Page 75 of Children of Blood and Bone

I’m coming for you.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

AMARI

BACK HOME AT THE PALACE, every window in my quarters only allowed me to look in. Father had the new wing constructed right after I was born, insistent that every window could only face the courtyard. The most I could see of the outside world was the leopard orchids of the royal garden in full bloom.The palace is all you need to be concerned with, Father would say when I begged him for a different view.Orïsha’s future is decided within these walls. As princess, yours will be, too.

I tried to hold on to his words, allow palace life to satiate me the way it did Mother. I made an effort to socialize with the other oloyes and their daughters. I attempted to find entertainment in palace gossip. But at night, I used to sneak into Inan’s quarters and climb out to the balcony overlooking our capital. I would imagine what lay beyond the wooden walls of Lagos, the beautiful world I longed to see.

One day, I would whisper to Binta.

One day, indeed.She would smile back.

As I dreamed, I never imagined the hell of the jungle, all the mosquitoes and sweat and jagged stones. But after four days in the desert, I’m convinced there’s no limit to the hells Orïsha can hold. The desertprovides no foxer meat to eat, no water or coconut milk to drink. All it gifts us with is sand.

Endless mountains of sand.

Despite the scarf wrapped so tightly around my face I can barely breathe, grains settle in my mouth, my nose, my ears. Their persistence is matched only by the scorching sun, a final touch to this bleak wasteland. The longer we travel through it, the more my fingers itch to grab Nailah’s reins and yank her the other way. But even if we turned around now, where in skies’ name would I go?

My own brother hunts me. Father probably desires my head. I can hardly fathom all the lies Mother’s spinning in my absence. Perhaps if Binta was still at the palace, I would risk crawling back with my tail between my legs. But even she’s gone.

This sand is all I have left.

Sadness swells inside me as I close my eyes and picture her face. Just a brief thought of her is almost enough to take me away from the hell of this desert. If she were here, she’d be smiling, laughing at the grains of sand that got stuck between her teeth. She’d find beauty in all of this. Binta found the beauty in everything.

Before I can stop myself, my thoughts of Binta take me further, bringing me back to our days in the palace. One morning, when we were young, I snuck her into Mother’s quarters, eager to show her my favorite jewels. As I climbed onto the vanity, I rambled on and on about the villages Inan was going to see on his military visits.

“It’s not fair,” I whined. “He’ll go all the way to Ikoyi. He’s going toseethe actual sea.”

“You’ll get your chance.” Binta stayed back, hands clamped to her side. No matter how many times I motioned for her to join me, she insisted she couldn’t.

“One day.”I draped Mother’s prized emerald necklace over my head, captivated by the way it glimmered in the mirror’s light. “What about you?” I asked.“When we leave, what village do you want to see?”

“Anything.”Binta’s eyes lost focus.“Everything.”She bit her bottom lip as a smile came to her face.“I think I’d love it all. No one in my family has ever traveled past Lagos’s walls.”

“Why not?”I wrinkled my nose and rose to my feet, reaching for the case that held Mother’s antique headdress. It sat just above my reach. I leaned forward.

“Amari, don’t!”

Before Binta’s words could stop me, I lost my balance. With a jolt, I knocked the case over. It took all of two seconds before everything else came tumbling to the floor.

“Amari!”

I’ll never know how Mother arrived so quickly. Her voice echoed under the arched entrance of her room as she took in the mess I had made.

When I couldn’t speak, it was Binta who stepped forward.“My deepest apologies, Your Highness. I was told to polish your jewelry. Princess Amari was only coming to my aid. If you must punish someone, it should be me.”

“You lazy brat.”Mother snatched up Binta’s wrist.“Amari is a princess. She is not here to do your chores!”

“Mother, that’s not—”

“Quiet,”Mother snapped, snarling as she dragged Binta away.“It’s clear we’ve been too lenient with you. You’ll benefit from the teachings of a whip.”

“No, Mother! Wait—”

Nailah stumbles, pulling me from the depths of my guilt. Binta’s young face fades out of my mind as Tzain struggles to keep us from collapsing down a mountain of sand. I grip the leather stirrups as Zélie leans down and rubs Nailah’s fur.

“I’m sorry, girl,” Zélie soothes. “I promise, we’ll be there soon.”

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