Chapter 27
NIKIAS
Nikias had known that this wasn’t going to be a pleasant trip, but he had underestimated how easily Hypatia’s mere existence would get under his skin.
After they broke that first day, Nikias lost sight of Aimilia as Marcella swept her away and Gavril joined them shortly after, leaving Nikias with Commander Calix so Konstantin could lead them to their rooms. Konstantin gave Hypatia a sharp glare as they went, but she returned it only with an innocent grin—as innocent as she was capable of.
It was an empty gesture, since they all knew her true nature.
Nikias was torn the rest of the day between staying in his quarters and trying to find Aimilia, not because he had anything he wanted to discuss with her—at this point, he wasn’t really even certain he wanted to see her.
He was still too raw and exposed for that.
However, he could not deny that even when he didn’t want to see her, somehow he still did.
He wanted her even when he couldn’t bear to look at her at risk of seeing pity in her eyes, despite her best efforts to even the score between them.
Seeking her out meant running the risk of seeing Hypatia again.
He was in her territory now, and he’d hardly recovered any of the confidence and strength that he needed in order to survive a one-on-one interaction with the demon.
He had survived earlier thanks only to Aimilia’s presence, Gavril and Marcella.
It seemed that Konstantin, despite his initial first impression from the negotiations, was trying harder to tame Hypatia.
Nikias admired the dedication, even if it was ultimately foolish.
The real question was: how long could Konstantin try to tame her before it ended in the demon’s patience running out?
And when it did, they would be left with only Hypatia as the unifying force of the clans for the purposes of their treaty. How much harder would peace be to maintain then?
Nikias didn’t sleep at all that night. His mind spun as he lay on his bed, the moon crawling across the sky, the light coming in through large windows.
Question after question plagued him about Hypatia, Konstantin, and the Stonai.
They had only just barely gotten to the heart of Nikias’ experience with them when they had stopped for the day, and Nikias was clueless as to what had caused Hypatia’s secret messages to Marcella in the first place.
Could it be he had fallen for one of the demon’s traps again? What if this was all an elaborate scheme by her? What if she was working with the stone mages to cause all of this?
And if she was, did Konstantin know about it?
Of course, he would never believe that Marcella or Gavril could have any clue, but the demon’s husband was a mystery to him.
He could be just as twisted as she was secretly.
He might just be better at hiding it and appearing reasonable.
Of course, there were few monsters who didn’t appear reasonable when standing next to Hypatia, Nikias himself included.
When his mind wasn’t turning over whether or not he’d made a colossal mistake in coming, he was worrying over whether bringing Aimilia had been the mistake.
And it was like nothing had truly changed in the last several months.
The same question had plagued him every night while traveling to Hypatia’s camp.
It might have been his greatest mistake, letting the demon lay eyes on Aimilia that day. Nikias’ hand rested over his chiton, over his heart, not touching the scar beneath the cloth, but pressing a slight weight down onto it.
If he had left Aimilia behind, what would have happened then?
Nikias wasn’t foolish enough to believe he still wouldn’t have ended up beneath Hypatia’s hands to be tortured—he wouldn’t even want to be spared. Truly, it had been the only way to even begin to pay for what he had done to Marcella.
But if Hypatia hadn’t immediately zeroed in on his feelings for Aimilia, what would she have tortured him with then? He hadn’t helped matters by showing his hand when Aimilia offered herself as a sacrifice, despite the fact that he’d been doing everything to mask his feelings for her.
It was entirely possible it still would have gone the same way, given the demon’s unnatural ability to see what she called the future, but that remained to be proven.
The other possibility was that she would have eviscerated him by discovering his parents’ treatment of him, even that he allowed it now.
Of the two wounds Hypatia could have dug her nails into to maximize his suffering, he was still certain she’d found the deepest.
So when morning came he hid the bags under his eyes beneath an illusion.
He was in the demon’s territory. He could not give her so much as an inch of ground. He would not let her get so much as a fraction of satisfaction at his expense.
They might be allies, but he was going to win.
