Chapter 29 #2
“You do not need me,” Galipei spits. “You are on course toward winning anyway. Palace soldiers have abandoned their barracks in the provinces. Each yamen is a power vacuum, following usurpers who claim to be gods. When the Weisannas all die in battle with you, August has lost. That’s it.”
Calla considers the landscape he has drawn. The wind of victory, blowing behind her.
“It seems you have quite some faith behind my power.”
“I watched the broadcasts that your parents used to do.”
The pivot turns her blood to ice. Galipei is not so afraid after all, because she could torture him to ribbons only for this topic.
“Call it a bout of research,” he goes on. “When August started looking for you, we had to cover all possible leads. I grew curious whether there might be anything of use spoken by the king and queen of Er.”
“I imagine you did not find much.”
Her fondness for her parents starts and ends at their lineage passed on to this body of hers.
When she thinks back to her years in the palace, there are moments where the king and queen of Er hardly feel like real people to her.
It is more drastic now, knowing about Sinoa Tuoleimi.
They hadn’t birthed an innocent child into the world. They had birthed destruction.
“I found that they killed a lot of people who disagreed with them,” Galipei says.
“That was not surprising. But San-Er hated them less than they hated Kasa. If you asked me, I’d say they were better at justifying it.
Near the end of his reign, Kasa laughed in his people’s misery.
Your parents had the decency to pretend. ”
Calla waits. Galipei shakes his head.
“You are Kasa in this instance. You laugh at misery.”
“Please,” Calla sneers. “Don’t compare me to him.”
“I saw the corpses after your hit on Eigi’s base. Seiqi was practically decapitated. She treated you kindly in the palace, and you cut her down without any thought.”
“You would have killed any soldier just the same.” The proof is at her feet, at the drying pool of blood.
“I am not a king. I will always serve, and so I forever have reason for my cruelty. My devotion ranks higher than my humanity. What about you? How do you justify the cost?”
Calla says nothing.
“How,” Galipei exclaims, “do you justify the people you have killed?”
“There will be a different kingdom at the end,” Calla says, “and that is enough.”
Galipei appears satisfied. Despite everything, he is satisfied.
“Now,” he says, “you sound just like your parents.”
Fuck this.
“Defect to my side,” Calla says, “and I will spare August’s life. He will be handed over to you at the end of the war, under your care.”
Galipei goes still. He does not dare trust that Calla might mean it.
“It’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” she pushes.
She toes the stains on the floor. What a waste of a sacrifice—what a stupid plan to throw his life onto, underestimating Anton for how fiercely he can fight.
“You came in as August’s sole savior. You hoped you could win the war for him with your love as a weapon. ”
“Stop,” Galipei says.
“If the Weisannas are all dead, then no one can stop me from killing August. If the Weisannas do not die before the capital is weak enough to be a battleground, I will kill August with one swing when he marches in. Do you understand me, Galipei? Do you understand what I am capable of?”
He does. Because he has just accused her of being worse than she thought herself.
“I cannot imagine,” he says, “what you could want me for.”
“Routes,” Calla answers. If their ambush is to succeed, they need confirmation, not rough guesswork about the most logical path that August may take.
“August’s camps. August’s projected base, because he will want to put down roots while he waits us out.
Anton knows him well, but you know him best. You must have seen and heard enough before you were ousted. ”
Galipei is silent.
Calla picks up her lamp again. The light changes. Galipei tries to shutter his expression to prevent her from reading it, but it’s too late.
“He will hate you,” she confirms. “You will live on two opposite ends of a manor in the provinces. It may take him years to understand. But he will be yours. And you will be his savior.”
“You are asking me to betray him.”
“You will betray him, because that is the only way I allow you to have him,” Calla says.
“I don’t want him dead either, Galipei. I want him tucked away in exile, posing some distant threat while I handle the Crescent Societies after the fact.
So do me this favor, and we both come out of it with something gained. ”
Calla reaches into her pocket. Brings out the key to the cell.
“Can you do that?” she prompts.
“You ask me to exchange my dignity,” Galipei says. “My honor.”
“There is no honor the moment you submit to a king. You should know that.”
Whether she speaks of August or herself, it is unclear. Someone coughs from another cell. There’s a loud thud from the entry door, which means Anton is warning her that the Crescents are coming.
“This is an opportunity I am offering you once,” Calla warns. “I am running out of time. The Crescent Societies are set to block San-Er of qi, and I would like to be on the move before then.”
Galipei looks to his hands. He says, “The godling of qi, the godling of control, and the godling of greed.”
Calla’s entire body seizes.
“The three brides of the heavens,” Galipei goes on before Calla has the chance to reply. “That’s the story Otta told when she gave me the sigil.”
Calla was staring at the mural only earlier in the hour. The king of the heavens and his three brides of balance, sustaining his throne. Qi. Control. Greed.
“She is powerful enough to give you a tough fight, even if you defeat August,” Galipei says. “What good is defecting to you if she’s the one who wins?”
“Don’t you trust that I can defeat her in battle?” Calla asks.
“No.”
Then Calla is wasting her time. Another thud from the door. Anton’s final warning. She turns to go.
“I need your promise that you will do everything in your power to kill Otta before you quell August’s forces,” Galipei calls after her. “Don’t give her the room to turn on him.”
Calla halts in her step. She considers the appeal. There is something peculiar about this request. Something that tells her he would covet the promise only if he knows that she is capable of meeting it.
“Galipei,” she says, “I’m getting the sense that you know more than you’re letting on.”
She turns over her shoulder. Galipei stares ahead starkly. He gestures for her to come closer. Back to the bars, where she is within reach. In an act of trust, Calla inches toward him again. Leans in, her hair twining against the latch and into the cell.
“If you want to get rid of her,” Galipei says, “I know one sigil she doesn’t have. I read about it in the Dovetail letters—the calling card for the king of the heavens. It’s at the old Makusa manor in Kelitu.”