Page 75 of Eyes of Kings

“If you’re going to kill me,” Galipei sneers, “do it before Calla returns. No more games. I’ve told you everything I know.”

“Have you?” August asks, and his voice cuts through the dark. He holds the key tightly. He does not offer it. He does not reveal himself.

Galipei stops. He tilts his head.

“I have,” he says.

“Anton has left,” August says, “so you’re stuck with me now.”

“That’s fine.” Galipei is still pressed close to the viewing window. “I have nothing else to offer.”

August has not played this quite right. He does not know Buira Makusa. He cannot attempt to carry a conversation pretending to be her. Galipei is already looking at him strangely.

“At least you offered enough to send them off.”

“They were already planning to target Actia before I’d said a word.”

Yes, Galipei could not have said a word. He did not know. He stands in this cell, trapped by the capital’s steel and metal, and none of this needed to happen. Galipei Weisanna is hardly a pawn in this war, never mind someone worth keeping captured to sap for information.

“They have another source, of course,” August says, pressing for a slip-up.Pressing whether Galipei may have overheard something interesting during his time here.

But Galipei scoffs instead.

“Who is going to feed them information?Otta Avia?Your brotherknowsAugust. He can predict his moves just as I can, because August plans ten steps ahead, and he doesn’t realize that doing so means people can deduce exactly where your feet are coming down.”

August’s first reaction is indignation. He hadn’t been caught plotting for the throne, had he? He hadn’t been obstructed by planning ten steps ahead—he was successful, and he would be king now if it weren’t forCalla…

August takes a step back, his palm tight over the key. He considers revealing himself and calling Galipei a traitor. Cursing him for what he may have done, what he is yet to do. But Galipei defied him when he entered San-Er. He will not decide to heed directives here, even if August asks.

And for as long as Galipei is useful to Calla—or gives the impression of being useful—this cell is safer than anywhere else he could be on the battlefield.

“You’re no use to me,” he says. He is playing a part. He is offering what Buira Makusa may say in farewell.

Galipei quirks a brow. He shrugs, tucking his arms around his torso.

“And you should be so grateful,” he says, “because there is little good in my use.”

August should go. He is better off finding answers in the war room. Whatever route Anton expects him to take, he must elude. He will work fast, then slip through San’s wall again, returning to his body before anyone can discover he is missing.

Silently, he turns. Put one foot in front of the other.

He feels Galipei’s eyes tracking him out.

CHAPTER 35

Dawn rises over the horizon, and Anton finally switches off the shoddy flashlight he’s been clutching through the night. Green foliage and brown fronds—that’s how he knows they’ve entered the province. He’s forgotten where the border is drawn, how the route used to look during their journeys from the palace, but he cannot forget Kelitu’s colors.

Anton doesn’t slow their pace. Calla’s forehead is pressed against his back.

It worries him that there’s very little rain falling.

“Princess,” he yells back. “We’re almost there.”

A small jolt. Calla wakes abruptly, her fingers tightening around his waist. After a beat, she shivers against him.

“It’s cold.”

“Temperatures can drop unexpectedly in Kelitu.” As he speaks, Anton gets a few sparse droplets on his shoulder. “Especially with this weather.”