Chapter 34 #2
Atik had erased all traces of Aliyma’s life and given the only thing left of her to Kasik, the son he had discarded and denied.
Kasik had trained with renewed vigor after that, for no one but himself. To be stronger, faster, better than his tayta ever was, and eventually, because it felt like breathing. Like being free. It was the only time that his mind
was clear and he didn’t have to worry or consider or plan.
After leaving Nina, Kasik took the side exit out of the kancha, the same one he had taken the day he found Samaq and Chaska
whispering in the shadows, and paused just outside the door. The training ring was close enough to touch, but between it and
him strode Emperor Maicu, his gait relaxed, a curved blade spinning idly in his hands. Kasik was immediately on guard.
“Care for a spar?” Maicu asked. “It’s been quite some time since we’ve had fun.”
Kasik couldn’t help but think he had manifested this moment with his foolishly reminiscent thoughts. “Of course,” he said, because he had no other choice. Nobody said no to the emperor.
“I know I can always count on you.” Maicu gripped his shoulder and steered him toward the center of the ring. The walla that
were training scampered away with murmured honorifics, but Maicu paid them no mind. All his attention was focused on Kasik.
The brocaded red-and-gold tunic he wore looked out of place, and his blade flashed in the light as it twirled in his hand.
Maicu wasn’t a strong fighter, but he knew how to distract his opponent and entertain a crowd. One was growing on the other
side of the short wall. Walla and attendants alike leaned on their elbows, thirsty for royal intrigue, making guesses behind
their hands.
Kasik pulled his blade from the sheath at his hip and spread his feet shoulder-width apart.
“Don’t go easy on me, all right?” Maicu flashed a smile. “Just like it used to be.”
Like it used to be, when Maicu wasn’t the emperor and instead Kasik’s friend. When they were just boys without real responsibilities,
without the lives of men in their hands, without the burden of failure on their backs.
Maicu made the first move, bringing his blade around and against Kasik’s. The sound of metal against metal clanged through
the air and vibrated up Kasik’s arms and into his jaw and ears. He braced himself for Maicu’s next move. They knew each other’s
dances well enough that the first several moments of the fight were equally matched, Kasik meeting each of Maicu’s swings
with a perfectly placed one of his own.
“You’re not trying, Kasik.”
It was true that he was holding back, only meeting Maicu blow for blow, and as his movements increased in speed and pressure,
so too did Kasik’s.
Maicu brought his blade up and around to the right and Kasik spun away, moving in a circle that had the emperor turning and turning.
Kasik lightly kicked the back of Maicu’s knees.
It had always been his weak spot when they were kids, and Kasik assumed Maicu would have worked on it in the year since he had become emperor.
He hadn’t done so expecting to fool the emperor.
But that was exactly what happened. By the time Kasik was facing Maicu again, he was on his knees, eyes turned up to Kasik,
who towered before him, shock and betrayal screaming from his expression. There was a moment, just a fleeting, whispered heartbeat,
where Kasik could see the edge of his blade swiping across Maicu’s throat, his eyes widening in surprise, his hands scrabbling
for purchase against the blood-soaked skin, trying to hold all of himself in.
The single moment of distraction cost Kasik. Maicu’s leg swept him from the side and he landed on his back, all the air in
his lungs gone in one whoosh.
Maicu stood over him. “You think too much about things that do not concern you.” The edge of his blade sank into the dirt
a handsbreadth from Kasik’s face. “You used to be much more fun.”
It took a moment for Kasik to regain his breath and answer the emperor. “I could say the same about you.” He took the hand
that Maicu offered. “And I am only concerned with your safety.”
Maicu grinned, and it immediately reminded Kasik of the friend he once knew. “I am perfectly safe with you, am I not?”
Kasik rolled his eyes and huffed a laugh. “You think too highly of yourself.”
“Do I? I’m decent with a blade, deadly handsome, whip-smart, and perceptive.” Maicu walked toward the edge of the ring and
Kasik followed. “Perceptive enough to see things that others do not see for themselves.”
Kasik’s steps faltered.
“For example.” Maicu inspected his blade before passing it to his guard, who wiped it free of dirt and then gently slid it
into the scabbard at Maicu’s waist. “I can see that you care for Nina.”
Kasik tensed further, mind racing. “I care for her safety,” he vehemently stated. “As you have commanded me to.”
“Ah.” Maicu turned to face him fully. “I think it is more than that.”
“You’re wrong.” Kasik shook his head and held Maicu’s eyes, a carefree smile plastered onto his face. “It’s not often it happens,
but it is possible.”
Maicu clamped a hand around the back of Kasik’s neck, his long fingers digging into the pulse points on either side, and pulled
him closer, until there was only a sliver of space between them. If anyone was watching, they’d think it a friendly conversation.
A meaningful touch between men who were like brothers. “Do not insult me, Kasik.” He whispered his name like a rebuke. “I
see the way you watch her.”
Several scenarios ran through Kasik’s mind. He could continue to deny it and fuel the emperor’s rage, or he could concede
and admit he was right. Either way might earn him a dagger in the belly. He never remembered Maicu being this perceptive.
His friend had been raucous and carefree, but this version of him felt unpredictable, lethal.
Suddenly the emperor laughed, his breath tickling Kasik’s cheek before he backed away and removed his hand from Kasik’s neck.
He used that same hand to clap him on the shoulder. “My friend, I only worry. Desire changes people. It can turn the most
loyal of us into traitors, the fiercest warriors into softhearted pacifists, and the consequences of that are heavier than
you can imagine,” Maicu said, eyes narrowed as he inspected Kasik’s face. “But you’ve seen what I am willing to do to protect
this land. You understand, don’t you?”
Kasik merely nodded, thrown off guard at the slightly crazed look in Maicu’s eye, at the way he bounced between friendly laughing and deranged warnings. Maicu continued speaking, lost in his own thoughts, eyes clouded over as if Kasik wasn’t there at all.
“The gods,” he whispered conspiratorially, as if they were listening. “They demand much of me. Nina will change everything.”
Then he straightened and wagged a finger between them. “Thank you for this. Same time tomorrow?”
Though Kasik’s hands were trembling, he folded into a bow. “As you command it,” he said, hoping that it would appease Maicu,
that he would leave Kasik to consider what he knew needed to be done.
But Maicu stepped closer and placed a hand on Kasik’s chest. Head tilted, he hummed as if understanding something vital. “Be
certain that Nina receives plenty of rest tonight. She must be exhausted from your long journey.” Maicu gave him a close-lipped
smile and then turned away. “Oh, I want you to bring Nina to my rooms for dinner tomorrow night, and leave Taruc to guard.
I think you need some rest as well.”
“Emperor, I—”
“That was a command, Kasik,” Maicu chided quietly. Dangerously. Kasik nodded, and then Maicu smiled wide.
“You’re a good friend,” he said, patting his chest twice before turning to walk away.
Kasik watched and fought the urge to drive his sword into his emperor’s back. Never in his life had he wished to be free of
his honor more than he did in that moment.