Page 16 of Children of Virtue and Vengeance

Then I hear the crack.

No.

My stomach clenches when I look up. The crack cuts through the dome’s walls, spreading through the sandstone like a spiderweb.

Get up,I scream at myself as sunlight filters through the widening cracks. But despair freezes my legs in place. I can’t believe it’s come to this.

Everything we did. Everything we lost.

It didn’t change a thing.

There will be no victory in Baba’s death. I’ll never be free of this guilt—

“Zélie,move!”

Roën dives from the side, ramming his body into mine. We roll across the sand, and he curses when a broken piece of the dome’s wall lands on his hand.

“Roën!” I scramble forward on my hands and knees, choking in the majacite cloud. When I find him, he presses bloodied metal to my nose. I wheeze as a burst of clean air passes through the golden mask.

“Hold on!” Roën yanks me close as we barricade ourselves under a fallen slab. The dome rains down like hail. I flinch with each piece of debris that crashes against our defense.

Someone shouts my name and I stick my head out; Tzain and Amari gallop toward us on Nailah’s bare back. When she spots us, Amari stretches out her hands.

“Grab on!” she shouts.

Roën and I latch onto her arms as they ride past. Amari grits her teeth, bracing herself against Tzain as we clamber onto Nailah’s back.

Nailah releases a vicious roar, dodging the giant slabs that crash into the tides.

The dome crumbles in our wake as we ride away from the beach.

CHAPTER TEN

AMARI

ATHOUSAND QUESTIONSrace through my mind as we ride through the rocky mountainside on Nailah’s back. Behind us, Zaria fades into the night, a dwindling speck on the far horizon. Fires burn in the distance, flickering scars from Mother’s hatred. By now, her guards will have searched the entire town. It won’t be long before her forces scramble after our path.

How did this happen?

I bury my head in my hands, struggling to process the facts. My mother is still alive. Just last night, that would’ve been my greatest desire come to life.

We should be in each other’s arms. We should be mourning Inan. Mother should be backing my claim to the throne.

Instead, she calls for my head.

Think, Amari.

My lips quiver as I wrap my arms around myself. If I close my eyes, I can see the rally in my mind. Ifeelthe vibrations of the cheering crowd in my skin.

In that moment I had everything I wanted for this land. I saw peace and unification. Orïsha’s sun was finally rising.

And in seconds, Mother set it.

“Over here.”

My eyes snap open as Tzain takes a sharp turn, guiding Nailah off the rocky path. With Roën’s instructions, we pull into a clearing in the forest, a safe zone I thought we’d never have to see. Moss-covered trees wrap around us, their thick branches shielding us from the world. Heavy footsteps and thundering paws echo past as more maji flee the rally, racing away from Mother’s soldiers.

“Dammit,” Roën curses under his breath when we come to a stop. He jumps off Nailah’s back, muttering in Sutorian as he rummages through his pockets. He pulls out a cigarette and holds it between his teeth, but when he catches me staring, I look away. Without the royal treasuries, I still don’t have a gold piece to my name.

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