Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi Page 0,88
the cracks in the clay. He’s offering me another escape.
He’s trying to keep the blood off my hands.
I think back to that moment on the boat, back when I regretted everything and wished I had never stolen the scroll. This is the out I prayed for. I craved it with all my heart.
It could work.…
Though a flash of shame hits me, I imagine what would happen if I turned myself in. With the right story, enough tears, the perfect lies, I could convince them all. If I showed up disheveled enough, Father might believe I’d been kidnapped by the evil maji. Yet even as I play with the possibility, I already know my response.
“I’m staying.” I swallow the part of me that wants to give in, tucking it deep down inside. “I can do this. I proved that tonight.”
“Just because you can fight doesn’t mean you’re meant to—”
“Tzain, do not tell me what I am meant to do!”
His words stab like a needle, locking me back inside the palace walls.
Amari, sit up straight!
Do not eat that.
That’s more than enough dessert for you—
No.
No more. I have lived that life before and lost my dearest friend because of it. Now that I’ve escaped, I shall never return. With my escape, I must do more.
“I am a princess, not a prop. Do not treat me any differently. My father is responsible for this pain. I will be the one to fix it.”
Tzain jerks back and raises his hands in surrender. “Alright.”
I tilt my head. “That’s it?”
“Amari, I want you here. I just needed to know it was your choice. When you took that scroll, there’s no way you could know everything would turn out like this.”
“Oh…” I fight back a smile. I want you here. His words make my ears burn. Tzain actually wants me to stay.
“Well, thank you,” I say quietly, sitting back. “I want to be here, too. Despite how loudly you snore.”
Tzain smiles, and it softens up every hard line in his face. “You’re not so quiet yourself, Princess. The way you snore, I should’ve called you the Lionaire this whole time.”
“Ha.” I narrow my eyes and grab our canteens, praying my face isn’t flushed. “I’ll remember that the next time you need help grabbing a roll of bandages.”
Tzain grins as I leave the hut, a lopsided smile that lifts my very steps. The brisk night air greets me like an old friend, thick with the scent of ogogoro and palm wine from the celebration.
A hooded woman spots me and breaks out into a wide smile. “The Lionaire!”
Her call incites the cheers of those around her. It makes my cheeks flush, but this time the name doesn’t sound so wrong. With a shy wave, I skirt the crowd, fading into the shadows.
Perhaps I made a mistake.
Maybe a lionaire lives in me after all.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
INAN
THE DESERT AIR is lifeless.
It cuts with each inhale.
Without Kaea’s steady instruction, every breath blurs together, marred by the magic that took her away.
I never realized how riding alongside Kaea passed the time. Traveling alone, minutes merge into hours. Days blend into nights. The food supply dwindles first. Water follows close behind.
I grab the canteen hooked to the saddle of my stolen panthenaire and squeeze the last droplets out. If Orí is really watching me from above, he must be laughing now.
Maji attack.
Kaea killed.
Pursuing the scroll.
—I
The message I sent home with the soldiers should arrive soon.
Knowing Father, he’ll dispatch guards the moment he receives it, order them to return with the culprit’s head or not at all. Little does he know the monster he hunts is me.
Guilt rips at my insides like the magic I fight back. Father’ll never understand the extent to which I’m already punishing myself.
Skies.
My heads rings as I push my magic down. Deep into my bones, further than I ever knew it could go. Now it’s not just an ache in my chest or a winded breath that I fight, it’s a constant tremor shaking my hands. The burning hatred in Kaea’s eyes. The venom in her final word.
Maggot.
I hear it again and again. A hell I can’t escape. With that one foul word, Kaea might as well have declared me unfit to be king.
The slur disparages everything I’ve ever worked for. The duty I fight to fulfill. The destiny Kaea herself forced upon me.
Dammit. I close my eyes against the memories of her that day. It was Kaea who found me after I hurt Amari, tucked in the darkest corner of my