Page 109 of Eyes of Kings

Footsteps approach. The palace guards surround her, and Calla does not lift her head.

“You will answer for this,” she tells Galipei, who has stood by. Who stayed to watch Anton die, to confirm it with his own eyes this time. “You and August both.”

She has no energy to summon anger. It is matter of fact. A statement. A promise. Anton’s black eyes have stayed open, devoid of any rippling light behind them. Dead as dead can be. Calla, softly, reaches over and closes them.

“I know,” Galipei replies.

A sharp sting pierces her shoulder. Calla doesn’t fight it. She doesn’t bother moving away. There is only one way this ends, and she knows what it will take to make it happen.

She lets the sedative take hold.

CHAPTER 54

The door to the throne room opens.

To say that August endures a great shock would be an understatement. He freezes on the throne seat. He tracks Galipei’s approach up the steps. Stoic, stern, unpretentious. Only Galipei’s left hand is gloved. He is holding an object that the guards in the room give wide berth immediately. Murmurs, echoing from the Weisannas at his side, down the steps, out onto the balcony, and beyond.

“Galipei,” August says. He finds himself struggling to form words. When Galipei stops and thrusts his arm forward, August almost doesn’t dare to look directly, in case there is some flaw with the image. The divine crown. Galipei Weisanna has the divine crown.

“Your Majesty,” Galipei says. His voice is flat.

“Clear the room,” August demands.

Marra Weisanna balks. “But—”

“Everyone except Galipei. Clear the room. Keep the palace secure.”

They cannot argue. One after the other, his guards file out through the circular entryway of the throne room, the door thudding closed and sealing them away.

August stands.

“Set the crown aside.”

Galipei does not protest the instruction. He crouches and sets it on the cold floor with a faintplink, its shimmering gold landing atop the marble tiles that three generations of kings have walked. He faces August.

He seems surprised when August puts his arms around him, pressing him close. They have not embraced in this way since they were children. Since August was younger and he was loose with where he flung his arms, putting them over Galipei’s shoulders to guide him when they turned a corner in the market. That was before Galipei grew much taller. Before August focused his every waking second on claiming the throne.

August steps back. Galipei blinks at him. He did not return the embrace.

“How… did this happen?” August asks. Just as his behavior is unusual, he also doesn’t remember the last time he phrased a question this way. The slight pause—the vulnerability. This was not his instruction. He did not know that the divine crown would be placed in front of him until the moment it was. For all August knew up until ten minutes ago, he had the palace barred, waiting for the inevitable confrontation that would come when Sinoa Tuoleimi wanted a piece of the kingdom, wielding the crown in Calla’s body.

“I waited,” Galipei says quietly, “by the wall. I waited for the right time. She overpowered Sinoa Tuoleimi.”

August takes a shaky breath. He shouldn’t have underestimated Calla. To think that Actia Province would take her out would be absurd. He needs to prepare. To gather his forces and see if there is a way to—

“Calla is in the cells.”

August stops. “What?”

“Anton is dead.”

A faint ringing sounds in August’s ears then. The words digest at odd angles. Impossible fancies and impossible thoughts, entirely out in the open. Galipei speaks coolly, making this seem like an expected outcome of August’s war. Anton Makusa, felled in offering. August is almost struggling to believe it,but he needs only to observe Galipei to glean the truth. Anton’s blood is on his hands. Such an indestructible force, taking up immense space in this kingdom, this crusade—but he was no match against Galipei’s conviction.

“Anton Makusa was a threat, because he is fast to jump,” Galipei goes on. “I needed to act during the only time I could. Calla Tuoleimi is a symbol, so she was detained and drugged instead. You will want to give her a public execution. Mark it as the end of the war, and prove what you will do to people like her.”

To the other looming threats in the kingdom, is what Galipei means. Insurgents in the north, rebels holding their yamen and declaring themselves independent. The pantheon across Talin, wide awake. There are many who will not want to give up the pieces of Talin they have won. Like the god in Pashe, who August needs to contend with, sooner or later.

August’s eyes flicker down. To the crown.