Page 26 of Eyes of Kings

“What’s going on?” August asks the guard.

Otta’s footsteps echo away. The guard is still trying to control their breath. It isn’t good decorum to be panting while delivering a message. August considers, briefly, that Seiqi Weisanna would not behave like this, and then he must push it out of his mind, because she made her decision, and she was sacrificed in battle.

“Your Majesty,” the guard finally declares. “Galipei is waking up.”

CHAPTER 12

It is late in the night, the half-eaten moon hanging low under the raining clouds, when Galipei opens his eyes.

A slow flutter, at first. He doesn’t realize he has finally breached consciousness until it happens. For an endless stretch of time, he was straining to cut to the surface of his mental prison, butting up against the underside of ice. His arms and legs are stone weights. He tries to move, and only succeeds in emitting a soundless exhale.

“You scared me.”

Slowly, his world takes on clearer shape. Galipei blinks. The ceilings are low. The light is coming from an electric bulb over the door.

In a snap, Galipei recalls his surroundings. He is not in the palace—they took momentary shelter at the security base in Eigi. There was a delegation into the provinces. The recovery of the divine crown. August, in trouble.

Ah. And Galipei dived before him.

“August,” he whispers. Like a summoning, his charge takes shape in the room. Blots of color crystallize to show August at the foot of the cot, his hands behind his back, his face slanted away. Immediately, it feels wrong to be the one lying down while August stands. They’re occupying some sort of storage space, repurposed into Galipei’s private recovery corner. It is empty save for his cot and a mop on the floor.

“How are you?” August asks.

His voice is wan. Not from lethargy, but intentional effort. He is restraining himself. Eavesdroppers at the door, Galipei presumes. Something has happened at the camp.

“I’m fine,” Galipei replies.

August whirls around.

“You are not fine,” he snaps, and Galipei flinches. Galipei can’t quite recall the last time August was angry at him. What is there to be angry about? Galipei’s job is to protect him from bodily harm. It’s to be a forceful shadow, divorced from his own wants and entirely attuned to his prince’s. Galipei has disagreed with August in the past, but always for his own good, and so it was never anger that rose to meet him—it was practical calculation, it was logical reconsideration.

Anger, suddenly, makes August appear too… human.

“What do you mean?” Galipei asks. “I’m alive, aren’t I?”

“You almost weren’t!” August takes a beat. Collects himself. “You almost weren’t.”

Galipei tries to sit upright. His shoulders ache. He sees no external wounds, but there is a persistent throbbing moving through his limbs, springing from his torso exactly where he was struck.

“I am getting the sense that youdidn’twant me saving your life.”

“Yes, you shouldn’t have done that,” August says. “You are my security detail. That doesn’t include throwing yourself in my harm’s way.”

This is unfamiliar terrain. August Shenzhi’s concern burns cold. It is an untrained thing that has been wandering the harsh elements, about as delicate as singeing metal. Galipei could reach out to seek it, to attempt to hold it, but when his hands return shredded and mutilated, he’d have no one to blame but himself.

“I apologize for my directness,” Galipei says, “but the very point of being your personal guard is that I guard your life.”

“No.”

“No?” Galipei echoes, flabbergasted.

August finally comes forward. He rounds the foot of the cot, approaching Galipei’s side. When he halts, he is within reaching distance. Galipei would only have to extend his arm. Place his palm out.

“I appreciate all you’ve done,” August says. “But going forward, you’re dismissed from duty. I don’t need you anymore.”

Galipei isn’t hearing this correctly. He’s newly woken. He’s confused. August is not saying what he thinks he is saying. Galipei makes an effort to adjust himself higher onto his pillow, but his elbow fails to find enough traction.

August looks away. It would be out of line for him to help Galipei, so he does not.