Nikias was pleasantly surprised when he entered the room to see only half of the commanding couple was there. The better half. As Marcella and Gavril followed Nikias into the room, Konstantin looked up from his notes and gave them a blinding smile—specifically at Marcella.
Nikias couldn’t help his suspicion of Konstantin’s affection for Marcella, given that their relationship was due only to the fact that they had both been desperate to get one over on Hypatia.
Konstantin acted as if each day had been years and she was actually a little sister he’d grown up with and not a stranger he’d bound himself to.
If the man wasn’t what he appeared to be, it was an excellent way to fool them all and play Hypatia’s opposite and win trust with Nikias and Gavril that Hypatia never could.
But Nikias has seen for himself how quickly Marcella won one’s fondness, even when she wasn’t trying first with Gavril, then Aimilia, and even himself when she’d granted him a forgiveness he could never earn, and had carried him out of the tent after Hypatia had tortured him.
She was very good at sneaking up on someone.
Konstantin immediately rattled off a sentence in the clan mages’ tongue that Marcella quickly replied to.
A few sentences later, both their faces fell slightly, although Marcella’s was more of one of confusion. Gavril’s brow was furrowed as well, and he shifted a little closer to Marcella. Nikias was the one of the four of them who knew the least of their tongue.
He knew some but it was easier for him to read it than it was to translate native speakers, especially when they spoke quickly.
Aimilia leaned in and spoke softly, saying, “Hypatia is insisting on going for a ride with Marcella and Gavril in order to catch up, while we stay here and work with Konstantin.”
Nikias’ relief warred once more with his suspicion. He could not simply take this as a mercy. Hypatia did not have a merciful bone in her body.
This was surely something else.
Since her attempts at getting information secretly from Marcella had failed in Areator, maybe this was her way of trying again.
Nikias could not bring himself to object though. Whatever the consequences, he would still rather deal with Konstantin alone than have Hypatia within ten feet of him or Aimilia.
Nikias wanted to see who Konstantin was when he wasn’t around Hypatia.
Nikias nodded and said, “Go ahead, Marcella. We shouldn’t require you or Gavril this morning. The three of us should be able to handle it.”
Marcella and Gavril parted with them, Marcella and Konstantin exchanging a few more words in their language, this time more softly, and if Nikias understood the last sentence correctly, it involved a promise from Konstantin they would meet later as well.
Once they were gone, Konstantin switched to Nikias’ tongue.
He turned toward Nikias and Aimilia with a tired but genuine smile. Seemingly genuine. “Shall we continue where we left off?”
Nikias said, “Yes, I believe I was detailing the tunnel pattern of the stone mages for your comparison. Our knowledge of the stone mages is limited, given our distance. But if my understanding is correct, they are not like Imperia—They are more like you and your clans in theory, meaning they do not have one united country. But instead, there are several distinct factions among them.”
Konstantin nodded. “That is correct. Any detail you have will help us in narrowing down which tribe was the one who attacked Areator. We do not yet know if this is one tribe or multiple. As I’m sure you’re aware, the last thing we want is for them to be unified.
” Konstantin grinned, taking all the teeth out of his next sentence.
“Given how easily a united enemy can bring even your nation to its knees.”
Nikias huffed, “You and I remember things differently. Your alliance didn’t bring us to our knees. You’re lucky it never came to that. My brother’s idealism and recklessness handed you a treaty. Not a victory.”
“Luck is for the faithless. You don’t understand what victory means to me.” Konstantin held out the map Nikias had been drawing yesterday. “I’m not my wife.”
Nikias took the map, highly aware of Aimilia’s eyes on him as she stood at attention in silence.
Nikias looked over Konstantin. “For your people’s sake, let’s hope so.”
He tilted his head and chose one of two roads he could go down following Nikias’ words. “For your people’s as well.”
Nikias gave Konstantin a nod and went back to drawing. He supposed any man unfortunate enough to be saddled with the demon would quickly have to grow an iron spine or be snapped in two.
It wasn’t hard to see which one Konstantin had chosen.
Nikias and Konstantin made substantial progress, with Nikias giving Konstantin as much information as he could about the stone mages and their attack. Nikias found it much easier to focus when Konstantin was the only figure he had to analyze.