Page 91 of Circle of Shadows
The councilmembers and apprentices lay on the ground in deep bows. “Your Majesty.”
Aki pulled herself together as best she could and nodded as they rose. “You have word on my brother?”
“Yes,” Glass Lady said. “As you predicted, Prince Gin wanted you dead. However, there is a bit of a twist we did not foresee. Broomstick and Wolf will report to you, since they were there.”
Wolf shuffled his feet.
Poor boy, Aki thought. He was only seven years younger than she was, but he’d spent his life in school thus far, not exposed to the harsh realities that she’d dealt with—not only the Blood Rift that began her reign, but also the daily problems of the kingdom that had to be solved, from poor weather affecting the harvests to tiger pearl shipments lost at sea to pirates. The happenings at Copper Bluff—and of Prince Gin’s return, in general—were an awful lot for an apprentice to have to handle.
Wolf composed himself quickly and began to recite everything that had happened, not just at Copper Bluff, but from the moment he and Spirit went back to Takish Gorge to investigate the mysterious camp again. As he recapped the events, Aki stopped feeling sorry for him. Instead, she marveled at his strength. He’d watched in horror as Gin charmed taigas to his side and chose innocents as sacrifices for the Ceremony of Two Hundred Hearts, and yet Wolf had pushed on, at personal risk, to infiltrate their ship. He’d snuck into Gin’s cabin, stolen the ryuu’s list of targets, escaped capture, and swam to Tiger’s Belly to transmit his reconnaissance to the Citadel. He’d lost his gemina, both physically and emotionally.
And somehow, Wolf was still standing.I’m sorry, Aki thought.I completely underestimated you.
When he finished his report, Glass Lady spoke. “There will be consequences to your leaving the Citadel without permission. It was a flagrant violation of the rules, as well as reckless. As apprentices, you and Spirit do not yet understand the complexities of the politics Empress Aki must handle, nor the intricacies of military strategy. You couldhave triggered something the Society would not be able to handle.”
Wolf’s face flushed, but he nodded while continuing to stand at attention.
“Nevertheless,” Aki interjected, “I do appreciate your efforts.” She understood that the apprentices had to follow certain rules to maintain order in the school, but she also thought the commander was being too rigid in light of what Wolf and his friends had accomplished.
“There is one thing I don’t understand, though,” Aki said. “If Spirit can use ryuu magic now, why didn’t she turn on them at Copper Bluff, and why didn’t she return with you?”
Wolf and Broomstick shifted uncomfortably in place.
“We’ve been asking ourselves the same question the entire journey back,” Wolf finally said.
Bullfrog cleared his throat. “If I may suggest an explanation, Your Majesty.”
Aki dipped her head.
“It seems possible that Spirit succumbed to the Dragon Prince’s charm,” Bullfrog said. “She may have spared Wolf and Broomstick because they used to be her friends. But otherwise, she’s a ryuu.”
Wolf shook his head. “I won’t believe that Spirit actually joined the ryuu. She’s acting as our spy or she has some other plan. I got through to her. I can feel her in our gemina bond again.”
“Perhaps she is lying to you through your connection,” Glass Lady said.
“No,” Wolf said. “Sora—Spirit—wouldn’t do that.”
Aki sighed. “It’s hard to swallow the possibility that someone you love and know well would turn on you. Even now, a decade later, I sometimes can’t believe that the Blood Rift really happened, that my own brother would be willing to kill me to get what he wants.”
“But—” Wolf said.
“I’m not saying that Bullfrog is right,” Aki said. “Yet we must consider it a possibility. We will proceed with the plan to pretend I’m dead and hope that Gin lets his guard down. But we will also be prepared for battle, as best as we can against their magic.”
Wolf nodded but his posture was resigned.
“In the meantime,” Aki said, turning to Glass Lady and the rest of the Council, “I want round-the-clock surveillance tripled around the fortress walls. Set traps throughout the Citadel should the ryuu breach our perimeter or use their invisibility to get inside. Get the tenderfoots out of here—I don’t want a repeat of the fire during the Blood Rift. And I want to address all the taigas, to strengthen their loyalty and attempt to deflect my brother’s charm.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Glass Lady said. “Anything else?”
Aki rose from her chair. “Just be ready to fight.”
Chapter Fifty-Four
Jade Forest was a lush gem of gnarled tree trunks covered in fuzzy moss and logs bridging over bubbling creeks, everything bright green and pure, a peaceful barrier that separated the Imperial City from the ryuu and Prince Gin’s mindless, violent vision of Kichona’s future. Sora and the others set up camp for the night, pitching their tents to the melody of a symphony of crickets and unrolling their sleeping mats next to a pond full of water lilies the size of dinner platters. It was a deceptive interlude before what Sora knew would be more bloodshed, and panic exploded like a geyser inside her chest.
She had to leave tonight, while everyone was asleep, to return to the Citadel. She would steal Fairy’s body and take her too. But Sora didn’t have a specific plan for before or after that. She’d stayed with the ryuu to convince Hana to return to the Society with her, but she hadn’t found the right opportunity yet, and time was running out. And Sora had no idea what she was going to do when she made itback to the Citadel. What, exactly, was she going to tell the Council? How in the world would they put an end to this before Prince Gin claimed the crown and followed through on the Ceremony of Two Hundred Hearts? Before the wars really began?
Sora started breathing too quickly. She tried putting her head between her knees.
