The Jade Bones

by Lani Forbes

  Ahkin nodded, lost in thought. “Mother was your duality?”

  “Yes, your mother was and is the complement to my soul. I have not found her yet here in Xibalba, but her spirit calls to me, and I will not complete this journey until I have found her.”

  “So I must find a wife? Is that why our ancestors enacted the selection ritual?”

  “Yes.” But the emperor slowly shook his head, making the necklaces around his neck rattle. “And no. It is bigger than finding a spouse. What matters is finding the one who teaches you what you must learn, who challenges you, makes you the best possible version of yourself. They become the safe harbor your ship can return to no matter how intense the storms on the sea. Be that through love, or even friendship, or an advisory role. They are the second cord to your rope, the strand that makes you that much stronger.

  “Our ancestors knew the best emperors led in communion with another soul, whatever that might look like. We are not meant to be alone in this world. The Mother created us to live as she exists, in communion, in duality. It is how we find balance. The original selection ritual was designed to help the emperor find not a wife, but his duality.”

  Ahkin swallowed hard and whispered, “Mayana.”

  His father smiled. “Yes, I like that one.”

  Ahkin made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. “So do I.”

  “Then why have you not allowed her to be the duality she was created to be? You have tried to take all control and responsibility, and it has nearly been your downfall.”

  His father was right. Wasn’t that what Mayana had been telling him all along? That he didn’t have the control he thought he did. That he needed to learn to let go and trust her too. To overcome challenges together.

  Ahkin felt the emotion rising in his chest, and he beat it back down. “But it’s too late now. I’ll never see her again. I’m probably going to join you in your underworld journey before nightfall.” He looked down at the shredded skin of his chest and stomach. He could already feel his head getting heavier and his thoughts sluggish from the loss of blood.

  “I think your duality will not let you fail. And you will make sure she does not fail either.” His father winked again and started to drift toward the opening of the fissure.

  “Wait! Father, don’t go.”

  But his father continued to drift away. “I do not need to stay, my son. Because this is not yet your end. You are not alone. You never were, and if you are smart, you never will be.”

  He smiled again, the warm, reassuring smile that Ahkin had known his entire life. The smile he would never forget.

  And then he was gone.

  A wave of emotion crashed over him. A few tears leaked onto his cheeks, but he swiped them away, likely smearing his face with his own blood.

  Outside the crevice, one of the jaguars suddenly roared in frustration. A blast of water knocked it off its feet.

  The darkness Ahkin had been fighting to press back finally clouded his vision.

  Chapter

  30

  Her brother had seen them.

  Yemania was suddenly filled with a different kind of fire, a burning, sickly shame that made her already flaming cheeks even hotter. She and Ochix scrambled apart, Yemania slipping slightly on the shifting cushions as she straightened herself. She lifted the corner of her dress to cover the bare part of her shoulder that was showing.

  Ochix’s chest was heaving, and she swore his fingers twitched toward the ruby-hilted blade left on the floor.

  Coatl crossed the room in three long strides and yanked Yemania to her feet.

  Glaring at Ochix, he snarled, “Is this how you behave in Omitl? Taking advantage of any woman you come across?”

  “Coatl! No!” Yemania tried to get in front of him, to pull his attention away from Ochix.

  “I knew you death demons were evil, the dregs of hell come to plague the good and honest people of this empire. You should all be sent back to the pits of the underworld you crawled out from,” he spat. “I’ll go to Xibalba myself before I let Metzi marry someone like you. Before I let you hurt my sister.”

  Ochix slowly stood, his hands up, palms exposed to Coatl. “This isn’t what it looks like, sun worshipper. I wasn’t taking advantage of her.” He paused and swallowed hard. “I love her.”

  Coatl laughed bitterly. “Death demons don’t know what love is. You aren’t even capable of it.” The crazed look in her brother’s eyes sent a thrill of fear through her. She had to calm this down before—

  Ochix’s eyes hardened into cold, black stone. “I know more about love than you ever will, you termite. Letting your own sister be chosen as a sacrifice like some common beast? Maybe you should have spent more time acting like a true brother instead of being a princess’s plaything. Don’t think I haven’t seen your jealous stares and sorry attempts to win back a woman who doesn’t even want you anymore. You’re pathetic.”

