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CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN

INAN

D ETERMINATION POWERS MY EVERY STEP . I don’t allow myself to look back. I fight my way up the shaking mountain, clutching Zélie to my chest.

Rumbles travel from far below. Black stone crashes down from the mountain’s side. The very ground swells at my feet. Gray steam leaks from the split rock, forming clouds that pile up in the air.

Mount Gaīa wakes with the destruction of her lands. A blaze builds inside her like the fires that rage below. But despite her force, I don’t slow. I feel no fear.

Time takes me back, revealing everything that brought me here.

I remember my earliest mornings with Mother, the way we walked through the gilded halls of the palace, hand in hand. There were so many moments spent under the wall of royal portraits, sharing tales of rulers long since passed.

I see the endless days spent training with Admiral Kaea and the soldiers, the alabaster walls of our barracks.

I hear the clash of iron against iron as we battled in the training circles.

I see the glistening seal of Or?sha, the armor I couldn’t wait to don.

I remember the quiet moments spent in the palace at night before the throne I used to dream of sitting on.

I reach for the days I used to share with my sister, long before the Raid. Whenever Mother hosted a gala, I could always find Amari under the table, hoarding platters of plantain and bean cakes.

I remember the old governesses we used to trick, all the distractions caused so we could escape. I hear her high-pitched giggle, the one that stopped the day my sword cut across her back. I think of the brother she should’ve had.

I think of what our life could’ve been.

But when I think of Father, all my other memories seem to shrink.

I feel the way my shoulders slumped under the eternal weight of his gaze, the burn of the sênet pawn he placed in my hands.

The sting of his fist against my cheek. I hear every word he yelled at me, everything he taught me to think.

I taste the venom that used to crawl up my throat at the very sight of the maji.

I remember the prince who wanted to wipe them from this world.

And then there was you…

I look down at Zélie, taking in her ethereal form. My fingers dig into her white coils, and I feel the night my streak first appeared. The day I was certain my life would end.

I see the day I first saw her in Lagos’s marketplace, the moment our paths first crossed. Never had I seen anything more horrible. More beautiful.

More wild.

“You changed me.” I whisper the words, praying her spirit can hear. I think back to her dancing at the maji festival, the vision of Or?sha that was born. She was the only reason I thought I could be a different kind of king.

I dreamed of a lifetime spent with her in my arms.

I made her a promise back in that cage. I swore she would live to see our homeland. I can’t stop King Baldyr. I can’t battle every Skull.

But I can still offer her this.

Petition Mama Gaīa. Mae’e’s words return as I reach the mountaintop. Exchange her breath of life for yours!

I fight my way to the crater’s center. The force of the shaking mountain brings me to my knees. Every breath I take sears down my throat. I choke on the plumes of toxic gas.

“Please!” I gasp through my coughs. I reach for the pulse of Mama Gaīa, for every divine force in Or?sha. The Blood Moon beats down from above, a reminder of all we’ve lost.

“ Please! ” I scream to the spirits, the very beings I was raised to reject. Tears stream down my face as dark clouds gather overhead.

When lightning crackles, I lift Zélie’s body to the skies. I offer her up to the storm.

“Save her.…” I whisper the words to whomever will answer my call.

Everything goes white as the mountain explodes.