Page 86 of Children of Anguish and Anarchy

His every word consumes me. His insistence that I belong to him. All around us the Skulls move. They race aboard their ships. I won’t be headed to the capital city of Iarlaith with Baldyr alone.

I’ll be surrounded by his men.

Feel it.

Yéva’s words return to me in the chaos. I’m brought back to our training on the summit of Mount Gaia. When I close my eyes, the volcanic stone warms my bare feet. The circle of vines closes around me.

Yéva knew it would come to this. She knew no one else would be able to save me no matter what they did. Baldyr’s used my magic against my allies.

I have to use his own magic against him.

Feel it!

With my Reaper magic twisting inside me, I sense a pathway I couldn’t summon before. The medallion pulses in my chest as I call for the surge. The rumble deep in my core.

Use it, Zélie!

Thunder booms above. It echoes through my ears. A hard rain begins to fall. I grit my teeth as a sharp heat courses through my rib cage before traveling up my neck.

King Baldyr stops his ascent in the middle of the drawbridge. His eyes widen as he realizes what’s to come.

“No!” Baldyr roars.

With a final push, the golden lightning breaks free. It crackles from my throat in brilliant bolts. King Baldyr shouts, blown back by the blast.

I fall to the ground as my lightning shoots through the vessel like a spear. The smell of sulfur leaks through the air. My lightning ignites a flame below deck. In a rush, the blaze expands.

Then the whole world explodes.

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

INAN

THE MOMENTZÉLIE’S LIGHTNING HITSthe lower deck, the trap I laid ignites. A brilliant blaze catches the ship. The bottom of King Baldyr’s vessel is blown apart.

Bodies fly in the chaos. Black smoke fills the air. The floor beneath me careens. The bronze mask falls from my face as I fly to the edge of the ship.

“Þjófr!” The Silver Skull points at me. He eyes the maps in my waistband. He tries to lunge at me, but the panels snap beneath his feet. He falls to the bottom of the ship, tumbling into the blaze.

“Zélie!” I shout over the railing. She lies unconscious, facedown in the shallows. Algae tangles through her white braids. A fluttering light pulses through the water around her.

With a running start, I leap from the ship. King Baldyr’s ship collapses as I fly. Air rushes past me in my fall. My body crashes into the thrashing seas.

The Skull’s leather coat drags me under the current. I push the garment away to break free. I surface and inhale a deep breath, before diving back under to swim.

Come on.I will my arms to arc faster. My legs to kick harder. I swim past struggling Skulls and burning debris, pushing to get back to Zélie.

When I reach her, I scoop her into my arms. Her head lolls as she slides in and out of consciousness. The medallion flickers in her chest. Golden lightning sparks at her fingertips.

Shouts build behind us as I reach the shores. Skulls start to disembark from their ship to run to their injured king. He lies half-conscious on the fractured drawbridge. Flames engulf his left arm, searing through his skin.

Others chase us to the forest. I hold Zélie tight as we run through the twisting trees. Dismembered bodies litter the sandy trail. The path to the southern tip of the island looms in the distance.

I push myself to go faster, but the Skulls still close the space between us. One lunges at me, and I fall to the ground. Zélie’s body skitters across the sand. The vicious warrior raises a poleaxe above my head.

Then I hear a scream.

“Não!” Mae’e runs in from the coast, arms outstretched. Thick vines twist from the sand, strangling the Skull before he can strike.

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