Page 81 of Kimiko and the Accidental Proposal
After a comforting hush, Isla’s voice came softly. “Kimi, are trees truly your favorite?”
“Always have been.”
“Then would you be interested in a courtship tradition from the Songs of Trees?”
Kimiko laughed. As a daughter of Kikusawa Shrine, nothing could be more appropriate. “Something to do with trees soundsperfect.”
THIRTY-FOUR
Dynamic Entry
Halfway between the shrine and the dorm, Akira suddenly asked, “Is it weird that dragons keep coming up?”
Suuzu studied his companion’s face in the fading light. There was little mystery behind the seemingly random remark since Akira had a vested interest. His sister was fostering a dragon crosser, and there was a chance that the little one’s biological father—a serial kidnapper and rapist—was behind the recent upheaval in Keishi.
Akira’s expression was troubled. “You don’t think it’shim, do you?”
“No one has mentioned dragons in relation to the case.”
“But your brother’s in town. And phoenixes are experts in dragon-hunting.”
“Juuyu is,” he conceded.
Akira pressed his point. “Doesn’t that mean there’s a good chance he’s tracking a dragon now?”
Suuzu thought back over his brother’s visit and the care he’d taken in defending their nest. Would so many wards ordinarily be necessary? And had any of them been keyed specifically to dragons? Perhaps when they reached the dorm, he should take a closer look at the sigils.
“Don’t you think?” prompted Akira.
“Yes,” he conceded. “That is possible.”
“How possible?”
Suuzu inclined his head. “If I were assembling a team to capture a rogue dragon, Juuyu’s name would be at the top of the list.”
“So … it’s probably him?”
“It ispossible.” Suuzu tugged at Akira’s windblown hair. “Juuyu’s skills are not limited to the tracking of our traditional prey.”
Akira buried his nose in his scarf.
And in the succeeding lull, Suuzu sensed an unusual tension. Then a flicker of movement. Akira didn’t react, for he couldn’t sense the presence of Amaranthine, but Suuzu’s awareness jangled with multiple alarms. Were they surrounded?
Suuzu closed ranks behind Akira, bending to speak in his ear. “Stay close.”
“Something up?”
He clucked his tongue, his uneasiness mounting.
Akira fell silent, and when Suuzu slipped and arm around his shoulders, he went still. “Wolves,” Suuzu reported. “Let us give them a moment to pass by.”
“Trackers?”
Suuzu hummed an affirmative, scanning the darkening sky and deep shadows. A series of yips and a lone howl changed his opinion. “Pursuers.”
“What are they chasing?”
“Something clever.” Suuzu set his fingers over Akira’s mouth, forestalling further questions. Because he could feel sigils in the air, illusions at play. Maybe they’d stumbled across one of Keishi’s harmless enclaves, but … maybe not. He pulled Akira against his chest, fully prepared to transform in the street and take to the sky, trusting his nestmate to forgive him later for the rough handling.
