Page 94 of Eyes of Kings

“We really have you to thank,” Erwen goes on. “Your coup gave us the opportunity to plant our people everywhere we needed.”

Once money from the capital stopped flowing to the generals, and palace soldiers abandoned their posts en masse.

“So you should be amenable to my proposal,” Calla says. “You’ve heard it already, yes?”

“Your Highness, you offer us independence for continued trade. But we are already independent. The Dovetail have established momentum across the whole north. Youlia and Actia will turn next. What will you offer us instead?”

Her left arm prickles. A warning. Calla floods her senses, throwing out a tidal wave, hitting any insurgent within the vicinity. She already figured it wasn’t Erwen holding her down. When she succeeds in her mark and the hold snaps away, she lurches to her side, avoiding the lightning strike from the skies, scrambling to her feet.

“If this is a refusal, say it outright.” Calla can’t see anything in the aftermath of the strike. “Shut your borders. Don’t lure me here and waste my time.”

“But, Highness,” Erwen says, feigning sycophancy, “we need you to get rid of August Shenzhi.”

Calla swivels quickly, gathering her bearings in the dark. “You don’t think I’ll try my best without your encouragement?”

“There are old gods waiting in Ximili. They are being targeted and bentunder control. They act at the behest of Sinoa Tuoleimi, who intends to puppet through August Shenzhi.”

“I’m aware,” Calla snaps, and she swivels again, covering her other side. There are gods present among the Dovetail. That would be the only reason why the mayor of West Capital is aware of Sinoa Tuoleimi, why a civilian of Talin knows how to speak accurately about this war involving gods and immortals.

“Are you?” Erwen asks. “Do you comprehend what they are capable of? We are pulling every force we have, invoking every sigil we know. Even then, we fear that we will barely make a mark when they march into Actia.”

Calla cannot comprehend where this conversation is going. So the Dovetail are planning… tohelpher? At the very least, they want what she wants, and their enemy is her enemy, thereby making them her allies.

That doesn’t change the fact that this group is still creeping closer and closer, treating her like prey.Whereis Venus?

“We will not lose this territory. We have grand plans for its development outside the clutches of Talin’s throne.”

“Yes, I understand,” Calla says, refusing to budge. “I was hardly a fan of the last class of royals who sat on the throne.”

“But you are not fighting.”

“Of course I amfighting. From the moment I took the crown, I have only been fighting.”

“You are fighting to push August Shenzhi out of power. You should be fighting Sinoa Tuoleimi. That is what you were brought down to do, wasn’t it?”

Calla stills. Her breath is coming fast. Her throat is tight.

“August has called a meeting in Actia,” Calla tells them. The others, lingering upon the scene, invisible except their qi—their beating, immortal qi. “I will kill him. And then I will kill Sinoa.”

“You will not be capable in this form.”

The voice comes from the dark. It’s Venus Hailira’s voice. Calla lifts herhand, and with a jolt, her qi rises to her palm. It lights the scene, and there stands Venus, dressed in province linens, a shawl draped over her shoulders.

“What is this?” Calla hisses.

“The divine crown razes cities and levels mountains. The divine crown can part the seas and shatter the skies.” Venus steps closer. Her face is half cast in shadow. “These are stories that mortals tell themselves to feel as though the gods never abandoned them. That there is still some form of heavenly mandate ruling the kingdom, selecting the one most deserving to hold the throne of Talin. But the stories about the divine crown have always been exaggerated, by commoner and royal alike. Talin needed to believe it, because there will always be great disparity among mortals. How do you keep the masses under control except to tell them that they deserve the station they were born into?”

Venus comes within reach. Calla meets her eyes. There has been no change to the powder-blue color. The change is in how she stares forward. Her unwavering gaze, harkening back to a time some thousands of years ago.

“The divine crown was made for mortal bodies.Ihelped make it,” the god wearing Venus says. “I let it aid a mortal king into becoming half a god, because it is easier to settle subjects who are frozen in awe than in fear. I gave the mortals a taste of the divine, but it isnothingwhen the heavens have blown open on earth. You are not mortal, and you are being held back by its limits. We are trying to help you.”

“Don’t you dare,” Calla snaps. “If you free up my body, Sinoa will go after it.”

“Sinoa can be defeated when you acknowledge who you are. What you are capable of.”

“Stop.”

Calla’s heart is thudding. She has nowhere to run. She tries to jump, but her qi is being held down, just as her body was.