Page 130 of Tsumiko and the Enslaved Fox
Argent was only too happy to show off.
With great care, he ushered her into the fringes of a seamless dream. Immediately, the view changed, for he’d thoroughly displaced the Hightip sisters. They believed they’d set down in a park several kilometers to north of the city. In truth, they had barely moved; the bell tower of Saint Midori’s was in plain view beyond the treetops.
Tsumiko made a small noise of distress. Or perhaps it was protest.
Nona and Senna had cornered a silver fox who was favoring one paw. Head low, the illusory Argent struggled for breath. His bristled tails fanned in warning, and doubt crept into a gaze that darted from one attacker to the other. The Hightip sisters saw a fox cornered, cowed, and about to crumble.
Senna circled, aiming for a small figure huddled at Argent’s flank.
“Is that supposed to be me?” asked Tsumiko.
“You and a newborn human. No sense betraying the truth of Kyrie’s breeding.”
“So they’re not after him?”
“If you have a child, that child might have power. They will not be satisfied until they know if you are hiding another star within your brightness.” He adjusted his grip, making her more secure, for he could sympathize with the vixens to some degree. “Clever as they may be, they cannot resist the instinct to chase, to take, to keep for themselves.”
Tsumiko’s lips pursed. “Is that all it is? Instinct?”
“No. We Amaranthine are bound to the beasts of this world, but we are more than our instincts.” Argent nosed her hair, quietly adding, “We are not all slaves to our urges.”
Nodding toward the scene, Tsumiko asked, “What now?”
“Sleight of hand.” He scanned their true surroundings, adding, “I will pull a switch, and then we mustgetwhile the getting is good. See there?”
She followed the point of a finger to the clearing’s edge, where a large animal crouched. The dog was too large to be anything but a Kith guardian.
“Is someone riding that animal?” Tsumiko whispered. “A reaver?”
“He is Amaranthine.” The slender youth astride the dog remained in shadows, but Argent’s senses picked up details she couldn’t see—auburn hair, copper eyes, and the jut of two sword hilts at his hip. “One of Starmark’s whelps, by his coloring. He will raise the alarm.”
“Will that be a problem?”
“Not for us.” Argent knew he was smiling. It was too early to gloat, but … how long had it been since he had felt superior? Senna had always been vicious, and Nona’s scheming made them a devastating team. Yet they came at him head-on. No tricks. No trap. Only a wild scramble to destroy all evidence of something that was becoming increasingly evident.
Argent was better than the clan’s best.
Senna lunged, missing the young woman hiding behind the silver fox, but catching his foreleg. Tsumiko’s double screamed, and dream-Argent snarled and struggled free. Nona limped in, joining the melee, and Argent reached out, giving the dream its final twist.
Nona’s fur silvered.
“She looks like you,” Tsumiko murmured. “And you have the same limp!”
“Fancy that.”
Confusion reigned.
Tsumiko asked, “Can’t Senna tell it’s not you? By voice or scent or something?”
“I have been thorough,” he replied, slowly drawing up and away.
More Kith showed among the trees, hanging back as the vixens tangled. Their screams raised hackles, and confusion rippled through the growing ranks of witnesses. Why were the Hightip sisters feuding on Starmark lands?
“Fools.” Argent slowly pulled at the edges of his dream, unraveling the construct. “They will not easily explain this away.”
“Uh-oh.” Tsumiko turned in the direction of the main house. “Someone’s coming. Someone strong … and angry.”
As Harmonious Starmark arrived in truest form and waded into the fray, barking for the vixens to desist, Argent let loose the last of his sigils. The illusion dissipated without a trace, leaving two disoriented vixens in the wreckage of a formerly peaceful forest—downed trees, scarred earth, scattering tufts of red fur.