  Something in Coatl snapped. Her brother launched himself at Ochix and the two collided with the force of two warring jungle cats. Coatl swung his fists, making contact anywhere he could reach. Ochix blocked his blows over and over, seeming to be more concerned with containing him than fighting him back.

  Panic flooded through Yemania, and she felt her heart pounding inside her skull. “Stop!” she screamed. “Stop it!”

  Her brother’s pampered palace life began to show as Ochix managed to grab one of Coatl’s wrists and force his arm behind his back. Coatl screamed in frustration as the death prince forced him to his knees and wrapped a thick, muscled arm around his throat. Blood dripped from a cut along Coatl’s chin, and a black shadow was forming under Ochix’s left eye. Both of them were covered in tiny cuts and abrasions.

  “Stop,” Ochix commanded in a voice so fierce it actually made Yemania take a step back. “I will not fight you anymore.”

  “Good,” Coatl panted, lifting his elbow and slamming into Ochix’s stomach, right over the pinkish scar where he had been stabbed.

  Ochix grunted and doubled over in pain. Coatl scuttled across the floor like a frenzied crab and closed his fingers around the ruby hilt of the obsidian dagger Yemania had left on the floor. He whirled, then charged toward Ochix with the blade raised high in the air.

  Yemania screamed and did the only thing she could think of.

  She threw herself in front of Ochix just as Coatl’s hand came down . . .

  A sharp, searing pain pierced her right shoulder. Yemania wanted to scream, but everything around her seemed to grow fuzzy at the edges, sounds beginning to muffle. She was dizzy, so incredibly dizzy. She slumped into Ochix’s arms, and the pain in her shoulder began to build, cresting like a wave until it broke over her, bringing everything suddenly back into sharp, intense clarity.

  She moaned low in her throat. The ruby hilt now protruded from her shoulder, the obsidian blade sank deep into her flesh. Hot, sticky blood poured down her arm and soaked her hand, pooling on the floor at her feet.

  Ochix lowered her to the floor, his hands immediately pressing around the ruby hilt, trying to staunch some of the bleeding.

  Coatl’s eyes and mouth were open with horror, and he wobbled slightly before falling to his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks.

  “Yem . . . Yem . . .” he whimpered.

  A deep rumbling sounded in Ochix’s chest as he lifted his gaze to meet Coatl’s. Through the haze of her pain, Yemania’s heart clenched again in panic at the deadly intent she saw burning there. For a moment, a shadow crossed Ochix’s face and he truly looked the part of the death demon she teased him for being.

  His eyes clouded over with the mist of possession, and immediately, Coatl’s did as well. Her brother’s arms went slack at his sides before his hands slowly inched their way up toward his throat. His own fingers closed around his neck and began to squeeze.

  “Ochix, no! Stop! He’s
my brother!” Yemania shrieked. But Ochix did not stop. He was lost in his thirst for revenge.

  She had to bring him back somehow. Her thoughts scrambled for any good reason Ochix might have for keeping him alive. The idea hit her like a burst of lightning striking a tree. “I need him! I can’t heal myself!”

  Ochix started and his eyes began to clear. Eventually, so did her brother’s. Coatl pitched forward onto his hands and knees, gasping and choking for breath.

  “I need him . . . to heal me,” Yemania said again. She placed her bloodied hand against Ochix’s bare chest, though she felt excruciating pain at the motion. Ochix shook his head like a dog clearing water from its ears. Coatl continued to sputter and suck in air on the floor.

  “Heal her, now. Or your life will end faster than you can blink, son of healing,” Ochix said, his voice quiet and dangerous.

  Coatl eyed Ochix with disgust, as though he were a poisonous beetle he couldn’t wait to crush beneath his sandal. But his eyes filled with concern when they took in the hilt of the dagger still in Yemania’s shoulder.

