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CHAPTER THREE

INAN

“M E ? ” Z éLIE WHISPERS.

Her delicate face falls.

Locked behind the curved bars of her cage, she looks so weak.

Weak and small.

Dried blood rains from the black crown embedded into her temple. Her mane of white coils is no more. Moonlight catches a ring of black and purple bruises around her neck. It makes me want to drive a blade through every Skull’s mask.

“I don’t understand.” Zélie looks to me. “How would they even know who I am?”

Even in the dark, I see the terror that snakes around her throat.

I felt that terror myself those first hollow nights on this boat.

I thought it was all over—the war between the maji and the t?táns. The line of bodies left in my family’s wake. I sedated my own mother to dissolve Or?sha’s throne. I thought the plague brought on by my family was at its end.

When Zélie and her maji attacked, I felt relief. I awaited my final release. She laid her hands on my chest, and tendrils of white hair floated past her sharp cheeks. I thanked the gods that it was her, that I had one final chance to see her face.

But a thick gas billowed as it traveled down the hall. Zélie couldn’t see the approaching wall of white. One by one, maji fell unconscious. Masked mercenaries descended upon their bodies like vultures.

We were all lost in the fight. The Skulls didn’t hesitate to strike. There was nothing we could do.

My people were stolen in the dead of night.

“There are always enemies, Inan.…”

Father’s ghost joins me in my cage, bleeding through my scars. I brush my good hand against the leathery skin where he stabbed me after seeing my magic and learning who I truly was.

The damp hold starts to fade. Father’s voice brings me back to earlier days. Suddenly I’m twelve years old, surrounded by old books, burgundy walls, yellowed maps. Father sipped from his goblet of wine, watching intently as I moved my sênet pawn.

“ They lie in wait. ” He stared at the decorated game board. “ Inside your kingdom and beyond. The moment you show weakness is the moment they strike. ”

Father shifted his final sênet piece to capture mine.

“Remember, Inan—an entire empire can crumble in one night.”

I wonder what he’d say now that real enemies have invaded our shores. If he were still alive, would the Skulls have had a chance?

If I’d been a better king, could I have held their invasion back?

There’s no time for regret.

I force myself to wipe the memories of Father from my mind. The Skulls invaded under my rule. Crown or no crown, it’s my duty to protect my people. I have to find a way to defeat the Skulls and expel them from our borders.

“These men hail from a land to the far east,” I explain, recalling what I’ve seen.

What I’ve heard. They used a few prisoners across the ship.

Working on their deck was the only way for me to learn.

“They call themselves the Tribes of Baldeírik. They sail under one king, a man named Baldyr. Whoever they’re searching for, they’re searching on his behalf. ”

Zélie’s feet falter. She has to grab the bars of her cage to stay upright.

“What is it?” I ask.

“Something one of Roen’s mercenaries once said…” Zélie’s fingers lift to her lips. “We were back in Jimeta, the moon after magic returned. Harun cornered me and spoke of a bounty. Do you think he was talking about the Skulls?”

“He must have been.” I can’t count the number of times the night we were taken has played in my mind. “It was the mercenaries who abducted us from the palace. If Roen sold us out—”

“No.” Zélie cuts me off. “He wouldn’t. He couldn’t . He parted with his men. He fought by our side! He wouldn’t do this to me. To the maji—”

“But would his crew?” I push. “Cities of maji have been disappearing from Or?sha for moons.”

Zélie hesitates and her fingers fall to her side. “We got reports during the war, but the elders and I thought it was you.”

“Mother and I thought it was you.”

An entire empire can crumble in one night.

Father’s old teachings swim in my head as guilt rises like bile up my throat. We made it so easy for the Skulls. They’ve been raiding our lands for moons.

But if our empire can crumble in one night, theirs can, too. If we escape this ship, we have a chance.

We can obliterate their forces in one fair fight.

“The Skulls keep saying one thing,” I continue. “‘ Stúlkan mee blóeie sólarinnar. ’”

Zélie shudders at the sound of the enemy’s tongue.

“What does that mean?” she asks.

“A girl with the blood of the sun.”

Zélie’s silver gaze grows distant. I’ve never seen the empty look in her eyes. The weight of my words seems to hit her like a boulder. She fights not to cry.

“Do you really think it’s me?”

I tread gently. I don’t know how much more she can take. “They need someone with great power… that’s why I think—”

Zélie’s chest starts to heave. She claws at her own skin, as if struggling to breathe. I push against the front of my cage.

I would give anything to take her terror away.

“There’s a way off this ship,” I talk quickly. “Three levels up. They have lifeboats on the deck. If we can board just one, we can head to land. Get you back to Or?sha. Figure out a plan!”

Though Zélie fights her own haggard breaths, she shakes her head, rejecting my idea.

“The others,” she manages to gasp. “Amari. Tzain. The elders—”

“If we can get you off this ship, I’ll find a way to free the rest. But you’re the one these Skulls are after. You’re the one we have to protect.”

Zélie wraps her arms around herself. I yearn to wrap my arms around her instead. Staring at her now brings me back to another time, back to those nights in the dreamscape when I was hers and she was mine.

The abyss grows in her silver eyes. The little light I feel inside of her dies. For a long while, the waves crash in our silence. Then Zélie lifts her head.

“Tell me it’s going to be alright.”

Her whispers hit me like a spear to the chest. I think of my vow to protect her. To fight for her with every last beat of my heart.

“It’s going to be alright.” I speak the words without a shadow of a doubt. “I don’t care what it takes. I don’t care who we have to face. We’re going to get you out of here. We’re going to get you back home.”

“Promise me.”

For an instant, I don’t feel the cages between us. I don’t carry the toll of the countless battles we’ve fought. The strain of the parents we’ve taken away. The weight of the broken kingdom that tore us apart.

For a single breath, we are together—connected, just like that first day in Lagos’s marketplace.

I run my fingers through the jagged white streak that appeared in my hair after that fateful moment, remembering the jolt like lightning that passed through my skin.

It’s like our very spirits wove together.

My heart thrums with the bond neither of us has ever been able to break, despite every wound and every mistake.

“I promise ,” I whisper. I reach out my good hand. Though I can’t bridge the entire space, Zélie reaches back. Her breaths start to relax.

“We’ll get through this,” I assure her. “I just need time—”

Boots thunder above. Too fast for me to prepare. With a click of the padlock, the door to the hold flies open. A wall of torchlight floods in.

The captain…

The Silver Skull enters, distinguished from every other bronze Skull on this ship. Tall and stocky, the captain towers above the rest. Crude tattoos cover the shaved sides of his head.

The Silver Skull mutters something to his men as he holds a torchlight to our faces. It passes over mine with disdain before stopping in front of Zélie’s. My heart constricts when the Silver Skull raises a leather-clad finger and points.

It’s happening , I realize.

We’ve run out of time.

“No!” I bang against the iron bars. I don’t know what to fear more. If they take Zélie now, she’ll never return. And what will happen to Or?sha if the Skulls find what they’re searching for?

Zélie throws herself to the back of her cage. The other Skulls open her cell door. Though she struggles, they unlock the shackles around her neck, waist, and ankles. Two Skulls lift her up, and Zélie thrashes in their arms.

“Inan!” Zélie cries out.

A new set of shackles clamps shut around her wrists. I rage against the bars as they drag her away.

But the door to the hold swings shut, keeping me locked in this cage.