CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE: AMARI

Amari moves through a field of charred bodies, forcing herself to the site where Inan and Nehanda executed their plan. She finds the tunnel they used to escape after drawing Iyika’s strongest fighters away, leaving the village unprotected. Behind her, Dakarai reveals a magical image of palace cellars where nearly a hundred captured maji and divîners are chained.

Confronted with the scale of the loss, Amari accepts blame, convinced that her choices doomed the Iyika. Tzain rushes into the square, filthy and frantic, and embraces Zélie in relief, underscoring Amari’s isolation and failure.

When Amari approaches, Zélie responds with lethal death-shadows that seize Amari’s body and throat. Before Zélie can strike again, she collapses, convulsing as the tattoos on her skin flicker. The attack exposes Zélie’s mounting instability and Amari’s utter loss of trust within the group.

A village tîtán, Kâmarū, carries the seizing Zélie to an ahéré as Na’imah orders that Zélie be locked up. Kenyon hauls Amari to her feet and binds her arms with metal restraints. Tzain, torn between duty and grief, avoids defending Amari, who can only whisper an apology as he turns away.

By the end, Zélie is confined, Amari is restrained and shunned, and the Iyika’s remaining fighters are shattered by the capture of their people, signaling a decisive turn against the rebellion.