Children of Blood and Bone: Chapter Seventy-Two Summary & Analysis

The group arrives at Jimeta, on the edge of a cliff over the ocean. There are no guards in Jimeta, but there are no laws there, either. Zélie fears mercenaries are hiding in every nook and cranny. This is the only place in Orïsha where it is possible to live outside of the long reach of the monarchy.

They arrive at a cave, where one of the boys knows a mercenary who can help them. He has a fast ship that may be able to get them to the island to perform the ceremony just in time. Only one person can enter the lair. Everyone agrees it should be Zélie, because of her magic. Wracked with guilt, she agrees without revealing the truth about her magic. She sends a prayer up to the gods.

Zélie walks down a long passage into the cave until she comes to a central area where men and women are gathered around a fire. They are all armed and masked, mercenaries. She approaches their leader and is shocked to see that it is Roën, the foreign pickpocket from the divîner settlement. Roën says she was unwise to enter the lair unguarded. When Zélie says she needs some men to help her sail to a mystical vanishing island to restore magic, they just laugh. One mercenary places a hand on Zélie’s back to remove her, sending spasms of pain through her scars. She flips him onto the ground and rams her staff into him.

Roën is quietly amused. Zélie says she can’t pay Roën, but he would be helping achieve the will of the gods. As for his men, Zélie says they will be employed by the future queen of Orïsha. Grinning, Roën agrees to the deal.