Children of Virtue and Vengeance

You two. Even when you crash, you intertwine.

We're the children of the gods." I lift my chin. "If someone's running away, it's not going to be us.

You are not your mistakes.” Mama Agba holds both of her shoulders, making Amari cry harder. “Do not let one moment define or destroy you. The gods work in mysterious ways. Have faith in their greater plan.

You don't get to judge me," I whisper. "I didn't ask for any of this!" "No one ever aks, but you're here. You're here when so many people aren't!

You have to look beyond the surface if you truly want to achieve the peace you seek.

You carry all of us in your heart. We shall live in every breath you take. Every incantation you speak.

When the elders built this place, it was only bare mountaintops.' I look to the crowd. 'It didn't become a home because they filled it with towers. It became a home because they built it together. This land, these temples--they're not what matters. As long as we have each other, we will carry Orisha in our veins. No one can ever take that away.

Life is more complicated than right and wrong

We suffer so everyone else can smile.

you should know that there are weapons so great, they shouldn’t be used.

Under my rule, this will be a land where even the poorest villagers are fed, housed, and clothed. A kingdom where everyone is protected, where everyone is accepted! The divisions of the past are over!” I extend my hands and lift my voice. “A new Orïsha is on the horizon!

You are not your mistakes. Do not let one moment define or destroy you.

Zïtsōl, you are my home. You don’t get to leave me behind.

Despite all the pain he caused, I didn't know how to breathe without my brother in this world.

The monarchy has magic now and they still hate us. It was never about magic at all!

Her advice lifts a weight from my shoulders that I should have never tried to carry at all.

I TRY NOT to think of him. But when I do, I hear the tides.

He’ll do the right thing when it’s easy, but when it matters most, he’ll stab you in the back. You can’t trust him, Amari. All he leaves us with are scars.

This close to him, it’s like a caged hummingbird beats within my chest.

For power, acceptance, sometimes we do what we never thought we would

Not like that," Na'imah instructs, shaking her head so hard that a shower of orange flower petals fall from her curls. Dragonflies orbit her head as she repositions a maji's hands around her cheetanaire's temples. "Feel the connection.

Baba followed me in and lifted his head to the sky. It was like he could taste the sun.

Don't...' His eyes fall closed. 'Be sad.

No chains bind me, but I can’t move. Crisp air fills my lungs, yet I can’t breathe.

Our shadows bleed together like mixing paints, deep purples turning black with raw power. Our voices rise as the shadows take shape, condensing until they funnel into one giant arrowhead.

What’s going on?” Roën’s brows crease. “Talk to me. We don’t have to do anything. Zïtsōl, that’s not why I care about you—

All this time I was choosing my kingdom over my heart, I was too blind to realize that you were my both.

From the gods comes the gift of life,” “To the gods, that gift must be returned.

My lips part as I shift my gaze, taking in the views thirty meters into the air. This high up, Jimeta’s towering cliffs are dark silhouettes jutting into the sky. Bright stars coat the atmosphere like diamonds stitched into the fabric of night. The view makes me wish Baba were still alive; he always loved to stare up at the stars.