Page 69 of Children of Virtue and Vengeance

Then his gaze falls on me.

Run, my threat echoes through my mind.Pray.

I reach for my staff, but this close to Inan I can almost feel the fluttering sensation of his nails brushing against my bare skin.

We stare at each other as time starts to slip, forcing us back into the present. The shouts of the armies around us bleed in. Soldiers’ swords break free of their hilts.

“Don’t attack!” Inan shouts, but behind him, darkness rises. A general with a white streak down the center of her braid holds back a cloud of majacite gas.

Every soldier stops, but then Nehanda bursts into the hall. She points at all of us as she screams.

“Eliminate theIyika!” she yells.

“Mother, no!” Inan shouts, but he can’t stop their attack. Their general throws out her hands, creating a wall of dark air. It blows the majacite down the hall like a cannonball, the black cloud racing toward our heads.

“Atégùn Òrìsà!”Jahi dives forward, sky-blue light wrapping around both his arms. With a grunt he throws his hands out and a cyclone spins from his palms.

The wind howls as it blows away the gas, making the soldiers fly back. Inan’s feet thrash through the air. He grabs onto the mounted torch for dear life. Even the general slides away, unable to withstand the force of Jahi’s winds.

“Zélie, we need you!” Amari grabs my wrists, her hair whipping in every direction. She places my hands against the wall and the hazy memory of Lekan doing the same sinks back in.

Please.I try to concentrate in the chaos.Lekan, ràn mí lówó. We need to get inside!

The wall starts to vibrate under my fingers, but I can’t get it to do more. There’s still something missing. Something I can’t unlock alone.

“They’re gaining on me!” Jahi shouts from behind, and my hair blows in the shifting wind. More tîtáns join their general in the hall, each throwing another gust of air.

As they all attack, Jahi’s cyclone starts to die. My fingers shake when Inan plants a foot back on the ground. Nehanda’s golden tîtáns round the corner, and the queen lifts her arms.

Lekan, please! I know you’re still with me.I press my forehead against the hot stone.Mo nílò ìrànlówó r?. Wá bá mi báyìí—

A sharp heat erupts along my neck. I gasp as my tattoos begin to glow. The golden light spreads to my fingers, searing into the wall until a seam breaks down the middle.

“Go!” I squeeze Mâzeli into the scroll room. The rest of the majifollow as the walls widen. Jahi backs in last when his cyclone dies for good.

“Stop them!” Nehanda shouts. All at once, the soldiers charge. My head spins as I place my palms on the stone. It vibrates as the wall starts to close.

One soldier breaks in front of the pack with his sword outstretched. Amari yanks me back when he lunges forward.

With a crunch, the closing wall cuts through his arm like wood.

We all flinch as the severed limb bounces against the scroll room floor. The hand still clenches the sword’s hilt, drops of blood raining down upon it.

My legs go numb and I fall to my knees. Sweat drips from every pore. We’ve made it in.

But how in Sky Mother’s name are we going to get out?

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

INAN

IT’S LIKE MY SPIRIThangs above my body, suspended in a fragment of space. Seeing Zélie stops time.

Perhaps it always will.

I run my hand against the unassuming wall; there’s not even a crease to indicate where the slabs slid apart. But I can hardly wrap my head around the magic at work when everything inside me is still coming apart.

She’s here.…

---