want. This is how you can be free. How you can protect every person you love!”
I look back and forth between their amber eyes. I hate the part of me that wants to lower my hands. The part of me desperate to believe there could be an end to this endless fight.
“Moons ago it was you and Amari asking me to see reason when I was filled with hatred and doubt.” Inan closes his eyes. “Think of all the lives we could’ve saved if I had been the leader I needed to be then. Think of how many maji you can save by being that leader now.”
His words bring me back in time. I know the moment he speaks of. Right before Amari and Tzain were taken. Before we found Zulaikha and the divîner settlement.
“It’s not fair to ask you to trust me,” Inan says. “Not after all I’ve done. All you’ve lost. But if you really want to protect your clan, why not choose peace? Why not choose the only monarchs in Orïsha who will give you what you want?”
My chest rises and falls in the echo of his words. I think of Mâzeli’s triumphant smile. The hunger in Mári’s eyes. I imagine all the other Reapers I don’t even know outside the sanctuary walls, just waiting to be a part of a clan again.
“Please.” Amari lowers her hands. “At least allow the elders to read his treaty. That’s all I ask.”
I look back at Inan; to my hand against his chest. His heartbeat reverberates through my bones and I remember the times when that same pulse used to remind me of the tides. Of safety. Of home.
I exhale a deep breath and close my eyes, lowering my hands. The tears I’ve been holding inside break free as I step back.
“You’re doing the right thing.” Amari moves to embrace me, but I hold up my hand.
“I’m not letting either one of you past me until I see that treaty.”
Inan’s mouth falls slack, but he nods, reaching into the leather pack on his back. As he pulls out the parchment, something lifts in my chest.
For so long I’ve wanted to fight. To make him pay for everything he’s done. But somehow giving in feels right. Every chain around my heart starts to lift.
If this peace is real … if it allows me and my Reapers to be free …
Gods.
That would be everything.
“Here.” Inan hands me the parchment, and I start to read. I feel him and Amari holding their breath as I comb over the words.
“It won’t be enough to convince the others,” I say. “But it’ll be enough to bring you to the tab—”
A horn blares, catching me off guard. I whip around as it rises in pitch, ringing from the direction of the sanctuary.
“What’s that?” Amari turns around and Inan’s brows crease.
“I don’t know…” his voice trails off. “I swear, I came alone!”
Shadows extend from my arm, weaving around a branch above me. I let them raise me up through the trees, up through the canopy. I pray the alarm isn’t what I fear.
But as I rise, I see it: the black and gold of Nehanda’s seal. Over a hundred velvet banners flutter in the jungle winds, marking an endless line of military caravans.
An ice I haven’t felt since the night of the Raid chills me from my core.
The enemy’s at our gates.
The war has come to us.