“I imagine it must take many difficult decisions to run an empire.”
Nina scoffed. “I feel no sympathy for a man who grasps power with fists held tight. The trouble he finds is brought onto himself.”
“Emperor Maicu is continuing Emperor Yachua’s legacy. Uniting all our lands isn’t about control—it’s about ensuring that all the people of this land have equal rights and equal protection.”
Nina rolled her eyes. “Now you’re just repeating what you have been spoon-fed all your life. My ayllu was a safe and happy place before being absorbed.” Kasik huffed and she turned to glare at him. “We are favored by Pachamama. Our fields grow food when they shouldn’t. Our animals thrive. Our people are free.Werefree, before the emperor came and slapped a name on us and demanded the chani. Do not pretend that he does this for anyone other than himself, or thathe doesn’t enjoy the power that comes from ruling over us all.”
“Just because your ayllu hasn’t seen the benefits of it doesn’t mean that others have not,” he said, the words sharp. He lifted a hand to run through his hair and blew out a breath. The gold bands were around both arms again, sitting snug against his flesh and reminding everyone with eyes that could see who he belonged to. “I don’t think it’s possiblenotto enjoy it. But does that make him evil? I’m not sure. You would know more about power than I do.”
Nina bristled and faced forward again. She refused to appreciate his face and arms and hands a second longer. “If you believe that all power is the same, then you are sorely mistaken.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Kasik mumbled under his breath.
They had argued, but Nina was left thoroughly dissatisfied. Especially as the road narrowed and Kasik rode ahead, giving her his back. Capac’s tail swished back and forth along with Kasik’s hair. She snorted and then pressed her lips together when Kasik turned to glare at her.
But mirth bled away into appreciation once again.
There was no doubt in her mind that he was beautiful, carved with care by the gods he so dutifully served. His long black hair was tied at the nape of his neck and fell against his back in a discreet show of privilege. Those who labored kept it braided and out of the way most of the time. Kasik’s was thick and shiny, and she wanted to run her fingers through it. Just once, to see how it felt.
Instead, she ran her mental fingers against the threads burning in his chest. They didn’t shy away from her touch so long as Nina kept admiring. She thought about the definition in his arms, the strength in his legs as he sat atop Capac without a hint of strain, the confidence with which he wielded both weapon and mind.
This was how she would get past the emperor’s many achilla. This was how she would kill him.
With less finesse than she had intended, she took Kasik’s thread in hand and tugged, appeasing the curiosity to know just how far she could go. Kasik gasped and beneath him, Capac jerked to a halt, his ears back and slitted eyes trained on the distance as if searching for a threat.
But the threat was right behind him, and Nina had failed. Kasik’s threads disappeared between one blink and the next, leaving her hands and head and heart emptier than ever. The ground seemed to tilt beneath her with the loss.
Illari carried her to Kasik’s side. His hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist, tugging her closer to him and keeping her seated on Illari. Perhaps unintentionally, Nina thought, as Kasik bent over her, eyes boring into hers, his usually full lips pressed into a grim line, and said through gritted teeth, “What did you do?”
26
Kasik had felt a prodding in his chest and thought it merely the quiet discomfiture of his soul. Or perhaps a nudge from the gods. But when he turned to find Nina pale and shaking, he knew he was entirely wrong. It wasn’t his conscience that made him pull up short. It wasn’t a sudden surge of pity that stole his breath. It was Nina and her godlike power digging beneath his skin, searching for a hold of his will.
Capac was unsteady beneath him. The forest on either side of them was whispering frantically, as if it had heard a salacious secret and was spreading it far and wide. Nina’s pulse skittered beneath his thumb.
“Kasik, I—”
“If you want to kill me, then go ahead.” He pulled her closer and pressed her hand against his chest, right over the beating drum beneath his bone. “But at least look me in the eye while you do it.”
Nina yanked away. Illari shifted closer to Capac, pressing their legs together. “I wasn’t trying to kill you, Kasik.”
“Then what is it you are doing, Nina, because you are driving memad. You have made it perfectly clear that you do not want to be here, and I know for a fact that you could stop me if you chose to. So,what are you doing?”
“I have made my choice, and I am sticking to it.Thatis what I am doing. Surely, you can understand.”
Her tone was mocking, but Kasik knew he deserved whatever she threw his way. “Why did you come back?” he asked, remembering what it had been like to watch her throw that stone at the achiyanga, her face a blur of fierce shadows and sharp edges. He was at once terrified of thetruth he knew was coming and hopeful for the answer he wanted. “Why did you save me time and again?”
“I don’t want your blood on my hands.” It was so simple, the way she said it. So obvious that Kasik was embarrassed he had thought anything else of it. “We aren’t enemies, but we aren’t allies, either. You belong to the emperor.”
So do you. We are the same, he wanted to say. Instead, he asked, “Would you have told me about your power?”
Nina sighed and shifted, but her leg stayed pressed against his. He was endlessly grateful, though this touch wasn’t his to have. The red tunic she now wore was a stark reminder of who she belonged to, who theybothbelonged to, and once they were back at the kancha, Nina would marry Maicu and Kasik would head north to join Samaq and his men. They would finish collecting the Harvest and then return to celebrate Inti Raymi.
Life would go back to the way it was before he was sent on this mission.
He could continue to avoid his tayta and Maicu, could continue to pretend like one day, he wouldn’t be taking Atik’s place as the emperor’s right hand. But these things would happen whether or not he wanted them to.
“No,” Nina finally said, eyes downcast, fingers plucking at a loose thread in the hem of her tunic. “I don’t think I can trust you.”
