But it wasn’t the same path. He was returning, and she was discovering. They were on two different journeys, worlds apart, and he found himself once again admiring the way she swallowed down that uncertainty, straightened her shoulders, and held her head high as they walked past the wall and into the heart of Vira.
Storefronts lined the road, small houses peeking from behind, and though he had traveled these roads all his life, he felt like an outsider. Like a figure on display. The people watched them travel with wary interest. They stopped what they were doing to stare, hands held up to hide their mouths and their whispers, their gold bands and rings catching the light and Kasik’s attention. He couldn’t remember the last time he was in the city this way, among the people and the markets without a reason to rush by, but he never remembered it feeling so unwelcoming.
Kasik turned to Nina. “Come on,” he said, stepping up to Capac’s side and extending a hand. “We’ll ride the rest of the way.” To the walla, he said, “Take Illari to the enclosure and see to it that she’s fed and watered well.”
Only a few heartbeats passed before Nina’s hand was in his. He was surprised she complied so easily, and even more surprised when hesettled behind her on Capac’s back and she didn’t so much as shift away. It took only one click of his tongue before Capac was leaping down the road and Nina’s hair was lashing against his face.
Kasik knew he couldn’t protect her once they were behind the kancha walls. They would be no one to each other once again. But he could at least do this; save her from the judgment of strangers who had no idea who she was or what she was sacrificing to be there and serve their empire.
But he was also doing this for himself. The quicker they arrived, the sooner he could be done with this mission. He could walk away and forget Nina’s heat, her penetrating stare, her dangerous curiosity.
Perhaps only then, with time and space, he could forget that he had ever wanted her at all.
27
The heat of Kasik’s chest against Nina’s back was more familiar than the chill of her welcome to Vira. The people had stared at her as if she was unfit to walk their proper streets. She imagined she looked frightful, with her hair tangled down her back and the ill-fitting tunic hanging limply from her body, and she hated that she felt a sort of shame and want to belong wrapped up inside her because of it. Those kinds of thoughts would only set her off course.
But any and all thoughts fled the moment she caught sight of the temple.
They rounded a shallow corner and there it was, surrounded by paths of the most brilliant green and up on a stone foundation that lifted it several levels off the ground. The walls were stone, but there was gold everywhere that caught the last light of the sun, shimmering as if it had been set on fire. It was truly a spectacle to behold, one that took her breath away.
“This is Qorikancha, the temple of the sun.” Kasik had slowed Capac so that Nina could take in the view. “Behind it is Amaru Kancha, the emperor’s home and the royal grounds.”
Nina had seen the kancha from the hill above the city, but now that they were on ground level with Qorikancha, she couldn’t see past the sprawling building. She didn’t possess the words to describe the way the stones lay one on top of the other, how they formed sharp corners and, higher up, designs in the walls that spoke of time and patience.
There were columns jutting into the sky on either side of the main peak, each of which had the image of a god carved into its surface, the largest being the sun god, Inti. His likeness was gold shaped into a sunwith a face in the center. The tips of each ray were filed to an almost invisible point. His gaping eyes pierced straight through Nina.
It was the same face that decorated the disc on Kasik’s chest, but larger than life, both beautiful and terrifying to behold.
The homes in Limac were small. The offering site for Pachamama was a modest altar in the middle of the ayllu where the sea breeze was sharp and sweet and the earth was soft and supple.
This ground was hard, and the building towered over her and spread farther than her eyes could see, and she got the sense that she was nothing but a tiny, insignificant figure standing in front of an unknowable, unreachable god.
“When we arrived at the first set of gates, the walla there would have sent a message with a bird to my tayta. He’ll be waiting on the other side.”
“That sounds like an omen.” She half turned to see Kasik’s face, but his eyes were trained on those walls in the near distance, brows furrowed.
It was hard to imagine not being excited to see her family after being away. If it washertayta on the other side, she would have been clamoring to open the door, and she knew he would be waiting with a smile and arms wide open.
Nina wondered if they missed her. If they were worried for her. Sacha’s fragile health and Lali’s carefree spirit kept them plenty busy, but she was the one who had helped with the fields and the animals, who kept Lali occupied while Sacha was ill. Perhaps she hadn’t realized it at the time, but she knew her place there. She was needed, and seen, and loved.
Once she passed those walls, there would be no more hope of that. Kasik had made it very clear that her desires mattered little. That she was a tool. A pawn in the emperor’s schemes. She would play their game, but in her own way.
“Not an omen,” Kasik finally said, his voice unconvincing. “Only an inevitability.”
Nina hoped he was dreading this as much as she was. That this decision and her acquiescence would haunt his dreams. Mostly, she wanted him to remember her and think about her and care enough to wonder what might have happened had he simply disobeyed Emperor Maicu.
The closer they got to the wide wooden doors of Qorikancha, the harder it was to breathe. Fearsome-looking walla in bloody-red tunics stood at intervals along the perimeter, their wickedly sharp spears glinting with promise like the rays of Inti’s face.
It was a statement to all, one that said,Here Iam;do not come any closer.
And Nina was being escorted right through the doors.
“Kamayuq Kasik,” one of the walla called, placing a fist to his chest. Nina wasn’t familiar with the terms of their military, nor the importance of their ranks, but she had been under the impression that Kasik was someone further down, someone dispensable. He was young and had been sent on a glorified childminding mission. But the way the other walla nodded in deference told her a different story.
Kasik dismounted and held out a hand for Nina. She looked at it, and then back at Qorikancha, tempted to take Capac and run and never look back. Perhaps it wasn’t too late to go back to Shayim and learn to wield her attay. The choice she had made to kill the emperor felt ridiculous now that she was in the shadow of such grandiosity.
Who was she, except a nobody from Limac with untrained attay and a half-formed plan?
