Clever. I shake my head. It’s not hard to guess why Inan wants privacy. The white streak that shone so vibrantly in his hair hides under a new coat of black dye. Can’t have anyone finding out the truth about their little prince.
Was this his plan all along?
I squeeze everything in me to keep my face even. He doesn’t get to see my pain. He doesn’t get to know how he’s hurt me.
The door swings shut, leaving us alone. He looks at me as we hear the sounds of the guards retreating. It’s only when we can’t hear them anymore that his hardened face crumbles into the boy I know.
Inan’s amber gaze fills with fear as he steps forward, eyes catching on the largest bloodstain on my dress. A warm rush of air fills my lungs—I don’t know when I stopped breathing. I don’t know when I started needing him this much.
I shake my head. “It’s not my blood,” I whisper. Not yet. “What happened? How did they find us?”
“The festival.” Inan looks down. “Div?ners went into Gombe to get supplies. A few guards got suspicious and tailed them.”
Gods. I bite back a new wave of tears that wants to come forth. Slaughtered for a celebration. One we never should’ve had.
“Zél, we don’t have much time,” he rushes out, voice strained and hoarse. “I couldn’t get to you until now, but a military caravan just docked. Someone’s coming, and when they do…” Inan turns back to the door, hearing something that isn’t there. “Zél, I need you to tell me how to destroy the scroll.”
“What?” There’s no way I heard him correctly. After everything, he can’t think that’s the answer.
“If you tell me how to destroy it, I can protect you. Father will kill you as long as the possibility of magic coming back is still a threat.”
By the gods.
He doesn’t even realize we’ve already lost. The scroll means nothing without someone to read it. But I can’t let him know that.
They’ll slaughter us all if they find out, erasing every man, woman, and child. They won’t stop until we’re gone, until they’ve wiped our existence from this world with their hate.
“—they’re vicious, Zél.” Inan swallows hard, bringing me back to the present. “If you don’t give it up, you won’t survive.”
“Then I don’t survive.”
Inan’s face twists. “If you don’t talk, they’ll cut it out of you!”
A lump forms in my throat; I guessed this much. I can’t talk.
“So I’ll bleed.”
“Zél, please.” He steps forward, putting his hands on my bruised face. “I know we had our plans, but you have to realize everything’s changed—”
“Of course everything’s changed!” I scream. “Your father’s men killed Zu! Salim! All those children.” I shake my head. “They couldn’t even fight, and the guards murdered all of them!”
Inan grimaces, face splitting with pain. His soldiers. His men. Our undoing once again.
“Zélie, I know.” His voice breaks. “I know. Every time I close my eyes, her body is all I can see.”
I look away, fighting back fresh tears. Zu’s bright smile fills my mind, her endless joy, her light. We should’ve been halfway to Zaria by now. She and Kwame should still be alive.
“They shouldn’t have attacked,” Inan whispers. “Zulaikha deserved a chance. But the soldiers thought you were using the scroll to create a maji army. And after what Kwame did…”
Inan’s voice trails off. All the grief that filled him before seems to shrink, overpowered by fear.
“Kwame took out three platoons in seconds. Burned them alive. He incinerated that camp. We’d probably be dead if he hadn’t burned out himself.”
I rear back in disgust. What in gods’ names is he talking about? “Kwame sacrificed himself to protect us!”
“But imagine how it looked to the guards.” Inan speaks quickly. “I know Kwame’s intentions were pure, but he took it too far. For years we’ve been warned about magic like that. What Kwame did was worse than anything Father’s ever said!”
I blink, searching Inan’s face. Where is the future king who was ready to save the maji? The prince who threw himself in front of flames to keep me safe? I don’t know this boy, afraid, making excuses for everything he claimed to hate. Or maybe I know him too well.
Maybe this is the truth: the broken little prince.
“Make no mistake, the attack was an abomination. I know we’ll have to deal with it. But right now we have to act. The soldiers are terrified a maji like Kwame will attack again.”
“Good.” I squeeze my chains to hide the tremor in my hands. “Let them be afraid.”
Let them taste the terror they make us swallow.
“Zélie, please.” Inan grits his teeth. “Don’t choose this. We can still unite our people. Work with me and I’ll find a way for you to return to Lagos. We’ll save Or?sha with something safer, something without magic—”
“What’s wrong with you?” My shout echoes against the walls. “There’s nothing to save! After what they just did, there’s nothing at all!”
Inan stares at me, a flash of tears in his eyes. “You think I want this? You think after planning a new kingdom with you I want this?” I see my own grief reflected in his eyes. The death of our dream. The future Or?sha will never see. “I thought things could be different. I wanted them to be different. But after what we just saw, we have no choice. We can’t give people that kind of power.”
“There’s always a choice,” I hiss. “And your guards made theirs. If they were scared of magic before, they should be terrified now.”
“Zélie, don’t add your body to the dead. That scroll is the only way I convinced them to keep you alive. If you don’t tell us how to destroy it—”
Another click sounds through the door. Inan steps back just as it opens.
“Did I say you could ente—”
His voice falters. The color drains from his face.
“Father?” Inan’s lips part in surprise.
Even without his crown, it’s impossible not to recognize the king.
He enters like a storm, the air darkening in his presence. A wave of emotions hits me as the door swings shut. I forget how to breathe as I meet the soulless eyes of the man who murdered Mama.
Gods, help me.
I don’t know if I’m in a dream or a nightmare. My skin heats with a rage like I’ve never known, yet my pulse thunders with fear. Since the early days after the Raid I’ve pictured this moment, imagined what it would be like to meet him face-to-face. I’ve orchestrated his death so many times in my mind I could fill a tome detailing all the ways he should die.
King Saran rests his hand on Inan’s shoulder. His son flinches, as if waiting for a blow. Despite everything, the flash of terror in Inan’s eyes pains me. I’ve seen him broken before, but this is a side of him I don’t know.
“The guards tell me you tracked her to the uprising.”
Inan stands up straight and clenches his jaw.
“Yes, sir. I’m in the middle of an interrogation. If you leave us, I’ll get the answers we need.”
Inan’s voice stays so even I almost believe the lie. He’s trying to keep me away from his father. He must know I’m about to die.