Page 56

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

TZAIN

K ? A DOESN’T SPEAK WHEN we leave the throne room. The warrior charges through the halls, ignoring the limp in his right leg. In all my time in New Gaīa, I’ve seen his power. His confidence. His ridicule.

This is the first time I’ve felt the heat of his rage.

All around us, the people of New Gaīa grieve the loss of their warriors and their sacred hierophant. Attendants huddle together to embrace. Servants drop to the vine-covered floor and weep. Even children fall to their knees.

Everything that once felt impenetrable crumbles before my eyes. Inan’s attack plan runs through my mind. We have one last chance to stop the Skulls before they come at us with everything they have. But how am I supposed to fight when I can’t stay in control?

Shame rips through me at the thought of what I did in the cave. I wait for Koa to retaliate, but he stares straight ahead.

When we make it into the Laminas’ quarters, the entire forces wait in the squares. Koa stumbles to a halt before his warriors. His face twists, and I feel his despair.

“ Saiam! ” he barks.

All at once, his warriors file back into their barracks. I try to follow along, but he shoves me back.

Here we go .

I’m surprised Koa doesn’t want an audience. Even if tonight were a victory, I would expect him to retaliate. Green light glows around his bloodstained fingers as he reaches into his skin, pulling out his ivory barong.

“Fight me!” the Lamina demands. He motions to my axe, but I shake my head.

Koa comes at me so quickly, I don’t have time to get out of the way. I cry out as the barong slices my side.

“Fight me,” Koa repeats. “Take out your axe.”

Something wild dances in the warrior’s eyes. Something I haven’t seen before. I don’t know if it’s because he lost his men or because I attacked him and Jorah in the cave. But I won’t let him bait me.

I won’t activate the power I can’t control.

“Koa—”

He lunges and I whip out my axe, catching the blade of his barong. He jumps back and changes form, coming at me again.

The training square rings as his ivory blade connects with the crimson metal of the Skulls. I feel the heavy weight of soldiers watching from the barracks. The trainees’ shaved heads peek at our battle from behind the armory. Koa doesn’t let up. He hits me with everything he has.

“Where is your strength?” The warrior bares his teeth. “Where is your dignity? You vow to protect your sister with the metal of the enemy?”

He strikes again, and I finally understand the source of his rage—the axe I continue to wield. But he doesn’t understand.

I don’t know what power I have without it.

“When you have nothing left—” The warrior swipes at me. “When the world has pushed you to your knees, that is when you learn who you really are! That is when you find your true strength!”

Koa lunges and our blades meet in midair. My arms tremble as he tries to cut me down.

“Has the world pushed you to your knees, Tzain?”

Koa strikes again and I see it—that slow, fateful night. The guards who kicked down our door. The agony on Baba’s face when they broke his back. Mama’s hands reaching out for me, clawing for help. The blood streaming down Zélie’s face.

“Has it pushed you to your knees, Tzain!”

I see the moment I lost Baba for good. The arrow that cut through his chest. The warm pool of blood that leaked from his body. The last breaths of life he took in my hands.

“Has it pushed you to your knees, Tzain!”

I swing and I see my sister as the Skulls dragged her away. I feel the way they mutilated her body. I feel all the pain I wish I could take away.

“Ha!” I cry out. The Skull’s axe snaps in half as I fall to my knees. The tears I cage inside spill free. My body heaves as they fall.

The pain of my past leaks through me, spilling onto the emerald-brick floor. The realization hits me like a wall.

My life has been an endless war.

Koa walks over to me. The warrior lifts his hand. I expect him to attack, but he places it on my shoulder instead. The warrior bends down, meeting me eye to eye.

“ This is your strength.” He squeezes me. “This is the power you wield.”

T HE La MINAS STEP IN rhythm as we make our way into the jungles outside the city. The thick green canopy hangs overhead. Damp soil flattens under our bare feet.

