Taruc’s body slumped forward onto Maicu’s shoulder, and then Maicu stepped back and let the body fall to the floor. When he turned his attention to her, the black of his eyes almost wholly swallowed the gold, until there was only a ring of it that looked like it was lit from within. In his hand, a small silver blade twinkled ominously in the firelight.
“Nothing”—Maicu stepped closer, until the tips of his toes were touching Nina’s—“will come between what the gods have in store forus.” He slid his knife beneath his tunic and then brought his bloody hand to her cheek. It was a tender touch, an intimate exploration that made her knees tremble. She could smell the iron tang of blood mixed with the sweet odor of chicha as he pressed his lips to her forehead. “Sleep well, Nina,” he murmured in her ear.
And then he turned and strolled down the hall, leaving Taruc’s body and Nina behind, the blood he’d smeared on her cheek a reminder of who was to blame.
When he was gone, Nina carefully skirted around the blood that spread from underneath the body, swallowing the stone and crawling closer to her, chest tight with a scream that pressed against her throat and tongue.
Beneath that, there was something else. Something that she refused to identify.
A remembered pressure. A reluctant satisfaction.
Her attay stirred sleepily. It saw the death, the blood, and it smiled.
38
Kasik watched the sunlight fill his room, the thoughts that had kept him awake all night no less agitated than when he lay down, and considered what to do next. He was now in possession of another secret that belonged to Nina. Samaq was herbrother. His friend who Kasik had known for almost ten years was Nina’s flesh and blood. The similarities were there. Their smiles, their desire to trust, their propensity toward affection.
At least he wouldn’t have to tell Nina her brother was dead. If only Kasik knewwhereSamaq was, and why. He decided to think on that rather than the devastating news his tayta had delivered. There was nothing he could do about that mess, and wallowing in self-pity didn’t help.
Struck with an idea, Kasik threw back the sheets and dressed in training clothes, determined to exert some of his anger in the ring. When he arrived, he found he wasn’t the only one up so early. A few of his fellow walla lingered nearby, all of them watching him with wary eyes. He looked behind him, wondering if perhaps Atik was hiding in the shadows, waiting to pounce on him once again.
Then he remembered what his face must have looked like, and thoughtthatwas why they were staring at him. But nobody said anything, and he was beginning to think he was missing something crucial.
“What’s going on?” he asked the walla closest to him. It wasn’t someone he knew by name, and that made Kasik feel guilty.
The boy nodded his head in deference and then glanced at the others surrounding them. “Taruc is dead, Kamayuq.”
“What?”Kasik whispered the question through clenched teeth. “How do you know this?”
“The emperor tasked those two with cleaning up the body.” He nodded over Kasik’s shoulder to a couple of men cleaning their hands in a trough of water that they usually used to clean their blades. “He was found stabbed... outside Nina’s door—”
Kasik was running back into the kancha before the boy finished his sentence.
Everything was a blur as he turned corner after corner, skidding across the stone floors and glancing off stone walls until coming to a stop before Nina’s door, where a dark stain had been hastily scrubbed. There were no walla guarding her door. No sign to tell him she was safely inside.
All he could do was imagine the worst. He didn’t bother knocking, simply threw himself into the room, chest heaving as his eyes landed on the back of Nina sitting at the small table, the fire in her hearth down to embers. He rounded her small frame and sank to his knees in front of her, relieved to see her beautiful brown eyes open and alert as they traced over him.
“Kasik?” she whispered. She reached out and ran gentle fingertips across his jaw, sending a wave of pinpricks over his entire body. Kasik had forgotten about the run-in with his tayta, the bruise that darkened his jaw, the revelation about his mamay. Nina’s fingertips brought awareness to the pain, but also to another feeling, one that eclipsed the pain and made his head spin.
“What—” she started.
“It’s nothing,” he told her. And itwas. Nothing but a distant discomfort now that he knew she was alive.
But her fingers didn’t leave his skin. They followed the path of his neck, down the slope of his shoulders, her hand coming to rest againsthis pulse. She moved closer until he was breathing in the scent of her, imagining it everywhere.
Then her forehead dropped against his shoulder and her chest rose and fell with a quiet, deep breath.
“Nina,” Kasik started carefully. “What happened?”
He felt her hand curl into a fist. Felt the tremble of clenched fingers and frustration as if they were his own. And then she stood abruptly, pacing the floor in front of him with her hands in her hair.
“It’s my fault,” Nina said miserably. “I tried toseducehim. Gods, I was such a fool. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
Kasik pushed off the floor and stood. “What are you saying?”
“The achilla, I wondered if I could get him to remove it. And he almost did.” She finally looked at Kasik. “I didn’t know how else to convince him, but then he found this,” she said, thrusting her bent arm at Kasik and showing him the small scab on her elbow. “And he pushed me away. Hedeniedme, and then he said he was going to teach me a lesson.”
The way she said the word made it sound as though she was hurt by his rejection. A flare of anger pulsed in Kasik’s chest. “He was going to deny you regardless.” The words were harsher than he meant, and the hurt that passed over Nina’s face made him falter. He ran his hands through his hair and cursed. It had to be done. She needed to know the truth.
