Kasik clenched his teeth and looked away. Down the road, into the trees, anywhere but at Nina’s imploring eyes and downturned mouth. He was weak. Maicu had been wrong to trust him with this. “Then why not kill me so that you could be free of this? Why let me take you against your will?”
Closing his eyes, he waited for the fingers of her power to pluck at his soul, for her to rip it out of his body like she had the t’ira, but all hefelt was a gentle brush. A pleasant tickle that made him want to lean in, to press his lips to her skin, to breathe her in. He wanted, he wanted, hewanted—
Nina’s power disappeared, leaving a void in his chest that hadn’t been there before. Kasik fought the urge to press a fist against it to hold it all in.
“I refuse to absolve you of this,” she said, her voice hardly more than a whisper but challenging, nonetheless. “You have made your choices, and now you will live with them.”
Kasik opened his eyes. Her face was close enough that the world behind her had begun to blur. “And if I cannot?” he murmured, his gaze darting to her mouth.
Beneath them, Capac and Illari leaned closer, their bodies supporting one another. Even the trees and their leaves seemed to dip lower, just as he did. Time seemed to stall. It was only them and this moment, this choice swirling in the space between their bodies, dark and delicate and consuming. An ember waiting to catch and burn everything to the ground.
“Then make different choices,” Nina said. As if it was the simplest thing in the whole world. And perhaps it could be. She made him want to riot, to forsake the vows he had made to himself and his emperor, to shuck the expectations of himself and embrace the wild chaos that seemed to follow Nina like a cloud.
But he knew the truth of that darkness and the dangers it held. He remembered the stories of the gods with power, the way it drove them mad with an unquenchable thirst.
He knew they would all be safer with her in the emperor’s hands.
It was that thought that betrayed him. Nina stiffened and yanked away, her absence sucking the breath from his lungs. Illari huffed and skidded sideways with the abrupt movement. He watched as Nina’seyes hardened, as her mouth turned down into a severe and uncompromising slant, and the warmth from her skin on his faded to a lonely, regretful cold.
So much had happened, so much had changed, and yet nothing at all. It seemed as though they were fated to be forever at odds. And for reasons he could not explain, Kasik bemoaned that most of all.
They burned away whatever had happened between them by running the achipumas through most of the night. When they did stop, Kasik didn’t bother to light a fire. The sky had already begun to lighten from a deep blue to a soft purple. He only let Nina rest until the sun’s orange light peeked through the trees, and then they were off again. She didn’t complain, though he could see the way she grimaced and shifted every so often.
Now they sat side by side, their legs close but not touching, so that the heat of her was only a faint impression. Below, stone walls cut through vibrant green grass like a snake. On one side were mountainous forests as far as the eye could see. On the other was a sprawling city which, from where they stood, looked like a maze of small stone buildings from the gates to the center where Qorikancha sat.
The temple of the sun god sparkled in the late-afternoon light. It spread from one end of the walls to the other, the brown stone interspersed with flecks of gold that Kasik knew were the size of his head. It sat above everything like a sentinel, each level higher and brighter than the one below it, stretching far up into the sky as if to reach the gods themselves.
Directly behind it was Amaru Kancha, a formidable fortress set atop a shallow hill with Qorikancha at its gates and the continuation of those stone walls cutting it off from the mountain. Kasik could see the mainbuilding, where the emperor slept and ate and lived, and the kallankas where he and his men slept. The training grounds were a large, bright green circle amid the stone.
The last time he had walked those grounds, he had been following Samaq. Watching as his only true friend met with the empress in secret and spoke in low tones and familiar touches. Kasik couldn’t shake the memory, but it was going to have to be a discussion for another time. With Samaq, hopefully, so he could understand before jumping to conclusions, and not with his tayta, who would be waiting for them in Amaru Kancha.
Dread filled Kasik’s belly, but he swallowed it and dismounted. “We’ll walk from here,” he said. Nina obeyed without question, sliding off Illari with more grace and confidence than she had when they first met a fortnight ago. He remembered the way she had torn at her robes. The way she had refused his help. The way he had been both impressed and exasperated by her determination.
So much had happened, and the memories would be all he’d have of her once they reached those walls. Memories that he would shove away until they were all but forgotten.
Back on two legs, they stood side by side, beholding the city before them. The homes in the capital were small and laid out in neat rows, their roofs peaked in the center to imitate the mountains around them. There were paths of green between them, and leading to the doors of Qorikancha was a winding dirt road where the people gathered on market days and celebrations.
People dressed in varying shades of red and blue milled about, tiny pinpricks of color against the browns and greens. There was a slight chill in the air that meant that winter was fast approaching, and with it, the end of the Harvest and the first day of Inti Raymi celebrations.
Soon after, the streets of Vira would be transformed. Snow wouldcover rooftops and fill the spaces between homes. Families would spend more time inside around their fires. The walla would exchange their sleeveless tunics for layers of coats and fur, and travel would become more difficult and less frequent.
Kasik glanced at Nina. She was studying the city with something akin to awe written across her features. He wondered what it looked like from her eyes, and how he would manage to avoid her once he returned. “This is your last chance to kill me,” he said lightly.
Nina laughed, and it eased the knot in his chest ever so slightly. “Not today,” she said somberly, pausing. “It’s bigger than I thought it would be.”
It was as if she was drinking in the sights and sounds like she would never see them again. As if Kasik was walking her to her death. It was what she had said, all those days ago, and it hurt to know that she still thought it.
The city was his home, and usually he was grateful for it. The excitement, the crowds and the noise, the possibilities, but today it weighed on him. He would miss the eerie quiet of the Tuta Kulla. The fresh air and cold streams, the murmur of the wind and whispers of creatures. The presence of Nina at his side.
“We should go,” he said, mostly for himself.
With a sigh, Nina stepped forward. He joined her a moment later and together, they walked toward their fates.
“Kamayuq Kasik,” one of the walla said with a nod as Nina and Kasik approached the large iron gates. There were two, both in simple red tunics with small achillas at their throats. “Welcome back.”
Behind them, the gate opened with creaks and groans. He would suggest to Maicu that it needed to be serviced. In fact, it wasn’t a bad ideato inspect the entire wall. He couldn’t get that one word,kukuchi, out of his head. Though he had brushed Shayim off when she shared her omen, it still poked at his mind. Surely, there was no harm in taking the extra precaution to ensure the safety of the capitol.
Kasik gave Capac and Illari the sign to follow, and they obeyed, keeping pace close behind. From the corner of his eye, Kasik saw Nina, arms crossed over her chest against the chill, watching the gate slowly open. She looked lost. Something he had not, in all their time together, seen from her. Kasik had to resist the temptation to reach out and ground her with a touch. To remind her that he was there at her side, traversing the same path.
