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CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE

ZéLIE

W HEN THEY LIFT US to the mountaintop, I prepare to meet my end. A stone altar sits on the mountain’s summit. Crushed skeletons line its withered columns.

Below us, a sea of Skulls chant. They turn rabid with their praise.

“ All hail King Baldyr! ” Their voices echo through the red night. “ Father of the Storms! ”

The very king they speak of waits at the altar’s center, standing between two painted stakes. His golden mask glimmers under the crimson moon. His entire being is marked for the ritual.

Fresh runes are carved into the right side of his body. The blood that drips from his skin hisses as it strikes the stone. Steam rises into the air where it lands, filling the altar with smoke.

Baldyr watches us as we ascend, a different hunger in his stormy eyes. I feel it in my gut.

He’s waited for this moment his entire life.

A daughter of the Great Mother’s storms…

A daughter of the Great Mother’s forge…

A father formed from blood…

Yéva’s words return as the galdrasmiear tie me to one of the painted stakes. The prophecy she shared in the town circle of New Gaīa rings through my ears, reigniting every fear.

Before the Blood Moon, all three will unite.

On the Old Stone, the bodies shall be sacrificed.

He will feel the touch of the Great Mother again.

The skies will open once more,

And a new god will be born.

The weight of all that will come presses down on my shoulders. As the galdrasmiear part, I clutch the whittled bone they used to carve their runes into me. I hold on to my people’s last hope.

There’s only one way to stop King Baldyr’s plans.

More galdrasmiear travel up the stairs, their white furs swaying with every step. One pair carries a massive vat of boiling bloodmetal. Others carry the ornate chest Baldyr first brought onto the Skulls’ ship.

Baldyr removes the golden key around his neck. He hands it to the galdrasmiear , and they use it to open up the top. The two remaining medallions shine in ancient gold.

Across from me, Mae’e’s sparkling eyes go wide. King Baldyr selects the medallion to the left. He raises it to her chest. I have to look away as he lunges forward.

“ No! ” Mae’e’s shrill cries pierce the night. King Baldyr shoves the medallion into her sternum. The hierophant thrashes against the painted stake. Violent tremors rock her body, and travel throughout the land.

Veins sprout from the medallion immediately, creating a spiral network that spreads through her brown skin. The medallion starts to pulse. Mae’e’s diamond eyes glow red.

King Baldyr drinks in the sight like the finest glass of mead. I feel the smile that spreads beneath his mask. He walks over to Mae’e and grabs her cheeks, inspecting her half-conscious body the same way he inspected me.

Baldyr leaves the altar altogether, moving to the mountain’s edge to stand before his men. With a deep laugh, he spreads his arms wide.

“ The time has come! ” Baldyr yells.

His presence turns his men rabid. The Skulls roar in return. Their red torches dance beneath us, creating a sea of burning flames.

King Baldyr returns to the altar. He takes his place at our center. One galdrasmier pours a circle of oil around us and lights it with a torch, enclosing us in a ring of fire. The heat of the roaring blaze licks my bloodied skin.

The chants from below reach new heights. Feeble prayers spill from Mae’e’s lips. Baldyr takes the final medallion in his hands. He raises it to his golden mask. He stares at the ancient metal like it’s a newborn, one that will grant him the world.

With one mighty cry, he shoves it into his heart.

Then everything happens at once.

“ HARGH! ” King Baldyr howls with the force he unlocks. The medallion sears through his flesh, clawing on to his skeleton. A dark red light shines through the rectangular runes in his skin. His very being transforms as bloodmetal pours from his body in complex streams.

Mae’e screams as her own medallion activates. New vines twist from her abdomen and pour out of her hands. A dark flame breaks through her russet skin. The stone beneath her starts to heat. Molten rocks spread around her feet.

Her magic twists together like a thread, weaving into Baldyr’s mutating skin. My own magic joins, draining me to feed the king.

The medallion in my chest ignites, flooding the mountaintop with golden light. I cry out as its force pulses through my blood. Lightning crackles around my body in a violent storm.

With a sudden jolt, a bolt of lightning shoots into the sky. It splits through the red night. All around me, spirits of the dead rise, their bodies like wisps of silver smoke. The Skulls’ dead use the runes carved into my skin like a gateway. My body thrashes as they enter me at once.

King Baldyr roars as his molten body takes to the air. The golden mask merges with his face. The ground beneath us shakes, and the cosmos twist above our heads.

Baldyr becomes a god before our very eyes.

From above, Baldyr positions his shaking hands above our hearts and lifts. Our bodies rip from the painted stakes. Mae’e and I rise into the air, levitating higher and higher as our magic bleeds into the king.

“ All hail King Baldyr! ” The cries of his men rumble through the mountain stone. Lightning and vines swirl around him. Bloodmetal continues to crawl up his skin. Molten rock lifts to coat his feet. The spirits of the dead depart in streams, leaving me to enter their king.

With our magic, there will be no stopping him. No one will be able to oppose the Skulls. If he completes this ritual, it’s over for everyone.

Or?sha.

New Gaīa.

The world.

“Zélie!” I hear the shout.

Tzain rides from the eastern mountains, crossing the stone on Nailah’s back. A legion of vineweavers reworks their videira like a tank. The hard vines cut through the rock as they catapult their way to us.

Tzain…

The last of my heart gives me the courage for what I must do. I won’t doom him to live in a world where King Baldyr reigns. I won’t allow the maji to suffer that pain.

“Remember what you promised me!” I scream. I have to end this now, while I still have a chance.

I raise the whittled bone in the air.

“Zélie, no !” my brother shouts.

I allow myself one final look at the stars before driving the bone through my heart.