Page 66 of The Dragon's Promise

Now that was a surprise. No enchanters had visited Kiata in centuries. “Are they at the breach?” I asked, leaping off the tree. “I’d like to meet—”

I halted midsentence. The air had changed. Gone was the heat, the sticky veneer of humidity. Cold needled my bare skin.

“Shiori…,” whispered the wind. “Shiori.”

The ground began to tremble. At first, it was only a vibration, rustling the trees nearby. Then a fierce tremor shook the earth. Birds shrieked, and rocks spilled from the mountainside, forcing the soldiers to scatter from their posts.

I bent my knees to catch my balance, and Kiki slipped back under Hasho’s hat. In the distance, the breach flashed red.

“SHIORI!” the wind whispered again, this time more urgently. “SHIORI!”

That was no wind. It was the demons. They knew I was here!

“The bloodsake has come,” they clamored.

“She has come to free us.

“We must wake the king….”

“I haven’t come to free you,” I hissed. I dared a step forward. “I’ve come to make sure you never get out.”

“We shall see.”

The demons’ anger pulsed under my feet, and I grabbed Takkan by the hand. Together we stumbled back a step, then another and another until the earth was still again and the cold dissipated.

“What was that?” Takkan asked.

I never got to reply. Because out of the trees there flew the largest, most feral-looking hawk I had ever seen, with tiger stripes on its burnished plumes and ears pointed like a cat’s. Kiki let out a gruesome shriek as its talons narrowly missed her, lifting the hat clean off my head instead.

“Heedi!” shouted an unseen voice. “What did I teach you about diving on our friends? Apologize at once.”

The hawk dipped its head at Kiki, then swooped down onto the arm of a young boy. A boy with a lopsided grin I would recognize anywhere.

“Gen!” I cried.

The sorcerer swept a bow. “My apologies for Enchantress Heedi. She gets excited when there’s demon activity. And thank goodness for it—otherwise, I would’ve missed you and Kiki! How well you both look, freshly exiled from the dragon realm.” He blew a kiss to my bird. Especially you, Kiki.

You can hear me! the paper bird exclaimed, instantly forgiving Gen for the hawk incident. I’d been wondering.

“I’ve always had an affinity for birds,” Gen confessed. “They’re often smarter than humans.”

Kiki preened, and I sighed at how easily my paper bird was charmed.

You look well, too, she said.

It was true. Gen’s cheeks bloomed with health, his curls were neatly combed, and he’d even donned Kiatan robes. But for his blue eyes, he might have passed for one of us.

“Come,” said Gen, “let’s chat a little farther from the breach. The demons have been testy all day.”

“You all know each other?” said Takkan, more aware than ever he couldn’t hear Kiki’s side of the conversation.

“Know each other?” Gen said. “We shared a dungeon in Ai’long. After all we’ve been through together, Shiori’s practically my aunt.”

“Aunt?” I scoffed. “You spent twenty years of your life as a statue. Just because you didn’t age doesn’t mean you’re younger than I am.”

“But I look younger. Especially when you’re wearing that.” Gen scrutinized my clothes. “You were far better dressed in Ai’long, even when the dragons were trying to kill you.”

“They’re my brother’s clothes,” I replied, snatching my hat back from the hawk. “It isn’t easy sneaking out when you’re a princess. I thought I looked convincing.”

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