Page 96 of Children of Blood and Bone

But when the enemy crew jumps aboard, years of forced lessons freeze in my fingertips. Though I try to flick my blade open, my hands only tremble.Strike, Amari.Father’s voice rumbles into my ears, cutting deep into the scar on my back.Raise your sword, Amari. Attack, Amari. Fight, Amari.

“I can’t…”

After all these years, I still can’t. Nothing has changed. I cannot move. I cannot fight.

I can only stand still.

Why am I here? What in the skies was I thinking?I could’ve left that scroll and returned to my quarters. I could still be grieving Binta’s death in my room. But I made that choice, one fateful decision that once seemed so right. I thought I could avenge my dear friend.

Instead, I will only die.

I press against the side of the ship, hiding away as the crew fights through the invaders. Their blood spills at my feet. Their anguish rings, filling my ears.

The chaos envelops me, so overwhelming I can hardly see. It takes a moment too long to realize that one of the blades is coming for me.

Strike, Amari.

Yet my limbs do not move. The blade whistles toward my neck—

Tzain cries out as his fist collides with the man’s jaw.

The attacker collapses, but not before his sword slashes through Tzain’s arm.

“Tzain!”

“Stay back,” he yells, grabbing his bleeding bicep.

“I’m sorry!”

“Just get out of the way!”

Hot tears of shame well in my eyes as he runs off. I retreat into the back corner of the ship. I shouldn’t have boarded. I shouldn’t be here. I should never have left the palace—

A thunderous crash rings through my ears. Our vessel jolts with a violent force, knocking me to the ground. I grip the railing of the ship as the boat shudders. This is it.

We’ve been hit.

Before I can scramble to my feet, another cannonball blows through our deck. Shards of wood and smoke fly through the air. With a lurch, the bow of the boat tips up. Smoke fills my lungs as I slide across the bloodstained deck.

I grab onto the base of the mast and squeeze for dear life. Liters of water rush across the carnage on the ship.

With another lurch, our boat begins to sink.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

ZÉLIE

“ZÉLIE!”

I break back to the surface and whip my head up. Tzain grips the rail of the ship, teeth clenched with strain. Blood covers his clothes and his face, but I can’t tell whether it’s his.

Only nine other vessels float through the arena. Nine vessels left in this bloodbath. But the stern of our boat groans under the surface.

Our ship’s going down.

I take a deep breath and plunge back into the water. Immediately, bile rises in my throat. Clouds of red and debris make it all but impossible to see.

I struggle to keep my eyes open as I kick as hard as I can. Each stroke down is a stroke through water thick and heavy with blood.

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