Page 30 of Cloak of Night
Gin frowned. “Have you already forgotten? Because you made me suffer for the past ten years. Now you’ll endure the same fate.”
Aki shook her head sadly. “I didn’t want to fight you during the Blood Rift. I didn’t want you to be hurt or exiled. That was your own doing.”
Gin strode across the grotto and grabbed her arms, pinning them to her sides. Aki tried to wriggle away, but his grip was firm.
His nostrils flared as he shook her. “My own doing? After all these years, why can’t you see that the Evermore is good for our kingdom and our people?”
Aki closed her eyes for a brief moment. Her brother had always been obsessed with the Evermore.
“It’s not worth the cost,” Aki said, wrenching herself free from Gin’s grip. “It never has been and never will be. Too many lives will be lost. Not only Kichonans but all the people in the mainland kingdoms you have to slaughter in the names of war and glory. What happened to your compassion? You didn’t used to be this cruel.”
The scarred ridges on Gin’s face seemed to harden as his expression did.
Virtuoso took a step forward. Aki had almost forgotten the girl was there.
“There’s always a price,” Virtuoso said. “But leaders who are truly great aren’t afraid of paying it.”
“Besides,” Gin said to Aki, “whatever qualms I may have harbored disappeared when I gave my soul to Zomuri.”
“You gave up your soul?” Dizziness hit Aki, and she had to prop herself up against the grotto wall.
Her brother laughed. “In exchange for being invincible.”
“This is wrong,” Aki said.
Gin leaned down so he was eye level with her. “I’m going to get what I want. You tried it your way, and you lost. Now it’s my turn, and I’m going to succeed in achieving what no other has done before: uniting all the heathen kingdoms on the mainland under our gods and living forever as their immortal emperor. It is what is best for Kichona, and if you’d admit I was right, I might show some leniency. Or you can continue being stubborn.”
She looked straight back at him without flinching. “We’re twins. We were both cursed with the same obstinacy.”
“That’s too bad for you.” Gin rose. He moved with a sense of cruel purpose.
Fear lodged in Aki’s throat.
Chapter Seventeen
Hana watched as Emperor Gin stood over his sister and gestured at his orb.
“What are you doing, Your Majesty?” Hana asked.
A coil of thin tubing floated over to him. “Showing my sister something I learned about while in exile. I’ll get it started, and you’ll finish it.”
Hana nodded obediently as the heat of anticipation washed through her body, the magic at her fingertips eager to serve the Dragon Emperor.
A bucket floated out of Gin’s orb and dunked itself into the pool of acid.
Empress—no,PrincessAki pressed herself into the wall, as if an extra millimeter would keep her safe.
“Dear sister,” Gin said. “I’d like to introduce you to Shinowanan acid torture. It’s a slow drip, terribly painful but effective.” He cast a spell to bind Princess Aki’s arms behind her and her ankles together.
“Hey!” She struggled but couldn’t break free of the bonds.
The ryuu magic lifted her several feet off the ground and rotated her as if she were a rabbit on a spit.
Something inside Hana trembled. But why? She believed in Emperor Gin and his pursuit of the Evermore, and this was part of what it took to achieve it.
There was a tiny spigot at the bottom of the bucket. Gin attached one end of the tube to it, then floated the bucket above Princess Aki’s head. The acid dribbled down into the tube. Gravity would do the rest.
Hana gasped. “Your Majesty, you don’t mean to...?”
