The Burning God (The Poppy War #3) - R.F. Kuang Page 0,58

and possessed the power to reduce the terrain to ash in seconds, and if Rin didn’t correct their power asymmetry somehow, soon, then she might as well deliver herself to Nezha in a coffin.

Because this was monstrous? But they were at the stage of war where every choice would be monstrous, and the only question now was which choice kept them alive.

“This is so simple, children,” Daji said. “Bring religion back to this country. Show the Hesperians the truth about the gods.”

She wasn’t talking to Kitay anymore. Kitay might as well have not been in the room; neither of them had acknowledged a single one of his objections. Daji spoke directly to Rin, one shaman to another.

“Do you know what your problem is?” Daji asked. “You’ve been fighting this entire war on the defensive. You’re still thinking like someone on the run. But it’s time you started thinking like a ruler.”

“You’re not seriously considering this,” Kitay said.

Daji was gone, banished to a corner room of the complex with a coterie of guards. This precaution was largely a bluff—Rin had no doubt Daji could take down an entire squadron if she wanted to—but the guards were equipped with signal horns. If anything happened, at least they could raise an alarm.

Rin remained in the office with Kitay. Her head felt dizzy, swimming with possibilities she’d never even considered. Several minutes passed in silence. Kitay had sunk into some kind of furious, speechless daze; Rin watched him warily, afraid he might explode.

“You’re not even thinking about it?” she asked.

“You’re joking,” he said.

“Daji might be right. It would balance things out—”

“Are you shitting me? Seriously, Rin? She’s manipulating you, that’s what she does, and you’re just eating shit straight out of her hand.”

Rin supposed that was possible. Daji could be trying to orchestrate her ruin, and this would be the most sadistic way to do it. But she’d seen the look on Daji’s face when she spoke about the Hesperians. She’d seen a glimpse of a girl not so much older than she was, a girl with more power than she knew what to do with, a girl who had just won her country back and was terrified it might be ripped away again.

“The stakes have changed,” Rin said. “She’s not the Empress anymore. She needs us just as much as we need her.”

Kitay folded his arms over his chest. “I think you’re entranced.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I mean that the Vipress has some weird effect on you—no, Rin, don’t deny it, you know it’s true. You don’t behave rationally around her, you never do. You always overreact, do the opposite of what’s prudent—”

“What? No, I don’t—”

“What about at Lusan? The Red Cliffs? Twice now you’ve had the opportunity to kill her and you haven’t. Why, Rin?”

“I would have! But she overpowered me—”

“Did she? Or did you let her?” Kitay’s voice had gone furiously, dangerously quiet. Rin hated this; she would have preferred that he scream. “The Vipress makes you do shit that makes no sense, and I don’t know if it’s because she’s still hypnotizing you, or if it’s something else, but you’ve got to get your mind straight. You’re thinking exactly what Daji wants you to think. She’s seduced you, and I know you’re not too stupid to realize that.”

Rin blinked. Was he right? Had Daji left some taint of poison on her mind? Was she hypnotizing Rin through the Seal?

She stood silent for a moment, trying to think through this calmly. Objectively. Yes—if she was being honest with herself, Daji did have a strange, outsize effect on her psyche. When she was around the Vipress she found it hard to breathe. Her limbs shook, her flames seared, and she trembled from the desire to choke her, to kill her, or—

Or to be her.

That was it. Rin wanted what Daji had. She wanted her easy confidence, her calm authority. She wanted her power.

“You can’t deny Daji’s right about one thing,” she said. “The southern front is a distraction. Our biggest problem now is how we’re going to deal with Nezha.”

Kitay sighed. “By creating an army of people like you?”

“Is that so wrong?” Rin was finding it harder and harder to come up with a good objection. Daji had presented the idea like a glittering gem and now she couldn’t stop turning it over and over in her mind, ruminating on the possibilities.

Imagine an army of shamans, whispered a quiet voice in her mind. Altan’s voice. Imagine the sheer firepower. Imagine having