  Yemania panted from the effort of holding herself conscious, the blood loss and pain now threatening to pull her under. “I’ll only . . . let him heal me . . . if you promise . . . not to kill him.”

  Ochix looked outraged. “What? Yemania, he just stabbed—”

  “Promise . . . me!”

  Ochix gritted his teeth, but nodded in agreement. “Fine. I won’t kill him. I promise.”

  Coatl came toward them, glancing hesitantly at Ochix as though doubting his ability to keep his promise.

  “Death demons do not go against their word, sun worshipper,” Ochix growled at him. “I actually have honor.”

  Coatl’s jaw tensed, but Yemania used her last remaining bit of strength to slap Ochix on his chest. “Stop.”

  Coatl knelt down beside her and used the tip of his fingers to prod and assess the damage. Yemania cried out with each touch, and she felt Ochix’s arms tighten around her.

  Coatl’s eyes were swimming with tears. “I’m so sorry, Yemania, I never meant to—”

  “I know,” she said. “Just make sure . . . I don’t bleed to death . . . and I’ll forgive you.” Then she looked up at Ochix and frowned. “I’ll forgive you both . . . for being such prideful idiots.”

  Coatl and Ochix both tucked their heads in shame. As they should, she thought savagely.

  Finally, after more prodding and poking—and on Yemania’s part, cringing—Coatl sighed. “Okay, I don’t think the damage is that bad. But I need to remove the blade so I can heal it.”

  “If you take out the blade, the bleeding will worsen,” Ochix objected.

  Coatl rolled his eyes. “Yes, on a battlefield you want to leave a dagger or arrow or spear inside the wound until you can find a healer, but when it is time to actually heal, it must be removed. Would you rather I heal her arm and leave the dagger there?” His voice dripped with sarcasm.

  “He does . . . need to remove it . . . It’s okay, Ochix.” Yemania tried her best to assure him that as healers, they knew what they were doing.

  Ochix rubbed her uninjured arm reassuringly. He did not respond, but nodded in acknowledgment. Through her pain, Yemania felt a twinge in her heart at the fear and concern she saw on his face.

  “Hold her still,” Coatl commanded. Ochix obliged, and Yemania gritted her teeth.

  Even though she knew what was coming, it didn’t prepare her for the agony of Coatl ripping the blade out. The blade quickly slid free, but she couldn’t contain her scream.

  Ochix’s fist shot out and collided with Coatl’s nose. There was a cracking sound and her brother’s head whipped back, his hand protectively covering his face. Blood dripped from between his fingers.

  “Sorry,” Ochix grunted and then shrugged. “Reflex. I promised not to kill him, but I didn’t like hearing you in pain. At least now his blood is exposed to heal you.” Ochix’s wicked grin was back.

  Yemania made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. “I’ll heal your nose once I’m better,” she said to her brother.

  Coatl glared at Ochix again, his face a bloody mess thanks to his now-broken nose. He wiped some of the blood off and held his red-stained fingers over her shoulder.

  Yemania couldn’t see, but she could feel the wound closing, the muscle slowly weaving itself back together. It would definitely be sore for a few days to come.

  “What in the nine hells were you thinking, Yem?” Coatl asked her, leaning back on his heels as soon as he was finished.

  Yemania reached out and grabbed Ochix’s hand, bringing it to her lips for a soft kiss.

  “He already told you. He loves me. And I think I love him too.”

  Chapter

  31

  Ahkin was a fool if he thought Mayana would leave him behind. Had he learned nothing about her in their time together? They had to do this together. It was the only way to survive the horrors of Xibalba. She loved him, and if he was going to die beneath the claws of those beasts, then she would die fighting beside him.

  She smirked to herself as she imagined what her family would say. Your heart leads you into trouble. Yes, it did, but it also led her out of it.

  She followed the sounds of the echoing roars, Ona running swiftly at her heels. The moment Ahkin had disappeared into the trees, Mayana knew she had to follow him. She sprinted to the edge of the scorpion river, fighting the urge to retch as she beheld the mass of writhing black bodies sliding over each other.

