“It means what it always does.” Tzain slides out of my grasp. “Zélie’s doing something stupid, and sooner or later it’s going to blow up in her face. Wait for the explosion if you want, but I’m done.” His voice breaks. “I never wanted to be a part of this anyway.”
Tzain walks away again, cleaving something inside me. This is not the man I know, a man I have started to …
Love?
The word floats in my mind, but I can’t call it that. Love is too strong, too intense for what I feel. For what I am allowed to feel. But even still …
“You never give up on her,” I shout after him. “Never. Not once. Even when she cost you everything, you’re always by her side.”
Like Binta. My friend’s playful smirk appears in my mind, lighting up the cold night. Tzain loves fiercely as she did, without condition—even when he shouldn’t.
“Why now?” I continue. “After everything, why this?”
“Because he destroyed our home!” Tzain whips around. A vein bulges against his neck as he screams. “People drowned. Children died. And for what? That monster’s been trying to kill us for weeks and now she wants to forgive him? Embrace him?” His voice strains and Tzain pauses, slowly clenching and unclenching his fists. “I can protect her from a lot of things, but if she’s going to be this stupid, this reckless—she’s going to get herself killed. I’m not sticking around to watch.”
With that he turns, tightening his pack and walking farther into the darkness.
“Wait,” I call, but this time Tzain does not slow. Each step he takes causes my heart to pound harder against my chest. He’s really doing this.
He’s really leaving.
“Tzain, please—”
A horn sounds, cutting through the night.
We freeze as more join in, silencing the drums of the festival.
I turn and my heart drops as the royal seal that has always haunted me comes into view, gleaming off suit after suit. The eyes of the snow leopanaires seem to flash in the darkness.
Father’s men are here.
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
ZéLIE
I INHALE SHARPLY as Inan’s hands slide down to my thighs. His touch makes every part of my body explode; it’s too hard to concentrate on kissing him back. But as my lips forget what to do, Inan’s don’t miss a beat. His electric kisses move from my mouth to my neck, so intense it’s hard to breathe.
“Inan…”
My face flushes, but there’s no point in hiding it. He knows what his kiss does to me, how his touch burns. If my emotions hit him like a tsunami, then he must know how much I want this. How my body aches to let his hands search and wander.…
Inan presses his forehead against mine and slides his hands to the small of my back. “Believe me, Zél. What I do to you is nothing compared to what you do to me.”
My heart flutters and I close my eyes as Inan draws me in. He leans down for another kiss—
A loud horn blares. A crash rings through the air.
“What was that?” I ask. We jolt apart as another crash sounds.
Inan’s grip on me tightens, a cold sweat breaking out. “We need to go.”
“What’s going on?”
“Zél, come on—”
I break free of his hold and run toward the edge of the festival grounds. The music of the celebration halts as everyone tries to figure out the cause of the sounds. A hushed hysteria erupts through the crowd, questions mounting as it spreads. But with time the source of the horns makes itself clear.
The legion of royal guards charges through the new wreckage of the gate and marches to the top of the hill overlooking the valley. They light up the black sky with red torch flames, blazing against the night.
Some soldiers position their arrows, others bare their sharpened blades. The most terrifying among them hold back a pack of wild panthenaires; the menacing beasts chomp and foam at their bits, desperate for a chase.
Inan catches up to me. He stalls when he sees the sight. The color drains from his cheeks. His fingers lace through mine.
The commander of the troops steps forward, distinguished by the golden lines carved into the iron of his armor. He raises a cone to his mouth so we can all hear his shouts.
“This is your only warning!” his voice booms through the silence. “If you do not comply, we will use force. Give up the scroll and the girl and no one here will get hurt.”
The div?ners break out in whispered conversations, fear and confusion spreading throughout the masses like a virus. Some people try to escape the crowd. A child begins to cry.
“Zél, we have to go,” Inan repeats, gripping my arm once more. But I can’t feel my legs. I can’t even speak.
“I will not warn you again!” the commander shouts. “Give them up or we will take them by force!”
For a moment nothing happens.
Then a ripple breaks through the crowd.
Though the movement starts out small, in seconds waves of people split. They clear a path, allowing one person to walk through. Her small body steps forward. Her white mane dances.
“Zu…,” I breathe, fighting the urge to run and pull her back into the crowd.
She stands tall and strong, defiant beyond her young years. Her emerald-green kaftan blows in the wind, shimmering against her brown skin.
Though she is only thirteen, the entire legion readies their arms. Archers pull back against their bows. Swordsmen position the reins of their panthenaires.
“I don’t know which girl you speak of,” Zu shouts, her voice carried by the wind. “But I can assure you we don’t have the scroll. This is a peaceful celebration. We only gathered here to honor our heritage.”
The silence that follows is almost deafening. It brings a tremble to my hands I can’t fight back.
“Please—” Zu steps forward.
“Don’t move!” the commander shouts back, pulling out his sword.
“Search us if you must,” Zu responds. “We will agree to an examination. But please, lower your weapons.” She raises her hands in surrender. “I don’t want anyone to get hur—”
It happens so fast. Too fast.
One moment Zu stands.
The next, an arrow pierces through her gut.
“Zu!” I scream.
But it doesn’t sound like me.
I can’t hear my voice. I can’t feel anything.
Air dies inside my chest as Zu looks down, small hands gripping the arrow’s shaft.
The young girl with a smile too wide for her face pulls against the weapon, speared with Or?sha’s hate.
She strains, limbs shaking, somehow taking a step forward. Not back where we can protect her.
Forward, so she can protect us.
No …
Tears sear my vision, falling fast down my face. A Healer. A child.
Yet her last moments are stained with hate.
Blood spreads across the silk of her kaftan. The emerald darkens with red.
Her legs buckle and she hits the ground.
“Zu!” I race forward even though I know she can’t be saved.
In that moment the entire world explodes.
Arrows fly and swords flash as the guards unleash their attack.
“Zél, come on!” Inan yanks on my arm, pulling me back. But as he tries to steer me away, one thought fills my mind. Oh gods.
Tzain.
Before Inan can object, I take off, stumbling more than once as I return to the valley. Screams of terror fill the night. Div?ners run in all directions.