Taking it would have meant putting his back to the door. “I’d prefer to stand,” he said.
She shrugged. “If you wish. I shall return in a moment.” She bustled out of the room, taking all the tension with her.
Several minutes passed before Kasik decided to wander over to the shelves, curious about the records an acllahuasi would keep. Quipu hung from pegs protruding from the wall, each of the bundles of strings filled with knots that told stories and recorded important information that preserved their history. Being a kamayuq meant that he was taught how to interpret the language, and it was poor Master Wara who had been given the task of teaching him.
Kasik was an eager student, but he wasn’t patient by nature. It was something his tayta had trained into him, and that Kasik had tried to adopt if only to please him, but as more time passed and the silence grew thicker, his patience wore thin.
They were wasting his time. Kasik left the room and walked backthe way they had come, surety in every step because he was a kamayuq, a commander of men in the emperor’s army. Though the matron was essential to their empire, as her job was to raise and train the acllas in Amaru, it was the emperor’s will he sought to please. The sun god’s own descendant, and thereforeInti’swill. No one else’s.
It was eerily quiet, especially for a place full of young girls. He was an only child growing up, his mamay having died soon after he was born, but he had watched the other children in Vira, the way they ran squealing and laughing through the streets and playing sneaky games, huddled in corners to chat about all manner of things. He had expected at least some of that in the acllahuasi, but perhaps they were in lessons. The lack of sunlight and color did make him question whether they had been discouraged from it altogether.
The quiet was so severe, only his footsteps echoing against stone, that he swore he was the only soul prowling the halls, until there was the sound of a shuffle and urgent whispers, which he followed down the hall and around the corner.
They didn’t see him as he entered the room. Mamakuna Dusi was speaking to someone, their small frames the same height, but whereas the matron was unencumbered, the girl had each of her arms in the severe grip of two acllas, their robes a darker gray that looked as though they had been dunked in water.
The mamakuna whispered into her face. He caught the wordsdisrespectandtruthbefore he cleared his throat. The way her back straightened and her shoulders rose with a deep breath told Kasik everything he needed to know. He had seen something he was not supposed to. The only question was if it was something Emperor Maicu needed to know.
That changed the moment she stepped aside and revealed the girl. Suddenly, he had many more questions.
The aclla was small, but not a child as he had assumed. Dark hairspilled out of two thick braids to curl around her cheeks, creating a thin curtain over her downcast face.
And then she raised her eyes to him.
“This is Nina,” Mamakuna Dusi said curtly. “As you can see, she is unfit to serve the emperor. I can provide a girl who’s much more—”
Kasik raised a hand to silence the woman. Her mouth closed with a snap, and the acllas holding the girl’s arms dropped them and stepped farther away. He trailed his eyes over her face.
Dark eyes burned with the light of a thousand fires, piercing him as he reconciled what he saw with what he thought he knew about acllas. They were meant to be revered and protected, chosen ones handpicked by his tayta and sent to one of two acllahuasis to be raised and trained. Their lives were meant to be filled with care and knowledge and consideration.
Though the girl said nothing as she stared at him, it was clear enough that she was angry. There was a welt on the side of her face, not yet turned blue, that was as familiar to him as his own hands. Someone had thrown a fist at her. Dried blood clung to her lips and chin. There were holes in the hem of her robe and spots of blood throughout. He wasn’t sure whether it was hers, but it didn’t matter. The conclusion he drew was the same.
This girl had beenharmed, and whoever had done it was going to pay.
Kasik took a slow step forward, careful not to alarm her. She didn’t so much as flinch when he lifted a hand and gently rubbed at the blood on her chin. The skin was smooth—it wasn’t her blood—but her cheek was warm, and only when he pressed lightly did he see the infinitesimal twitch of her lip that told him she was in pain.
“Who did this?” he asked, voice low as if it was only for her ears.
Nina’s gaze flicked sideways and then forward, staring straight past him and into the room beyond. She licked her dry lips before saying, “I did it to myself.”
The lie didn’t surprise him, but what did was the way she said thewords so flippantly. As if they were a challenge, but what he was being challenged to do, he didn’t know. What he did know was that there was no possible way she had done this to herself.
“I’m going to ask again, and I would like the truth this time. Who did this?”
After a beat of silence, she turned her head slightly so that their eyes met. Kasik felt the impulse to step backward, to take a breath, but he stayed where he was and waited.
“Does it matter,” she said slowly, and he couldn’t help but watch the intentional way her mouth formed the words, “what I say?”
“If I am asking, it is because it does,” he responded.
There was a beat of silence in which he wasn’t sure what she would say next. He was sure only of two things: Nina was older than he had thought, almost a woman, and she was tenacious. The kind that would put some of his walla to shame. The kind that he feared would make for some unavoidable difficulties.
“Ekko,” she finally said. “The name of the guard who put his fist to my face.”
“Nina,” the mamakuna hissed. “Kasik, you must understand. She tried to esc—”
“It isKamayuqKasik, and you would do well to remember that I am not one of your acllas. There is nothing Imustunderstand except what my emperor commands of me.” He turned to face her. “Or do you question his will, and thus the will of the gods?”
Mamakuna Dusi’s mouth snapped closed. Her fingers furiously rubbed the small stone attached to the cord on her wrist. A nervous habit, he assumed, but one he could use against her. “You wait upon your gods, andthisis their answer. I am here.Sheis my mission,” he said, pointing to Nina, “and you will understand when I demand the head of the man who dared to lay a hand on the emperor’s property.”
