Children of Virtue and Vengeance: Chapter Forty-Three Summary & Analysis

It takes four days for the Iyika to make it back to the sanctuary. Nâo kisses the sanctuary’s grass when they arrive, but Amari falls into Tzain’s arms. Amari squeezes him, hoping that being a cênter won’t distance them even further from each other. She fills Tzain in on what happened and then asks if he’ll carry her to a bath. Jahi stops them and says they have work to do. Amari asks Jahi to wake Mama Agba.

In the council room, Mama Agba studies Zélie’s new tattoos. She scribbles translations and finally says that the tattoos are the mark of the moonstone, the sister of the sunstone. It’s a power that the gods give, rather than a physical stone, and the gods likely gave it to Zélie during the solstice. She explains that it ignites on command and has the ability to bind life forces, so it likely explains why Nehanda and Amari are cênters. It’s possible to make more cênters, but Mama Agba says that there’s a price. She confirms that Amari and Nehanda sacrificed Saran for this and says that a sacrifice is necessary. Without one, the magic is volatile and people bound together are bound to each other’s death. Mama Agba says that there are weapons too great to use and leaves.

Amari says that this is their answer: they can build an army of cênters and force the monarchy to concede. She asks to go to Lagos to speak with Inan. Kenyon and Nâo refuse and point out that they’d have to sacrifice people. Amari begs Zélie to let her speak to Inan and points out that he let her and Mâzeli escape, but Zélie snaps that she still wants to kill Inan to keep the maji safe. Amari refuses to fight if Zélie insists on killing Inan. Amari realizes that their plans for how to win are very different, and something changes between them. Zélie tells the others that they have the scrolls and they should be enough. Amari runs outside, thinking that she must fight for the kingdom.