Page 98 of Children of Anguish and Anarchy

“You know it?”

Mae’e nods. Her fingers rest over her heart.

“It started the day we first met.…” My voice trails off as I think back. “The two of us locked eyes, and time froze. A shock like lightning traveled through my veins. Ever since that day, we’ve been connected. It’s like our spirits intertwined.”

Mae’e presses her hand to the largest window, opening up the stained glass. The melody of her people blows in with the warm breeze. Mae’e closes her eyes and breathes.

“I am giving you my best soldiers,” she says. “My borders will be weakened when we need protection the most. If Yéva is pointing me to the connection you and Zélie share, then I need your word that you will use it. I need you to do whatever it takes to stop the Skulls.”

“I give you my word.” I extend my hand to Mae’e and bow once more. “No matter what. I will give everything I have to eliminate the Skulls.”

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

INAN

WAVES CRASH AGAINST OUR VIDEIRA.The full moon shines above. Jagged bluffs cut through the dark waters like serrated knives. We take cover behind them.

Mists coat the Black Bay of Iarlaith, the port village on the western shores of Baldeírik. The Skulls have been on our lands for so long.

We’ve finally brought the fight to them.

Jörah hands me a looking glass, and I use it to scan the shores. There isn’t one sign of life. Houses built from stacked timber sit on stone foundations. Thick layers of raw earth insulate the roofs. The modest dwellings line the waters, separated from the larger farmsteads. Smaller canoes float in the docks. The tattered blades of a windmill spin through the air.

In the large bay, the fleet of a hundred ships floats before us, vulnerable to our attack. Each ship’s silhouette bobs up and down in the water, looming over us like dark shadows. As I scan the shapes of each vessel, I spot familiar lines. The majority of the fleet matches the ship we first escaped. I picture the lower levels full of blast oil, just waiting for us to leak.

This is it.

A flare of determination rushes through me, pulsing through my blood. I think of all the planning that’s gone into this moment, the latenights spent studying the different maps and diagrams stolen from the Silver Skull’s quarters. Our last chance to stop the Skulls floats before my very eyes. Everything that must be destroyed before King Baldyr can die.

Two separate waves—that’s what it will take to decimate the Skulls’ fleet. Our own fleet of thirty new videiras surrounds us, each vessel rewoven to triple its speed. The first wave of videiras will launch, tasked with dispersing the blast oil. With only thirty vessels in our forces, each team will have to soak more than three of the Skulls’ ships.

That’s when Zélie moves in.

Zélie, Amari, and Mae’e float behind us, waiting in a videira specially woven for her to attack. All eight Green Maidens surround her, protecting their hierophant and working the craft. Zélie sits at the center of their octagon-shaped boat, elevated on a pedestal of vines, and dripping with gold. The New Gaians worked all night to craft her a golden exoskeleton. The gilded armor travels up her arms and down to her legs.

At Mae’e’s command, the Green Maidens will set sail. Their single craft will launch the second wave. The other videiras will retreat as Zélie calls the golden lightning from her heart.

All we need is one strike. One strike, and every ship will blow. When it hits, their fleet will go up in ashes.

The Skulls’ greatest weapon against us will be rendered useless.

With our lands protected, we’ll storm their shores. We’ll ravage them with the power of the vineweavers and the wrath of the Lâminas. Their plan for conquests shall die with them.

And you’ll live.…

I look to Zélie and I think of the vow I made. I picture her setting foot in Orïsha, the new life she’ll be able to have.

“Are you ready?” I ask her, and she nods, a hard conviction in her silver gaze. Staring at her, I don’t see the girl who entered Lagos that fatefulday. I don’t see the maji who burned my city to the ground. Tonight, I see Orïsha’s greatest fighter.

I see the girl with the blood of the sun.

I hand the emperor back his looking glass.

“We’re clear,” I say.

A low whistle passes through the vines.

I hold my breath as the first wave sails in.

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