Chapter 32
“May the gods . . .” the emperor called, standing above them all, a golden cup in one hand and the other splayed on the table.
One of his ringed fingers tapped against the cup, perfectly in sync with the beat of Kasik’s heart. “Favor this union.” He
poured a tiny amount of the chicha onto the floor at his feet, and the rest of the guests at the table did the same.
Kasik was slow to grab his cup, to pour, to drink, acutely aware of his tayta’s attention, of Maicu and his expectations,
of Nina and her ire, of Chaska and her indifference.
One misstep, and they would all question his intent in different ways.
The chicha went down like acid. It didn’t help that he felt Nina’s desperation like a hand wrapped around his throat. He couldn’t
tell if the uncertainty he sensed was hers or his own.
If Maicu knew of the doubts Kasik harbored, the animosity brewing in his heart, he would have him disposed of without a second
thought. In fact, Kasik had no need to wonder whether his tayta would be glad to carry out that specific task.
The gods might be keeping him alive only so long as Maicu decided so, and if he was dead, there would be no one left to protect
Nina.
Unless he didn’t stay. He could help Nina escape and then leave with her. They could find Shayim’s ayllu again. Perhaps he
could find Samaq and his men, and then they could all hide there.
Like cowards. The achiyanga would probably smell their fear and eat them alive before they found it again.
Underneath the table, something bumped his foot. He glanced sideways. Master Wara’s eyes were wide with warning, and then Kasik heard his name, as effective as a slap across his cheek. He whipped his head up to find Maicu’s gaze fixed on him, lips tilted into a semblance of a smile.
“Are you with us?” he asked pointedly.
Kasik’s fingers tingled with dread. They knew of his traitorous thoughts. They would kill him, and then they would kill Nina,
and Samaq would be lost forever, perhaps captured and tortured by the kukuchi and—
“We were just discussing the festival.” Empress Chaska’s voice pulled him out of the spiral. Beside her, Nina sat demurely,
brows furrowed as she watched him falter. “We’ve heard news from Uwaco.”
“From Uwaco?” he repeated mindlessly. Maicu hadn’t told him. When he glanced at the emperor, he found him running a finger
around the rim of his cup. He looked as though he had no interest in relaying that news to him now.
Chaska glanced at Maicu before she continued. “Yes. They’ve agreed to attend, and whatever choice they’ve made will be displayed
in the color of their garments.”
It was a practice that hadn’t been used since before Emperor Yachua began uniting the territories. Custom required that foreigners
wore black to set themselves apart. Once they became allies, they would wear a mutually agreed upon color that represented
their union.
Emperor Maicu’s color was red. Those who belonged to him wore it as well, while those under his care wore blue, as Nina was
wearing. He wondered what color they would put her in for the ceremony, and if she would belong to him even in death.
Kasik blew out a breath and leaned back, shoving the image of her blood-covered body aside. “That’s brave of them,” he said
somberly.
“They flaunt their insubordination,” Atik said, dismissing his son entirely. “They deserve to be made examples of.”
“We cannot kill everyone who does not submit to the emperor’s plans,” Kasik said, looking directly at his tayta, challenging
him to meet his glare. “If Uwaco chooses to remain independent, then that is their right.”
“I agree,” Chaska chimed in. “A gentle hand is needed in situations like this, and Emperor Maicu is so very good at inspiring
loyalty. Let them choose him, for when they do, they will be unfailingly true to their word.”
Master Wara leaned forward and cleared his throat. “The empress is right,” he said simply. It wasn’t often that Kasik’s teacher
spoke up, most times remaining neutral in situations of dissent. “They will see that joining is to their benefit.”
“They must be convinced.” The words came from the mamakuna of Qorikancha. It was true that Master Wara did not speak up often,
and this woman spoke even less than he did. Kasik didn’t even know her name, only that she wore nothing but purple, and sometimes,
her words weighed more than even Atik’s. A fact that Atik seemed to resent at that moment, if his blanched lips and flared
nostrils were any indication.
The mamakuna and Emperor Maicu shared a look, and Kasik took the opportunity to glance at Nina. Her attention was pinned on
the emperor, her eyes darting over his features as if she was committing them to memory. Kasik dropped his hands below the
table to shake them out.
“We will find a way to do so, I’m sure.” Maicu shifted to Atik, and they continued to speak, but Kasik allowed himself to
be distracted by Nina, determined to decipher each small movement of her face. He remembered the vow she had made at the ayllu,
that she would find a way to be free, and he wondered what exactly she was planning.
The divot between her brows was deep with thought and her lips were pressed tightly together. If she wasn’t careful, she’d give herself away. But when he glanced around the table, he noted no one was watching her as closely as he was. Perhaps it was him who would give her away.
