Page 119 of Cloak of Night
“You impudent child! The deal has been struck. Gin owed me a royal heart, so it’s supposed to be mine.” The torrent of ryuu magic had lessened to barely a trickle. The heart was almost done collecting stolen magic from the taigas and ryuu, and the pulse had visibly weakened,barely thumping anymore. “Give it to me now,” Zomuri said, “while the heart still beats! It loses flavor with every pulse.”
Sora smiled smugly. She definitely had leverage now. “I agree that you and Prince Gin had a deal, but that doesn’t involve me. NowIhave the heart, and if you want it before it dies, you’ll agree not to punish me or my friends for breaking into your vault and stealing the soul pearl. It will be as if that never happened.”
“But it did!”
“I know. But you’ll agree to treat it like it didn’t. My friends and I are completely innocent.” She pointed a dagger at the heart. She could stop the beating with a single plunge.
Zomuri’s eyes narrowed, but he held out his hand. “All right, all right. You’re innocent and free to go. Just give me the heart before you ruin it!”
Sora dropped the knife and tossed Prince Gin’s heart into the air. Zomuri snatched it, stuffed it into his mouth, and disappeared in a puff of green smoke.
Holy heavens.
The Dragon Prince was dead. Empress Aki was the ruler of the kingdom again. And Zomuri would no longer be the patron god of Kichona.
Sora wouldn’t allow herself to exhale yet, though. There was still a battle raging outside, and she didn’t know if Fairy and Broomstick were alive.
But then the explosions outside came to an abrupt halt. A minute later, a cheer erupted.
Daemon rushed out to the balcony. Sora and Hana followed on his heels.
Liga flew toward them, with Fairy and Broomstick on his back. Their faces were smudged with ash and their clothes torn and bloody, but they smiled and waved. When Liga landed on the balcony, they jumped off and ran to hug Sora and Daemon.
“You did it!” Liga said. “With the Dragon Prince’s spell gone, the taigas became themselves again!”
“And they’re rounding up those who were loyal to the prince,” Broomstick said. “Their Sight is gone, and with it, the ability to cast ryuu spells.”
“Tsarina Austine is also safe, under the protection of Queen Meredith,” Fairy said. “So tell us everything. What happened? How did you kill Prince Gin? How did Wolf convince the gods to carry out the purification ritual? Was that Zomuri we saw up here?”
Sora glanced over her shoulder. Empress Aki had gone to Prince Gin’s body, where she cried softly. Even though he’d never repented for what he did, he was still her brother.
This ending had been less celebratory than Sora had envisioned, yet that was life—unpredictable. But she and her friends had done what was right, and time would hopefully heal their wounds.
“I think we all have a lot to tell each other,” Sora said. “Let’s not do it here, though. Her Majesty needs some privacy.”
They went outside to the far end of the balcony. Sora took in the smoke and destruction below. But rising from them was a happy sound: the chattering of their taiga classmates and teachers, fully in control of their minds again. And they were no longer damned.
“Where to?” Daemon asked, bending down so Sora and Hana could climb onto his back. Fairy and Broomstick got onto Liga.
“To the best place I can imagine being with friends,” Sora said. “On the dormitory rooftop under the open sky. With lots and lots of cake.”
Epilogue
Aweek later, Sora, Daemon, and Broomstick stood backstage in the Citadel’s amphitheater.
“I can’t believe we’re being promoted to full-fledged warriors,” Sora said.
The week since the fall of the Dragon Prince had been a blur of activity. Empress Aki had buried her brother, then resumed her duties immediately, meeting with Tsarina Austine and Queen Meredith and negotiating new peace treaties and trade pacts with them. Prince Gin’s loyal ryuu were imprisoned while they awaited trial.
Now, the sound of wine-barrel drums filled the amphitheater, announcing the start of the Warrior Initiation Ceremony. Fairy led the performance on the black stone stage, yelling commands, clacking her sticks in time with the other members of the troupe, pounding her drum to the rhythm that throbbed from the stage to the arced benches carved into the grassy knoll. The audience of taigas sat rapt.
Sora could see Hana and Papa in the front row. Samara Mountain beckoned Papa home, but he wasn’t ready to go yet without Mama there, so for now, he stayed at the Citadel to be close to his daughters.
Liga was sitting in the front row, too. He had gotten permission to spend some time on earth to look for his mother, but he certainly wasn’t going to miss his brother’s big day.
The performance finished with a resounding boom as all ten drummers hammered their drums at once. The amphitheater vibrated. The audience broke out into whistles and cheers.
Fairy and the rest of the drum corps bowed. Then, as the applause died down, they cleared away the enormous drums and their stands, and Fairy jogged offstage to her place next to Broomstick. Sweat soaked the black handkerchief she’d wrapped around her head.
