“Where’s your gemina?” Prince Gin asked. “Surely you didn’t board my ship alone?”
“I did,” Sora lied. “I took extended leave after the Autumn Festival. My gemina is at the Citadel with the rest of the apprentices.”
Behind her, Hana cleared her throat. “I don’t believe that. You and Wolf were always inseparable.”
Sora winced. Was that another reference to the fact that she’d ditched Hana the night of the Blood Rift because Daemon and their other friends were going to ride on the dirigible? I’m sorry I left you behind, Sora thought. But I promise I’ll make this right. Somehow. I just need time to figure it out.
“Hmm,” Prince Gin said. “Lying to me, in addition to trying to poison me. The charges of treason are racking up. You know, I haven’t killed anyone in a long time. I returned to Kichona with a plan to spare as many of our taigas’ and citizens’ lives as possible, since they will constitute my army. But one life won’t matter in the long run. Besides, the legend says Zomuri requires blood.”
Sora tried to muster some bravery, but all she could feel was how fragile her neck was. She was used to believing she was strong—so much muscle from years of training—but in reality, it was just flesh and bone that could be sliced through with a blade or snapped with whatever ryuu magic struck the prince’s fancy.
“Your Highness, wait!” Hana stepped forward.
Sora frowned. What was she up to? She had seemed ready to cast Sora into the sea not long ago.
“This taiga is my sister,” Hana said.
Sora blinked. Hana was coming to her aid?
Prince Gin arched his brow. “You didn’t tell me this before.”
“I’d disavowed my family. For the past ten years, Spirit didn’t exist for me.”
It felt as if Hana were stomping on Sora’s heart, which already lay at the bottom of the ocean.
“However,” Hana said, “because we share blood, she probably has the same ryuu power that I do, just like how Skullcrusher and Skeleton both excel at controlling bones.”
The Dragon Prince considered this new information. Every ryuu on the ship was silent, waiting for his verdict.
Sora was the only one looking at Hana. What was her special power that made it tempting enough for Prince Gin to commute Sora’s sentence in order to have one more soldier?
A slow smile crept across his face. “Spirit, you’ve been trained by the Society and spent the last decade under my sister’s rule. I know there are some things about my past that may have been . . . skewed. I wasn’t here to offer my side of the story. But as you can see, there are many smart and accomplished warriors who support me, including your sister. I hope you’ll let me share my perspective.”
That warm, mushy porridge sense of calm she’d felt at the Kaede City outpost began to fill her. For a split second, she was aware that he was casting his hypnotic spell on her, but it was too fleeting a moment for her to do anything about it. Not that she’d be able to fight off his magic anyway. No one could, except Daemon.
Prince Gin told her what had happened after his warriors fled Kichona a decade ago. It was the same version he’d given the taigas in Kaede City. Sora nodded along, rapt. “I can give you access to our new magic,” he said. “Would you like that?”
Yes yes yes. Giddiness welled up in Sora’s eyes as the feeling of security and conviction inside of her warmed even more. There was a niggling in the back of her mind, as if Daemon would disapprove, but she couldn’t figure out why. And the tickle of wrongness was soon subsumed by the rightness of what the Dragon Prince offered. “Yes, Your Highness. I’d like to be a ryuu, more than anything. I’d like to be reunited with my sister, who up until today, I had believed lost to me forever. It would be an honor to serve you.”
She took a deep breath, knowing from Kaede City that the next part of becoming a ryuu required Prince Gin doing something that might hurt. Daemon had told her about the surprised cries from the taigas on that rooftop. But no matter what the Dragon Prince was going to do, it would be worth it. Everything was worth it for Prince Gin.
He smashed his fingertips to Sora’s eyes. She barely managed to close them in time so that he didn’t gouge her eyeballs directly. It felt as if his nails were drilling through Sora’s lids, and then as if hot iron was burning right through them. But even though it hurt, she didn’t care. The sound of magic whooshed around her like a small dust storm, and Sora smiled as she lost herself in the chaotic melody.
Prince Gin yanked his fingers away as suddenly as he’d started.
Sora rubbed at her eyes. When she opened them, she gasped.
Emerald particles floated everywhere, tumbling through the air and sprinkling down on her like colored sugar. She cried out in wonder. And then she stuck out her tongue. It tasted sweeter than apple sidra, than cherry ice cream, than golden empress cakes. She sighed with a deep-seated happiness as the ryuu magic twinkled all around her, the sweetest of snowflakes.
Prince Gin turned to Hana, his expression harder than before. “You asked for her, Virtuoso. She’s your responsibility. Train her and show me that I didn’t make a mistake in letting your emotions get the better of you.”
Hana paled. But then she squared her shoulders. “Yes, Your Highness. I won’t fail you.”
Sora should have been worried, both for herself and Hana. It was unknown whether she would be able to command magic the way it was implied that her sister could. And yet Sora was too entranced by the emerald dust to register rational feeling. Even though it was hardly dusk, the world was lit up like it was made of emerald galaxies. Everywhere she turned, the air sparkled. Even the Dragon Prince’s mutilated face looked handsomer amid the glitter, as if he were a fairy prince come to bless the kingdom with beauty like nothing anyone had ever seen before. Sora’s mouth dropped open as she continued to spin around, drinking it all in.
Prince Gin’s forehead wrinkled a little. “Can you already see the magic?” he asked.
Sora nodded. “It’s magnificent. It’s as if the entire universe has come to earth.”
“Maybe something does run in the Teira family blood,” Prince Gin said.
He watched both Sora and Hana as if something else were occurring to him.
Prince Gin turned his focus to Sora. “One more thing, Spirit. Pull up your mental ramparts. You are a ryuu now, and you have your sister back. You won’t need your gemina.”
Sora frowned. Her gemina connection yawned, as if telling her it wanted to stay open.
But the reassuring warmth of Prince Gin’s smile encouraged her. He wouldn’t tell her to do something if it wasn’t right. She nodded and followed his orders. With a slam, she blocked off her gemina bond.
I am a ryuu now, she thought, her happiness at being on the same team as her sister buoying her spirits as if she were floating on a balloon. I don’t need Daemon anymore.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Afterward, Hana stood at the bow of the ship, ostensibly watching the final approach to Tiger’s Belly, but really, thinking about her sister’s unexpected return.
She had known there was a good chance that she and Sora would cross paths as the ryuu swept through Kichona, since Prince Gin intended to hypnotize every tenderfoot, apprentice, and warrior in the Society to make them his. But she’d thought she had long ago buried all the emotions that came with thinking about her family. If there was to be a reunion with her sister, it was supposed to come later, at the Citadel, where apprentices were based. Instead, Hana had run into Sora sooner than expected—too soon—and she wasn’t prepared.