Koa leads the way of all his men, gait unbroken despite his limp. I don’t know where he’s taking me. I don’t know the weight of what I’ve done. But for the first time in moons, I don’t feel the pull of the bloodmetal.

The hold the Skulls had on me is gone.

“ Um irm?o de osso! ” the Laminas chant as we walk. “ Um irm?o de osso! ”

After all the time spent training, I recognize the words.

Um irm?o de osso.

A brother of bone.

We reach a clearing with a flattened, weather-beaten boulder at its center. All the Laminas circle around. I try to join them, but one nudges me into the clearing. Koa stands at the boulder, arms crossed.

“Um irm?o de osso!”

A shiver travels down my neck as I make my way to the center. A ring of stone torchlights ignites the moment I step in. Flames dance across the warriors’ faces. Their shadows loom large behind them.

Koa motions to the boulder, and I lie down. His fingers glow green as he removes his ivory barong. Another Lamina enters with a tray of supplies. I scan the stone vase filled with molten black ink and the obsidian-glass needle, poised to pierce my skin.

“Really?” I can’t hide the hope from my voice as I scan the armory on Koa’s own chest. Koa stares back at me, cutting with his green gaze.

“ Você está pronto para lutar com seu próprio poder? ” he questions me.

Are you ready to fight with your own power?

I stare at the ivory barong in his hands, considering the full weight of his question.

All I wanted was to keep my sister safe.

To keep her out of Baldyr’s reach, I was willing to do whatever it took.

But the man I became in that cave is someone I never want to be again. I want to fight with all of me.

I want to unleash the might hidden within my own strength.

“ Estou pronto ,” I affirm. The corners of Koa’s lips twitch at the sound of New Gaīan. He motions to the Laminas, and they prepare. Two warriors grab my ankles. Two more grab my wrists. My pulse spikes as Koa stands over me, searching with his ivory barong.

A strange heat passes through my torso like a snake. One of my ribs starts to glow. Koa doesn’t give me a chance to brace myself.

My eyes bulge as Koa stabs the obsidian needle straight through the bone.

“Ah!”

The Laminas hold me tight as the black needle digs. The moment the needle hits the rib, the glow intensifies. Koa reaches for the stone vase of molten ink.

“ Um irm?o de osso! ” Koa shouts. He lets the stone vase pour free.

I can hardly breathe as the molten liquid breaks through me, searing straight through my flesh.

My skin molds and remolds before my eyes, revealing my skeleton.

The Laminas struggle to hold me down as a deep crack ripples through the glowing rib.

Koa reaches into my body, and I seize. He pulls the ink-soaked rib free. The other Laminas shout as Koa shoves the bone into my hand.

“Find your strength!” he speaks in my tongue.

I see myself running after Zélie. I feel Baba’s bleeding body in my arms. The weight of my armor when I wanted to protect Amari. The cold rubber of my old agbon ball.

I see every Skull I slayed. Every guard I cut down with my blade. But then I see Mama’s smile.

Everything else fades away.…

“My sweet boy!” Mama’s face lights up as I hand her the black calla lily. Though it pains her, she sits up in her cot. She winces and my smile drops.

“I’m sorry.” I whisper the words. Her pain is my fault. I drowned in the mountain lake. The blood magic Mama used to bring me back nearly took her own life.

“Do not be sorry, my love.” Mama motions at me, and I take the flower, putting it behind her ear. “You are my heart.” She places her hand on my cheeks. “You are my strength.”

The rib’s light glows so bright it shines through the entire clearing.

Cracks fill the air as it grows, taking on a new shape.

The single rib twists and expands, transforming into a bone axe.

Half a meter long, the handle rises like a spine.

With its double head, wide, hooked blades shine on both sides.

I squeeze the ivory handle. My chest heaves as my skin remolds. Though no voices fill my head, I feel the might I wielded with the Skull’s bloodmetal.

Koa lifts my hand in the air. The Laminas roar in return.

“ Um irm?o de osso! ” they chant in unison.

A thrill runs through me as they all pile into the circle.