Page 6 of Children of Anguish and Anarchy

Locked behind the curved bars of her cage, she looks so weak.

Weak and small.

Dried blood rains from the black crown embedded into her temple. Her mane of white coils is no more. Moonlight catches a ring of black and purple bruises around her neck. It makes me want to drive a blade through every Skull’s mask.

“I don’t understand.” Zélie looks to me. “How would they even know who I am?”

Even in the dark, I see the terror that snakes around her throat.

I felt that terror myself those first hollow nights on this boat.

I thought it was all over—the war between the maji and the tîtáns. The line of bodies left in my family’s wake. I sedated my own mother to dissolve Orïsha’s throne. I thought the plague brought on by my family was at its end.

When Zélie and her maji attacked, I felt relief. I awaited my final release. She laid her hands on my chest, and tendrils of white hair floated past her sharp cheeks. I thanked the gods that it was her, that I had one final chance to see her face.

But a thick gas billowed as it traveled down the hall. Zélie couldn’t see the approaching wall of white. One by one, maji fell unconscious. Masked mercenaries descended upon their bodies like vultures.

We were all lost in the fight. The Skulls didn’t hesitate to strike. There was nothing we could do.

My people were stolen in the dead of night.

“There are always enemies, Inan.…”

Father’s ghost joins me in my cage, bleeding through my scars. I brush my good hand against the leathery skin where he stabbed me after seeing my magic and learning who I truly was.

The damp hold starts to fade. Father’s voice brings me back to earlier days. Suddenly I’m twelve years old, surrounded by old books, burgundy walls, yellowed maps. Father sipped from his goblet of wine, watching intently as I moved my sênet pawn.

“They lie in wait.” He stared at the decorated game board. “Inside your kingdom and beyond. The moment you show weakness is the moment they strike.”

Father shifted his final sênet piece to capture mine.

“Remember, Inan—an entire empire can crumble in one night.”

I wonder what he’d say now that real enemies have invaded our shores. If he were still alive, would the Skulls have had a chance?

If I’d been a better king, could I have held their invasion back?

There’s no time for regret.

I force myself to wipe the memories of Father from my mind. The Skulls invaded under my rule. Crown or no crown, it’s my duty to protect my people. I have to find a way to defeat the Skulls and expel them from our borders.

“These men hail from a land to the far east,” I explain, recalling what I’ve seen. What I’ve heard. They used a few prisoners across theship. Working on their deck was the only way for me to learn. “They call themselves the Tribes of Baldeírik. They sail under one king, a man named Baldyr. Whoever they’re searching for, they’re searching on his behalf.”

Zélie’s feet falter. She has to grab the bars of her cage to stay upright.

“What is it?” I ask.

“Something one of Roën’s mercenaries once said…” Zélie’s fingers lift to her lips. “We were back in Jimeta, the moon after magic returned. Harun cornered me and spoke of a bounty. Do you think he was talking about the Skulls?”

“He must have been.” I can’t count the number of times the night we were taken has played in my mind. “It was the mercenaries who abducted us from the palace. If Roën sold us out—”

“No.” Zélie cuts me off. “He wouldn’t. Hecouldn’t. He parted with his men. He fought by our side! He wouldn’t do this to me. To the maji—”

“But would his crew?” I push. “Cities of maji have been disappearing from Orïsha for moons.”

Zélie hesitates and her fingers fall to her side. “We got reports during the war, but the elders and I thought it was you.”

“Mother and I thought it was you.”

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