Nina pressed her lips together, waiting for an answer she knew better than to want. Kasik was loyal to the emperor only, she staunchly reminded herself. Despite the fact that they had saved each other’s lives,and despite the bond that came from such a thing. That was the only reason she hoped.
“It isbecauseI am loyal to her that I honor my word,” Kasik said, his voice dangerously low, the conviction in it sending chills up Nina’s arms. “Anything else would put many lives in jeopardy.”
The sounds of the camp seemed to fade into the distance. It was only the three of them surrounded by a vast forest and an uncertain path out.
“Kamayuq Kasik,” Shayim said. His title sounded more like a taunt than an honorific. “Is that a threat?”
“It is a promise. If anything happens to us, Emperor Maicu will find you all, and he will not be as forgiving as I am.”
Shayim chuckled and shook her head, but her mirth set Nina on edge. It felt like whatever she said next would push them over an invisible line. “Your tayta’s temperament simmers beneath that carefully constructed facade.”
It was Nina’s turn to glance at Kasik in confusion. He was eerily still, animosity pouring off him in waves. Nina was certain now that if he had been armed, they all would have been in danger. But it was no coincidence that Shayim made that comment, and Nina was eager to find out what it meant.
“Whatever you think you know about me or my tayta will not change anything. Do not believe that I am so easily distracted,” Kasik seethed.
Anyone else might have turned away from his anger, but Shayim leaned closer. “There are many secrets between us,” she said softly. “But I will share one so that there is one less. Once upon a time, I served Emperor Yachua. My sister was betrothed to him, and we journeyed to the capital together. Her name was Aliyma, and you are a spitting image of her.”
Kasik stood abruptly, his bowl of porridge splattering to the ground. Nina gasped and slid sideways.
“Donot—”
“I served as the emperor’s Seer,” Shayim interrupted, her voice firmer than before. “A position that made me more powerful than your tayta, much to his dismay.”
“Now I know you lie,” Kasik seethed. “There is no such thing as a ‘Seer.’?”
“I can assure you there is,” Shayim said pointedly.
“I have been beside the emperor foryears. I would know if there are Seers, or—”
“I never said there stillwere,” Shayim said sadly. “Only that therewas. You can choose to believe me or not, but consider whether you know as much as you think you do, or if you only know what you have been told.”
Nina watched Kasik closely, ready to reach over and... what? Comfort him? Sheild him? She only knew that his body had stiffened before her very eyes, and what was at first confusion and then curiosity had morphed into something colder and sharper, as if he had come to a decision and would not be persuaded otherwise.
“I need some air,” he said before stomping away.
Nina watched him go and fought the urge to follow.
“The achilla around his neck,” Shayim said, turning to Nina. “Did he tell you where it is from?”
“It was his mamay’s,” she said quietly.
Shayim snorted. “It seems as though he’s been led to believe many false things. And you, Nina from Limac, what do you believe?”
Nina thought of all the things she had been led to believe. The sacrifices she had made because she had thought they were her only choices. If she had been more aware of her attay when the emperor’s men had come for her, would she have given in so easily? Could she have used it to do something more than surrender?
She could still feel the golden thread of Kasik’s will within her hands, the way it had fallen under her complete control, and wondered what else her power could do.
“I don’t know anymore, but I’d like to find out.”
Shayim smiled. “Then you’ve been led to the right place, my child.”
20
Kasik stalked through the encampment, surprised that nobody stopped him. In fact, they seemed to keep far away from him, casting questioning glances his way while he did the same to them.
They should have blindfolded him. They should have kept him restrained in the tent.
Every sight he took in was damning evidence of a community shirking the payment for the emperor’s protection. They were an ayllu without recognition. A people without law.
