Page 82 of Circle of Shadows
“I’m not supposed to be out here,” she said. “I’m supposed to stay in the tent. But it’s boring in there, just books and makeup. There aren’t even any boys to play with. You’d think that, as empress, I could at least get my own harem of strapping young men. Especially if I’m about to die.”
Daemon gaped. “How can you joke about that?”
Fairy shrugged, but it wasn’t as casual as she hoped it would look. “Besides trying to convince myself that dying for Kichona really is an honor, joking about it is all I can do. Help me by not moping over it, all right?”
He swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. He saw her in a different light now, and it wasn’t just the desert sun. She held herself taller, those birdlike shoulders more eagle than sparrow. Her lips had a determined set to them too, which was somehow more entrancing than the normal pink pout that all the other boys wanted. And that flash of vulnerability in her eyes made her more real. In the past, Fairy had been almost all show. Now she was courageous but also afraid, and that made her not merely pretty, but beautiful.
Daemon had known Fairy was strong, but offering herself as a decoy for the empress, risking almost certain death, was a magnitude of devotion and duty many could claim to possess, but only a rare few actually did.
“Don’t worry,” he said to Fairy. “We’re not going to let the Dragon Prince capture or kill you, if we can help it. He’s already taken Sora. We’re not going down without a fight.”
“Thank you.” Fairy wrapped her arms around Daemon and leaned heavily against his chest.
It was his turn to holdherup.
That evening, Daemon paced the edge of the bluff, keeping watch as the wind made the sand ripple like an ocean. Prince Gin and his ryuu were coming. He could feel it, even though his gemina connection with Sora was silent, and even though the Imperial Guard lookouts hadn’t seen movement on the desert floor below.
There was a small chance that the Dragon Prince would actually want to negotiate with Empress Aki. If that was the case, the taigas hoped that Fairy resembled the empress enough that the decade that had passed since the Blood Rift would be explanation for the changes in her appearance. Then the burden would be on Fairy’s acting skills. Empress Aki had given her a crash course in her mannerisms and, more important, on terms that were acceptable for a temporary cease-fire.
But honestly, the chance of that happening was very, very slim, and Daemon and the others here were just buying a little more time for the Society to move the rest of its warriors into place to prepare for a showdown in the ImperialCity. Most likely, the Dragon Prince was going to kill his sister. Why leave her alive if he could take over the kingdom in one fell swoop?
Daemon stopped on the southern part of the plateau.
Fairy could die. And the rest of the taigas here—maybe me too—could be brainwashed puppets. Very soon.
The Society had sent only thirty taigas to Copper Bluff. The Council and most of the Imperial Guards remained in the capital to protect the real empress. They had sent just enough of a contingent to look believable that Fairy was Empress Aki, yet not too many that Prince Gin would find a windfall of taigas to bring to his side.
Daemon’s stomach curled into a ball and cowered.
We are sacrificing ourselves for the sake of the kingdom.
Broomstick stepped up beside him, glanced over, and put his fists over his heart. No words were necessary.
Daemon nodded and mirrored the gesture.
They were sacrifices. But they would go down fighting.
Chapter Forty-Seven
On the third day after the dragonfly message at the Striped Coves, a dozen Imperial Guards stood outside Empress Aki’s tent in Dassu Desert. Another dozen patrolled a bit farther out, like an orbit around the empress, and a handful more kept watch still farther out along the edges of Copper Bluff, looking for the approach of the Dragon Prince’s army.
Sora and Hana had made themselves invisible on the climb up to the plateau, commanding the ryuu particles to sweep away their footprints in the sand along the way. Now they were at the very edge. The Imperial Guards couldn’t see them, and so they remained standing in their places, vigilant but relaxed. Hana would create a diversion and take care of the guards here and the others who would charge in from the outer parts of the plateau. Sora would take advantage of the distraction and execute the empress.
As soon as they summited the bluff, Sora made to sprint to the tent.
Hana grabbed her by the wrist. “Hold on, you’re beingsloppy. You’re—” She dropped Sora’s wrist like it had scalded her. “You’re burning up!”
Sora grinned as she nodded. Every cell inside of her seemed to be on fire. She could hardly think straight. Everything in her head was an accelerated, blurry swirl. It was a fever, but not the kind that would confine her to bed—this was a fever of anticipation.
“I’m going to garrote the empress with her own gold hair. But before that, I’m going to tell her all the things we’re going to do once Prince Gin is emperor. All the ways he’s going to dismantle her kingdom and rebuild it. All the glory we’ll achieve. She tried to prevent us from making Kichona into an empire and paradise, but the joke’s on her—she’ll die and we’ll still get the Evermore.”
Hana’s eyes were as big as Autumn Festival cakes. “Um... okay.”
Sora blinked at her, confused. “You don’t want me to make the empress suffer?”
“No, yes, I mean... just don’t take too long doing it. More time means more opportunity to mess up. The most important thing is that Empress Aki dies.”
Sora grinned again, the flame growing inside as she thought about carrying out the Dragon Prince’s orders. “I can do that.”
