Balam watched the news sink in.
“Seven hells,” Powageh breathed. “Now I hope you do jest.”
“If only, Cousin. If only.”
Powageh’s laugh was half amusement and half sob. “Twenty-two years of planning, only to be foiled by Golden Eagle’s scheming.”
“More than twenty-two,” Balam observed dryly, “if you count our years of research. The star charts you mapped, the hundreds of glyph books deciphered, me translating those obscure workings Paadeh dug up from the gods know where.”
“And Saaya.” Powageh’s voice was soft.
Balam would not have mentioned her sacrifice, but he was glad for Powageh to say it. Balam was not sure he had loved Saaya, but if he had ever loved anyone, it was her. She had been his equal in all ways, and their time together had been a rare and precious thing. But in the end, Saaya had loved revenge more than either of the people sitting now at this table.
He cleared his throat, and with it those bittersweet memories.
Powageh’s eyes were bright with unshed tears. “How is it possible he lives?”
Balam shrugged. “I am but a lowly merchant lord.”
“Humility has never suited you.”
“And yet.” Balam sighed dramatically.
“Your best theory, then, Cousin.”
“That the true Sun Priest, the one invested with the sun god’s power, is alive somewhere in the city. As long as she lives, a part of the sun god lives in Tova. Likewise, my guess is that Saaya’s son must have survived because the crow god is not done with him. He still needs a body to spill Sun Priest blood.”
“If she lives, will she rally the remaining Watchers? Attempt to recreate the priesthood?”
“Who can say? I imagine her days are few, and the Odo Sedoh will not rest until he has hunted her down.”
“But the more time passes, the more the sun’s power returns. The crow god may have missed his window of opportunity.”
“Interesting that you should mention that. It appears the eclipse still hangs over Tova, the sun caught behind the moon, both neither rising nor setting.”
“Impossible!”
“Apparently not.”
“The gods locked in battle?” xe ventured.
“Until one of their earthly champions is victorious. It does seem that way. But I am doing what I can to aid our cause.”
Powageh’s gaze narrowed in suspicion. “Is that why you look like shit? What sorcery are you working, Balam? Are you spending time in the shadow world?”
“No. Something better.” He had brought the thief’s sack down to his office with him, and he pulled the book out and set it on the table. Powageh rotated it around and read the cover, eyes growing wide.
“Seven hells,” xe murmured. “Where did you get this?”
“I had dinner a month ago with Lord Tuun, who mentioned hearing that it was in the royal library here. All this time, I’d thought it was locked away in the celestial tower.”
“They confiscated everything related to dreamwalking after the Treaty was signed.” Powageh ran a hand reverently over the cover. “I thought this burned three hundred years ago.”
“I don’t know how it came to be in Cuecola. I imagine there is a story there. But for my needs, Lord Tuun’s gossip and an enterprising thief were enough.” His mind flashed back to the spill of warm blood against his chest as he sank his knife into the thief’s belly, the light leaving the man’s eyes. The image stretched in his mind, the dead man’s mouth moved, called his name. He shook off the vision. “It is considered only a relic these days. No one takes dreamwalking seriously in this modern era.”
Powageh sat back, fingers steepled beneath chin. “Except you.” They held each other’s gaze for a long moment, until Powageh broke first, barking a laugh. “Hells, Balam, what is it like?”
“Terrifying,” he admitted. Even now, the world around him seemed insubstantial, colors too bright and time elastic. It took all his concentration to remember to speak aloud, to remind himself that another human sat across from him. “Addictive.”
“They say it brings madness.”
Balam rubbed hands across his face. “I believe it. But I also believe it is the power that started a war and came close to ruling a continent. Tell me it was not worth the risk.”
“I cannot.”
Of course not. Powageh had the same wild ambition. There was a reason they had once conspired with Saaya to make a god.