“Tell me what I need to do.”
Sora pulled up another chair. “I assume Wolf explained how ryuu magic works?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now, there’s no way the taigas are going to be able to match the ryuu in a fight. Prince Gin and his army are on the edge of Jade Forest; they’ll be here within hours, and even if I could teach everyone how to command ryuu magic, there simply isn’t enough time for them to learn and master it.”
Broomstick’s knuckles whitened as he squeezed the armrest on his chair. “This doesn’t sound too promising.”
“Exactly,” Sora said. “That’s why we can’t actually fight. We have to stop the battle before it ever begins, before they can overwhelm us and conduct the Ceremony of Two Hundred Hearts. We have to undermine the ryuu’s Sight.”
“What do you mean?”
Sora held her hand in front of her. “Right now, there is emerald-colored dust swirling in the air. The ryuu have to be able to see it in order to command it to do things. But if we blind them, they won’t have magic. However, we will. Or, worst case, we fight hand to hand, and the odds are even. Better for us, actually, because we outnumber them.”
Broomstick relaxed his hold on the armrest and leaned forward. “So how do we blind all of them? We can’t just poke out the ryuu’s eyes individually when they march on the main gates. I have a feeling the Dragon Prince won’t take well to that kind of welcome.”
She stood from her chair and walked over to the window, which had a view of Rose Palace on the top of the hill. It glimmered as if it were the crown of all of Kichona. “I do have something in mind, if I can get it to work. It involves breaking off a huge chunk of crystal, floating it to the gates of the Citadel, and raising it at just the right angle in the sun when the ryuu arrive.”
“You’re going to tear apart Empress Aki’s castle to use it as a giant magnifying glass?” His eyes were wide.
“If I can control the magic,” Sora said. “I have no idea if I’m strong enough. But yes, that’s the plan.”
Broomstick chuckled despite himself. “If anyone can pull this off, it’s you, Spirit.”
She didn’t laugh, though. She kept her gaze on Rose Palace. “Yes, well . . . Let’s hope that’s true.”
Chapter Sixty-One
Fairy startled awake and sat straight up. Her mouth tasted like sand. And everything was too bright.
She squinted at all the white around her. Where am I?
Everything that had happened at Copper Bluff came rushing back to her. The invisible ryuu putting her in a headlock. Wolf breaking Prince Gin’s spell. Spirit, giving her rira and promising she would be all right.
That must mean she was somewhere safe, right? Because Spirit had been bad but then she was good. She must have been, if Fairy was still alive.
She frowned. She was so confused.
Am I back at the Citadel? But no, it was white here, and everything at the Citadel was black.
Except the infirmary. The inside of the Society infirmary was white. But how would she have gotten back here?
Fairy shoved aside the thin blanket that covered her. She threw her legs over the cot and stood up.
Rather, she tried to stand up. But her muscles were as wobbly as yuzu jelly. She grabbed for the rails on the side of the cot, missed, and fell to the ground with a crash.
No one ran to her aid. No doctors. No nurses.
But also, no ryuu.
She didn’t know whether to be relieved or upset that she’d been left all alone.
And where was Broomstick? Or Wolf? Had they made it out of Copper Bluff?
Fairy began to cry.
She hated it. But she couldn’t stop the tears.
Five minutes later, though, Broomstick burst through the infirmary doors. “Fairy?” he shouted as he tore down the corridor.
“Broomstick!” she shouted. She sobbed at the sound of his voice.
Stop crying, she reprimanded herself. You’re a taiga, for gods’ sake.
The confusion began to clear in her head, and she could feel their gemina bond light up. Broomstick’s relief and happiness flooded in.
She reached up for the cot’s rails again, and this time, she managed to pull herself up. Her arms and legs prickled with pins and needles, but it was a vast improvement from being composed of jelly. The rira had worn off her brain first, and now it was wearing off the rest of her body.
Broomstick careened around the corner, into the room. He helped her sit on the cot, then threw his arms around her and held her tight. “You’re alive. You’re alive and you’re all right.”
“I’ll only be alive if you don’t squeeze me to death,” Fairy said, gasping.
“Oh, sorry.” He released her but kept grinning and shaking his head, as if the fact that she was awake hadn’t quite sunk in.
She was still working on believing it too. As all the feeling returned to her limbs, though, she was able to smile. No more stupid tears.
“How long was I out?” Fairy asked. “And where is everyone? I fell and made a racket, but no one came.”
Broomstick let out a long exhale. “Do you remember what happened in the desert?”
“Yes.”
“Well . . .” He quickly caught her up, from how her body had been taken as evidence of the empress’s death to this very moment, when Spirit was on her way to demolish Rose Palace, Wolf was delirious from gemina-transferred genka, and Broomstick was supposed to alert the Council of the plan to blind the ryuu when they arrived. Which was a matter of hours.
Fairy blinked at him. “You’re saying I didn’t miss much while I was unconscious.”
Broomstick shook his head and laughed. “Something like that.”
“Well, I guess since it’s been incredibly boring in the past few days, we’d better go out there and make something interesting happen, huh?” Fairy scooted off the cot. She wasn’t feeling disoriented or sleepy anymore; the shock of all that had happened dispelled it.
And she’d been out of action for too long. Time to get back into it. “Go do what you need to do to spread word of Spirit’s plan. I’m going to grab my potions from my room. I might be able to mix together an antidote to genka for Wolf.”
“It might not work, since he didn’t actually get shot with genka,” Broomstick said. “Spirit is the one with the genka in her system. Wolf only has the effects.”
Fairy frowned. “It’s still worth trying. If we’re going to battle the ryuu, we’re going to need all the taigas we can get, and Wolf is one of our best fighters.”
Broomstick put his fist over his heart. “Cloak of night.”
She shook her head. “Wrong salute.”
“You’re right.” He pounded his fists to his chest again. “Work hard.”
“Mischief harder.”
Fairy let herself look at her gemina for a few more seconds, while at the same time basking in the fierce, brotherly love Broomstick sent through their connection. Heavens, it felt good to be back.
Chapter Sixty-Two
Your Majesty,” one of the Imperial Guards said, “I’m sorry to bother you in these early hours, but there is an apprentice here to see you. She’s not on your schedule, but she insisted it was urgent. She has news of Prince Gin.”