Page 27 of Eyes of Kings

“Show me your eyes,” Galipei demands.

August scoffs. “I am not invaded, Galipei. You have had a rather poor track record at noticing, but this is purely my decision.”

“What is this supposed to be, then? A punishment?” Galipei was assigned to protect him. From the moment he was given any responsibility in the palace, Galipei Weisanna trained day and night to protect him. This is what he does. This is who heis. “I figured it out, August. I caught Calla. I forced Anton Makusa to jump—”

“It’s not a punishment. I am restructuring. We are at war. My needs here are vastly different from my needs in a palace. We have suffered too many gratuitous losses already. Seiqi is dead.”

What?Seiqi hadn’t traveled with the delegation. Seiqi shouldn’t be at the base. Galipei glances over to the window, his face furrowed in recollection, and he hears her like some wisp of a long-forgotten dream:Let me help you. She must have come into the infirmary. She must have been caring for him.

“I’m sorry.”

Galipei’s attention snaps back at once. Whatisthis? Such condolences areunusual for August too. Sympathy does not suit him; it colors his cheeks and pulls at his spine. When August turns to go, both his hands have tightened into fists. Galipei notices it, even if August himself doesn’t. August’s sleeves are rough and harried where they’ve been rolled up to his elbows. The cords of his forearms are tight.

When August is nervous, he worries with the cuffs of his sleeves, creasing the neat lines. The last time Galipei saw his prince like this, he was putting loyal Weisannas on the task to hunt for Calla Tuoleimi.Keep it quiet, he warned them.Don’t let the word spread. Those palace guards eagerly praised August for rising above his duties and pursuing justice against the royal fugitive. Only Galipei knew about August’s plan to get rid of Kasa. Even if August had not told him, he would have understood it all the same.

“August,” Galipei says. “I know you don’t mean it.”

Galipei Weisanna is the only person in this kingdom who understandsAugust. Nobody else sees what he sees. Nobody else has had the time to parse the language of his shrugs and sighs.

August shakes his head. He pauses by the door.

“Sometimes, people overstay their posts.” His voice is already faint, as though he has long put swaths of distance between them. “I need a new guard detail when we’re going to war, Galipei. You’re dismissed. End of story.”

August walks out.

CHAPTER 13

Calla wakes with a gasp. Her adrenaline is still racing as though she remains in the middle of battle. Her arm lurches, frantic to block a weapon coming right at her, but it’s only Anton. It’s only his hand, trying to touch her face, not a sword on track to pierce her heart.

“You’re okay,” he says. “You’re safe.”

His eyes. They’re burning yellow. Calla heaves a stuttering breath. There’s wet topsoil beneath her head. Wind howls into the clearing. She’s unable to help herself. She takes the hand that Anton offers, and she pulls. The light in his eyes weakens. When Calla sits up, her ribs have already stopped throbbing.

“Where are we?” Calla rasps.

They have taken shelter under a brush of trees that block the rainfall. The branches scratch and screech. Low murmuring floats from across the way. Crescents, some standing, others groaning on the grass.

“East of the base,” Anton replies. “I grabbed you when you went down. The Crescents called a retreat and started to flee toward San-Er, but the Weisannas were on our tail. We lost them in the trees.”

And Calla had been deadweight. Even worse, because she’d needed Anton to initiate a rescue and get her out of there, like some unarmed civilian in a burning building. This is a disaster. Tsosia’s temple is going to return to San-Er having to answer to the rest of the Crescent Societies what they were doing outbeyond the wall, and then they will hear about the casualties. They will hear about Calla Tuoleimi knocked clean off her feet by Otta’s one little gesture.

“Fuck.” Calla tries to turn, and pain whips down the back of her head. She reaches to touch her hair. There’s blood.

“You shouldn’t move too much,” Anton warns. “It only stopped bleeding shortly before you woke.”

“How long have I been out?”

“Not long. We might have been on the move for half an hour.”

Calla wipes her hand off on her trouser leg. If there is tree cover, then they likely veered farther north than Anton thought. Eigi grows very little greenery in its center. Too much bedrock.

“We weren’t followed?”

“I haven’t seen any sign of scouts yet.”

August isn’t going to send scouts. He’s going to play his next maneuver, regardless of where Calla is situated. This is not the same situation it was when she made a hit on the Palace of Heavens and fled as the bodies were cooling. She has no incentive to hide in the provinces indefinitely, so August is under no duress to flush her out.Sheis the one on a ticking time bomb, trying to hold on to her coup.

Seizing the crown marked the start of the war. Marching on August’s camp marked the first battle.