Awife. A role she had never imagined she would fulfill.
Nina was more than aware of the roles in a family and an ayllu. The women were just as necessary and vital to sustaining life as the men, if not more. In Limac, only the women could plant the seeds and nurture the fields. They were responsible for the health and wealth of their people.
But Nina never saw herself as a wife, or as a mother.
Would Emperor Maicu expect her to provide him with children, to lock herself away to care for them? Would she ever see adventure or the world beyond the walls of the kancha?
Would she ever see Kasik again?
The thought came unbidden, and Nina’s first instinct was to shove it aside. She shouldn’twantto see him again, not after he was responsible for delivering her to her fate like a lamb to slaughter. But he was simply doing his job, and he was doing it well. It showed a level of care and dedication that she couldn’t help but admire. And she couldn’t deny that she felt safe with him, comfortable in his arms after the terror of the night.
That was all that it was; Nina wanted a friend. A familiar face in a strange world. She felt nothing for him beyond that.
Perhaps she could request that Sacha come live with her. Lali was so much younger than them at ten, and would need to stay with their mamay and tayta, but Sacha was sixteen, and her health was tenuous at best. Surely, the kancha had the space and the healers to care for her.
Kasik had said she would have power, and this was such a small request in the grand scheme of things. Everything would be okay. Ninahad trusted her instincts, and perhaps they were guiding her to the best possible outcome for all of them.
She turned away from the shoreline to wade deeper, where she could submerge herself again, but a sudden flash of movement made her freeze.
There, directly across from her on the bank of the stream, was a man. He wore a tunic the same shade of green that surrounded him, and his hair was shorn all the way to his ears. There were streaks of mud on his face that looked purposefully placed. As if he was attempting to further blend into the foliage.
Heart pounding, Nina sank slowly into the water until it was at her chin. She made no sudden movements, and he came no closer. They only stared, each of them waiting to see who would make the first move.
And then there was a snap behind her.
The man’s eyes darted away from her at the same time he raised a bow and arrow in his hands. Nina’s stomach turned. The world narrowed to a point with her at the center. She was going to die in that river. She was never going to see her family again. Or Kasik. All this had been for nothing.
“Nina.” A voice pierced her panicked thoughts. “Walk backward toward me. Slowly, please.”
Kasik.His tone authoritative yet soothing. Nina obeyed. It was the easiest choice she had made thus far. The man’s bow swung to point directly between her eyes.
“Don’t,” she heard Kasik warn. “Keep coming, Nina.”
Nina stayed low in the water and filled with despair as it receded. She felt exposed. Vulnerable. But she was almost fully on shore. A few more steps and she could—
Another shape appeared across the river, a face seemingly floating between the leaves. She saw the glint of a blade in their hand, held low.
“Nina. Listen to my voice. Keep walking.”
She hadn’t realized she had stopped. Her legs felt heavy and unmovable. The air felt too thick to breathe. Time seemed to slow, and then all at once, it exploded.
The man with the blade took a step forward and an arrow punched into his shoulder two heartbeats after. The man with the bow and arrow ducked low and dove into the water, coming straight for her. Nina turned and ran. The water slowed her down, but Kasik stayed where he was, notching another arrow that he pointed somewhere behind her.
“Kasik!”she screamed, but it was too late. Another man in green had run out of the bushes behind Kasik, a broad-ended weapon in one hand that he swung at Kasik’s temple. Kasik turned, but he was too late. Nina watched with horror as he crumpled into a heap.
Arms wrapped around her from behind and lifted her off the ground. Nina kicked her legs and jerked her body from side to side. She opened her mouth to scream, but a rough hand covered it before a sound could escape.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” a voice whispered in her ear. But he already was. His grip was bruising and Nina could scarcely breathe from the pressure of his arm around her chest and his hand over her mouth. Panic had wormed its way into her heart and her mind. She was losing strength and losing consciousness.
The last thing she saw, before everything went dark, was Kasik’s blood dripping into the dirt beneath him.
Kasik groaned. The earth tilted underneath his cheek and the urge to vomit made his mouth water viciously. But he swallowed it down and rolled onto his back.
The first thing he noticed was the lack of light. The canopy of leaves was gone and in its place was a green fabric, the same color the men inthe forest had worn. The one that made it so they were hardly visible. As if they were hiding in the Tuta Kulla. The tent was circular, so there were no corners, and entirely bare. There was only the dirt floor and him lying sprawled in the middle. Nina was gone.
Kasik tried to sit up, but his hands were bound above his head and when he tugged, there was resistance. He looked up to see he was tethered to a wooden column. They had bound him like an animal, and they had Nina in their clutches, hopefully alive, though he knew there were worse things than death.
A flutter of panic urged Kasik to yank harder, the rope biting into his wrists and his head pounding with every tug.
