Shae took the proffered cup and sipped. Her hands did not shake. I don’t kill out of spite, Ayt had said, and she’d never, in all the years their clans had warred, given Shae reason to believe that was untrue. Despite all the cold-blooded things she had done, all the times she’d broken aisho for her own aims, Ayt Mada followed her own rules.
“I’m impressed you moved so many pieces so quickly.” Ayt poured her own tea and wrapped her long fingers around the cup. “The Six Hands Unity clan is ruined, and their hold over Lukang broken. Whatever powerful threat or bribe you worked on Iyilo, it made him sing beautifully for the press. I’m still working out how you made Sunto into your tool after that ridiculous spectacle on Euman Island, but I’m well aware that Kaul Hilo has a gift for turning even his bitterest enemies to his own purpose. The foreigner Wyles has been brought down and the sale of Anorco, which I spent years orchestrating, has been forced to a halt.” Ayt tapped the edge of her ceramic teacup and lifted it to her lips. She sipped and leaned back in her seat with a slow exhalation. “Any one of these, I could’ve anticipated and overcome, but all together, they were too destructive. I couldn’t have pulled it off better myself.”
“You give me too much credit,” Shae said. “It was a full family effort.”
Months ago, Shae had been the one most demoralized by Ayt’s master plan, convinced that the Pillar of the Mountain had finally solved the long riddle of how to destroy No Peak. The rest of the family had simply gone to work. None of it could’ve been accomplished if the clan did not have its unique advantages—if Jaya was not a powerful force in Toshon with her Little Knives, if Anden could not travel covertly to the Uwiwa Islands, if successive Horns of No Peak had not embedded White Rats everywhere the clan needed them, if the Weather Man’s office in Espenia had not detected the Mountain’s scheme in the first place and connected it with the right lawyers and politicians, if Hilo had not already spent years determined to ruin GSI.
Shae had spent decades admiring Ayt Mada as a master strategist. Perhaps Ayt, for the sake of her own pride, would prefer to attribute her defeat to the cunning and ability of a younger woman. Shae knew the truth. She was not smarter than Ayt Mada; she never had been. The way to defeat a chess master was not with greater genius, but by forcing her to play a different game.
The No Peak clan had grown many limbs across the country and around the world to defend itself from attacks by a larger foe. It had raced to become modern and responsive in order to survive. If anyone had tried to win against Ayt on her terms, they would’ve been destroyed. But from the beginning Hilo had surrounded himself with the people he most needed, and so No Peak was propelled by many strong personalities pushing and pulling against each other but somehow together carrying the clan. The family had suffered terrible strife and losses that had at times torn them apart, but they were also bound tightly in a way that Ayt and the Kobens could never be.
“I imagine you think of yourselves as heroes.” Ayt’s voice was sharp with sudden scorn. “You’ve roused the common people in a show of strength, brought down the foreign companies, kicked out the mercenaries, and turned my own clan against me in disgrace.” The familiar fire in Ayt’s eyes flared and her voice was its old steel. “Yet all you’ve done is delay the inevitable. There will be others—other foreign powers, other mercenaries, others grasping for our jade and for the soul of our country.” Ayt spoke in a hiss. “The struggle between our clans will continue, for what purpose? I would’ve built an unassailable bulwark. I would’ve put Kekon firmly in control of its own destiny.”
“You would’ve put yourself in control of Kekon’s destiny,” Shae replied. “That’s not the same thing. You’re one woman, Ayt-jen—not a god, no matter how brilliant you are, no matter how much jade you wear.” She looked Ayt squarely in the face without uncertainty, without fear or doubt. “Green Bones weren’t meant to be gods, not until the day of the Return, and so long as we try, that day will never come.”
“The gods don’t care about people or nations.” The sudden roughness in Ayt’s voice hinted at a depth of pain she never let show. “We’re all the same to them. They don’t care who lives or dies, who wins or loses, who should lead and who should suffer. I do.”
Shae swallowed her sympathy. “It’s over, Ayt-jen,” she said. “You’ve lost your final, masterful gamble, but most importantly, you’ve lost control of your clan. Your own warriors stand outside of your gates demanding that you step aside. To remain the Pillar, you would have to slaughter all of them.” A cloud passed over the sun and Ayt’s spacious office dimmed. Neither of the women moved. “I don’t believe you will do that. Even you will not shed the blood of so many of your own Green Bones.”