“—she will begin her instruction with Master Wara,” Maicu was saying. “Kasik, you will escort her there every day, and Mamakuna,”
he said, turning his attention to the woman in purple on the other side of Chaska, “you will see Nina tomorrow?”
“Of course,” the mamakuna answered. “Though we have plenty of time.”
“Best to get it over with now. We don’t want to waste anyone’s time,” Maicu said. The mamakuna nodded, and then the conversation
veered toward other things, like the territories that had asked for extensions on their chani and the acllas who were due
for service selection.
He heard Chaska lean over and say, “Don’t worry—it’s a rather quick and boring affair.”
Kasik kept an eye on Nina, noting the way she hardly touched her food, and wondered what thoughts ran through her head. She
stared at the plate as if considering the effectiveness of using it as a weapon and then seemed to decide against it. He should
have looked away instead of allowing himself to soften toward her.
Nothing good could come of it.
It wasn’t that she was more desirable like this, in a beautiful blue dress accented with gold that lit up her skin like the
sun. It was that she carried herself as if she belonged there. As if she was there by choice.
Nina deserved to know the truth, and he had to be the one to tell her. When the room came into focus again, Chaska and Nina
were bent toward each other, Chaska’s lips moving quickly and Nina nodding along while the others around him conversed.
The emperor must have noticed because he cleared his throat and addressed them directly. “Chaska,” he said. “Did you help our Nina get settled?”
“Yes, my love,” Chaska responded, saccharine and direct. “We had a wonderfully enlightening teatime.”
Kasik watched as Nina swallowed the bite of food she had finally taken, the delicate line of her throat bobbing slightly before
she spoke. “I’m very grateful for the comforting reminder of home.”
They spoke as if they shared some secret and he worried whether anyone else heard it. More than that, he worried that Nina
seemed to take a liking to Chaska so quickly. The empress was just as calculating as the rest of them. Nina didn’t consider
him an ally, but neither should she trust Chaska.
The emperor clapped his hands. “Wonderful,” he said. The gold of his rings caught the light as he placed a hand on her shoulder,
and then he leaned closer and whispered into her ear.
Nina gave in to him willingly, even going so far as to place a hand atop of his. Watching them speak so intimately made Kasik’s
stomach burn with an unfamiliar emotion. He imagined them speaking like that often, behind closed doors, perhaps with less
clothing on, and he was suddenly, loathsomely happy that it would never come to pass. That she wasn’t truly meant to marry
him, and Maicu would therefore never have the pleasure of knowing what it felt like to be with her in that way.
But her performance was convincing, and Kasik couldn’t help but think that she reminded him of his tayta. Obedient but perceptive.
Eager but shrewd. Powerful in a way that was threatening if one decided.
“I think our guest must be exhausted from her journey.”
Chaska’s voice cut through his thoughts. Everyone looked at her, including Maicu, who leaned back from Nina. It felt as though a fist loosened from around Kasik’s heart.
“Yes, of course,” he said. “Kasik.”
Kasik whipped his head toward Maicu, his heart in his throat as if he had been caught. Again. “Please see that Nina finds
her rooms.”
“Thank you, Emperor Maicu.” Nina stood quickly and smiled, the sweetest smile he had ever seen on her face, and Kasik finally
placed the nameless emotion burning in his chest. It was jealousy, because Kasik had never gotten that kind of smile. There
had never been the time, he knew that, but she had just met Maicu, and he was lying to her even then. He planned to make it
so she never smiled again. He didn’t deserve a single one of them.
Kasik knew he didn’t, either, but perhaps that could change.
The conversation picked up again as Kasik stood. They had all dismissed him, his tayta especially, but still he held himself
rigid, forcing his hands to open the door, his feet to carry him out, his eyes to stay straight ahead.
The door snicked closed and he took a deep breath, turned to ask Nina if she was all right, and found her halfway down the
hall, her slippered feet nearly silent on the stone floor.
“Nina,” he called, but she kept walking. When he tried to grab her arm, she dodged away from his touch and walked faster.
There was no reason to stop her, not when she was heading in the correct direction, and he couldn’t do what needed to be done
in these halls where there were no secrets kept.
The urge to comfort her made his chest hurt.
“Nina, please,” he said again, following as closely as he could without seeming too eager. “Let me help you.”
Finally, she whirled around. Her eyes and the tip of her nose were red. When she lifted a hand to wipe at a stray tear, it trembled slightly. She clenched it against her belly. “I think you’ve done enough, don’t you?”
The words rooted him to the spot. The truth of them pierced him as surely as the sharpest blade. Before he could respond,
she turned and stormed off, leaving him to stare after her and wonder what he was meant to do next.