Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi Page 0,115

certainly won’t be like the last.

“I’ll prove myself to you, to all of you,” Inan declares. “You’re on the right side of this. My only desire is to stand there as well.”

“Good.” I lean forward to hug him, holding on to his promise.

But when his hands wrap around my back, all I can think of are how his fingers are resting just above my scars.

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

ZÉLIE

THE NEXT MORNING ZU is quick to bound into my tent.

“There’s so much I have to show you.” She shakes my arm. “Zélie, come on. It’s almost midday!”

With enough prodding, I concede and sit up, working through the new coils in my hair to scratch my scalp.

“Be quick.” Zu shoves a sleeveless red dashiki into my arms. “Everyone’s waiting outside.”

When she leaves, I offer Tzain a smile, but he keeps his back to me. Even though I can tell he’s awake, he doesn’t make a sound. The uncomfortable silence that burned between us last night returns, the frustrated sighs and empty words filling our tent. No matter how many times I apologized, Tzain wouldn’t respond.

“Do you want to come?” I ask quietly. “A walk could be good for your leg.”

Nothing. It’s like I’m speaking to the air.

“Tzain…”

“I’m staying.” He shifts and stretches his neck. “I don’t feel like walking with everyone.”

I remember Zu’s words. I assumed she meant Kwame and Folake, but Inan’s probably right outside. If Tzain’s still this upset, seeing Inan will only make everything worse.

“Okay.” I slip into the dashiki and tie my hair back with a blue-and-red-patterned scarf Zu lent me. “I’ll be back soon. I’ll try to bring you some food.”

“Thanks.”

I latch onto the response, repeating it in my head. If Tzain can manage a grumble of gratitude now, maybe things will turn out alright.

“Zél.” He looks over his shoulder, meeting my eye. “Be careful. I don’t want you alone with him.”

I nod and leave the tent, the weight of Tzain’s warning dragging me down. But as soon as I step into the camp, all the heaviness evaporates.

Sunlight fills the spacious valley; every acre of the lush greens explodes with life. Young divîners bustle through the maze of pop-up shacks, tents, and carts. Each person shines with white hair and vibrant patterns woven throughout their dashikis and spirited kaftans. It’s like Sky Mother’s promise laid before my eyes, come to life after all this time.

“Gods.” I spin, taking it all in as Zu waves me over. I’ve never seen so many divîners in one spot, especially with so much … joy. The crowd laughs and smiles through the hills, white hair braided, dreaded, and flowing. An unfamiliar freedom breathes in their shoulders, in their gait, in their eyes.

“Look out!”

I throw my hands up, smiling as a group of young children run past. The oldest among the crowd look to be in their twenties, none older than twenty-five. Of all the divîners before us, they’re the most bewildering to see; never in my life have I encountered so many grown divîners outside the prison cells or the stocks.

“Finally!” Zu hooks her arm in mine, sporting a smile almost too big for her face. She pulls me past the yellow-painted cart where Inan and Amari are waiting. Amari grins when she sees me, but her face falls when she doesn’t find Tzain.

“He wanted to rest,” I answer her unasked question. And he didn’t want to see your brother.

Inan looks at me, handsome in a cobalt kaftan with fitted, patterned pants. He looks different without the harsh lines and jagged metal of his uniform. Softer. Warmer. His streak flashes bright in his hair, for once not hidden behind a helmet or black dye. Our eyes linger on each other, but it takes only a second for Zu to whip between us and pull us both along.

“We’ve made progress, but we still have a ways to go if we’re going to be ready for tonight.” She seems to speak a million meters a second, always discovering something new she has to say before finishing her last thought.

“This is where the old stories are going to be.” Zu points to a makeshift stage occupying a grassy knoll between two tents. “There’s a divîner from Jimeta who’s telling them. You have to meet her, she’s enchanting. We think she’ll be a Tider. Oh, and this! This is where we’ll have the divîners touch the scroll. I can’t wait to watch that, it’ll be incredible!”

Zulaikha moves through the crowd with the magnetism of a queen. Divîners stop