Page 113 of Cloak of Night
Prince Gin scoffed. “No, but I called your bluff, and now I know you’ve betrayed me.”
Sora let go of her spell and stepped out onto the balcony to join them.
“It’s rather foolhardy of you to come without your wolf,” Prince Gin said, his tone hardening now that he’d revealed them. “I can control your mind if I want to.”
“Daemon protects me through our bond,” Sora said.
Whereishe?She could really use him here right now.
“But your gemina doesn’t protect your sister.” Prince Gin seized Hana.
Sora panicked for a second. Then she remembered she and Hana had a plan. It hadn’t involved the Dragon Prince threatening her life, but it did rely on Hana being close to him. Sora just had to keep him distracted.
“You’re going to die before you kill me.” Hana produced a gold pearl from the hidden pocket in her sleeve and held it up so he could see. “Because I have your soul, and I’m going to destroy it.”
Prince Gin laughed. “I don’t know how you got that, but you can’t destroy it. My soul is protected by god magic, and I’m invincible.”
“Not if I reunite the soul with your body.” Hana wrenched free from his grasp and stuffed the pearl into his mouth. She held him in a choke hold and tried to cover his nose and mouth with her free hand to force him to swallow.
“Stand clear!” Sora said to Hana as she hurled two throwing stars at Prince Gin’s eyes.
Thwack, thwack.
He tried to scream, but Hana kept her hand over his nose and mouth.
Even without oxygen or Sight, though, Prince Gin swiped at her. Hana held on as tightly as she could while shifting onto his back at an awkward angle for him to reach.
Hana gasped. “He’s healing.” Zomuri’s gift of invincibility worked quickly; the skin around Prince Gin’s eyes began to mend itself. The eye sockets spit out Sora’s throwing stars, which fell to the balcony floor with a clatter. The whites of his eyeballs swirled like clouds, stitching themselves back into spheres. “He’ll be able to see again any second!”
Sora advanced with her sword out. “This is for Mama.”
She plunged the blade into Prince Gin’s belly.
“Aghhh!” His shriek of pain broke through the seal Hana had on his mouth. The gold pearl flew out.
At the same time, his eyes reabsorbed the blood. Prince Gin’s pupils shone black, clear, and newly refocused.
He roared in fury.
“Now I’ve got you.” His ryuu magic snatched Hana off his back. He grabbed her by the throat and yanked Sora’s sword from his belly.
Prince Gin sneered at Sora. “I’m the greatest ruler Kichona will ever know. You really thought you could defeat me by making meswallowthe pearl?”
The wound in his stomach closed. Other than the tear in his tunic, there was no evidence he’d been harmed.
“No, I didn’t,” Sora said.
He looked quickly around the balcony, trying to figure out what he’d missed. But then he moved his boot. Beneath the sole was the gold pearl Hana had tried to force upon him. His ryuu particles encircled it, and he laughed derisively. “Whatever trick you thought you pulled, you didn’t.”
Hana tried to pry his fingers off her neck. “It’s calledsleight of hand, and wedidpull it off.”
Sora looked pointedly at his stomach, while she touched the necklace around her throat. The pearl pendant was missing.
Prince Gin followed her gaze. “No...”
“Yes,” Sora said. “The pearl beneath your boot—the one that was in your mouth—was a decoy. I crammed the real pearl into your belly after I sliced you open. But now that wound is healed, and your soul is inside you again.”
He stared horrified at the tear in his tunic and the perfectly smooth skin beneath it.
