Page 68 of Cloak of Night
The Dragon Prince had said he stole Sight from the afterlife without actually dying. So Fairy wasn’t dead yet, not until she stepped across to the light.
The green glitter was mesmerizing, sparkling like millions of shards of emeralds. Warmth blossomed from the end of the tunnel, and the magic smelled of all of Fairy’s favorite things—crushed lavender and rose water and rock sugar—like the most perfect bubble bath ever to be drawn.
Fairy walked slowly toward it, stopping on the threshold.
The promise of otherworldly joy sang to her, and she leaned hungrily toward it. Maybe this was why Prince Gin was so obsessed with bringing the Evermore to Kichona. He knew there were things much greater than ordinary life, and he wanted them. Just like Fairy wanted to luxuriate in that green light now.
Do not be afraid, the afterlife whispered.Those you loved in life will follow you in death when their time comes.
But another voice in the back of her head called to her. “Fairy, it’s not your time yet....”
The sensation of a pair of arms latched on to her as if in an embrace. Was it Wolf from the other side, his demigodness somehow allowing his voice to follow her here? Fairy’s heart pounded so fiercely it echoed into the afterlife.
She remembered that she was still needed in the world of the living.
An idea flickered in Fairy’s head. She could steal the knowledge of Sight and return as a ryuu. Then both she and Spirit would have these powers, plus Wolf with his demigod ones. It would help the odds in their fight to save Kichona.
But Fairy quickly killed the notion, because she remembered that taking the ability to see the magic like that would doom her, just like it had Prince Gin. She closed her eyes and purged her memory of how the emerald particles looked.I leave that knowledge here, where it belongs.
Then Fairy stepped back, away from the end of the tunnel. “I’m not going to die,” she said to the afterlife. “Not yet.”
The tunnel sighed, almost as though disappointed. But Fairy’s will was strong, and after another whine, the green and the tunnel imploded, as if sucked into a single point. A shock of bright white blinded her vision.
Fairy jolted where she lay on the ground in the orchard, but she couldn’t move. Her eyes flew open, and she saw not green dust but everything else as she’d known it. The blue of the sky above. The gnarled brown of the tree branches.
And the very real, muscled arms that held her tightly.
“You’re back.” Wolf exhaled but didn’t loosen his grip.
“I’m back.”
“I thought I lost you.”
Fairy leaned back against him and smiled weakly. “I’m not that easy to kill.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Hana returned to the Citadel, feeling as if a few chinks were missing from her armor. Fairy’s mention of Sora had caught her off guard. She’d thought she was over her sister wanting to recruit her. Hells, they had literally been at each other’s throats during the last battle. Why did hearing about Sora get to her now?
Maybe because Hana had never before questioned her own loyalty to Emperor Gin. His beliefs and his promises had been the moral guideposts for most of her life. But now...
“We should report our failure to His Majesty,” Firebrand said as they passed through the fortress gates. Hana had told them that Wolf showed up and used his strange magic to help him and Fairy escape.
“Go away,” Hana grumbled at Firebrand.
“But the mission—”
“I’ll take care of it later,” she said with more force this time.
“Virtuoso,” Menagerie chimed in, “with all due respect, we’re supposed to report mission outcomes immediately.”
“Fine! Tell him whatever you want!” Hana’s magic hurled Firebrand and Menagerie across the courtyard, slamming them into the walls of the nearest building.
The ryuu gaped at her, but they didn’t try to approach her again.
Hana glared once more, then marched away.
What to do? How to feel?