  “You have to do this,” she told herself. She didn’t tell Ahkin at the time, but one of the bodies she had beheld in “the place where bodies hang like banners” . . . had been his. Her eyes squeezed shut as she brought back the memory of his lifeless corpse hanging from one of those posts, a wound in his abdomen having bled him of all his life and power. It didn’t take much for her to imagine what his body might look like after meeting the claws of those beasts. What it had almost looked like on the beach. What it had looked like when he collapsed from the snake’s poison. A warm sensation solidified in her chest, wiping all fear from within her. Even though he was not there, she could feel the ghost of his arms around her. Sometimes your greatest fears dissolve when you’re called on to save someone you love.

  She sliced into her hand, bringing enough blood to call forth the waters from her amulet once more. This time, her fear did not conquer her. She willed the waters to surround her and Ona. They slowly lifted into the air, the waters bolstering her courage, a reminder of the power contained within her. She threw out her hand and the waters launched them across the river of scorpions. With a crash that sent the volcanic black sand flying, she and Ona collided with the opposite riverbank. Ona shook himself off, and before she could say anything, he bolted into the forest after Ahkin.

  Mayana sprinted after him, willing Ahkin to survive until they could reach him. Blood pounded in her ears as her feet pounded equally hard against the earth. Ona was a shadow darting between the tree trunks. She struggled to keep him within view. Soon the sounds of the roaring beasts grew louder, and she knew they were close. Breaking through another line of trees, she and Ona finally came upon a rock outcropping where three jaguar beasts paced around its base. She’d bet the bones in her bag that Ahkin was hidden somewhere within the strewn boulders. She sneaked closer, keeping her footfalls as light as a deer’s.

  There was no way to get to him with the cats guarding him, which meant only one thing. She would have to get rid of them somehow. She had no skills with a knife, and if Ahkin couldn’t defeat them as a warrior, there was no way she would face them with only her hands and a blade. No, she had a far greater weapon hanging around her neck.

  She wrapped her hand around the jade skull pendant, remembering how she had protected herself from a leaping jaguar on her way to Tollan for the selection ritual. She had summoned the river and turned it into a batt
ering ram.

  She could certainly do the same again.

  To make sure she had enough blood for what she planned to do, she cut into both of her palms, dripping her life’s essence into the dirt beside her. The more power of her ancestor that was exposed, the more she had at her disposal. The spirit of a man flitted out of the rocks like a wisp of smoke, and she prayed it was not Ahkin’s. She clenched her bloodied hands into fists, ordering the water to emerge from the skull and obey her. The water rushed forth, surrounding her in a swirling mass of silver.

  Mayana stepped out from behind the trees and threw her hands out. The water condensed at her command, forming a fist big enough to plow into the side of the nearest jaguar. The beast was tossed sideways, its spotted body spinning across the forest floor. It whimpered and ran into the trees.

  Mayana stepped forward again, already summoning more water to take on the two cats that had now shifted their attention to her. They prowled closer, their yellow eyes close to the ground as they stalked. Mayana threw her arms wide, splitting the mass of water she had pulled from the necklace into two. She curled her upturned hands into fists, and the water condensed again into identical transparent spheres.

  She opened her palms again and thrust them forward, sending the masses of water at the heads of the remaining cats. The water enveloped their heads, muffling the sounds of their terrified roars. Their heads thrashed back and forth, trying to dislodge the water slowly drowning them.

  “Ona! Find him!”

  The dog darted between the thrashing cats before ducking between the rocks. She prayed he’d find Ahkin quickly and heal whatever injuries he had sustained.

  The first beast dropped to its side, its eyes sliding shut beneath the shifting crystalline surface. Mayana pulled the water away the moment it lost consciousness, making sure its side still rose and fell with breaths. She didn’t want to kill them, just incapacitate them long enough to escape. Plus, she wasn’t entirely sure beasts of Xibalba could be killed.