Kaito lunged for him, swiping with a clawed hand. But before he could land a single blow, Hisato disappeared, only to reappear behind him.
"You better watch your back, dragon. You never know who you can trust nowadays."
12
Kaito headed to the throne room. Even before the double doors were thrown open, the sound of laughter spilled outside. His brother was sitting on the edge of the dais. But his casual disregard for rank was the least of his crimes. He held a bottle of sake in his hand, drinking deeply of it. A group of Jirou's most loyal dragons surrounded him—the dragon who'd tried to seduce him, and the dragon who'd warned him of the priests in the village. There was no doubt his brother had orchestrated the entire thing to make him seem weak.
He did not believe he knew just how much danger he'd put them all in. Now Hisato knew where he was, and there was his cryptic message about Suzume. His anger knew no limits. Kaito marched toward them, and the others laughter died away as he approached. But his brother continued to laugh, pretending that he did not see the anger written upon Kaito's face. He turned after a few seconds, just in time for Kaito's fist to collide with his face. He was knocked backward, sprawling onto his back while Kaito stood over him seething.
"What was that for?" Jirou said as he massaged his jaw where Kaito had struck him.
"Isamu almost died because of that little stunt you pulled."
"I have no idea what you're talking about. We've been here all afternoon." He gestured toward his comrades who nodded, giving validity to his lies.
"Your man told me there were priests in the village and that you went to attack them. You wanted to lure me out there to force me to attack the human village," Kaito said.
He waved away Kaito's concern. "Why would I do that? You said we were to lay low." Jirou raised his brows in question, playing the innocent.
“Isamu almost died!” Kenji leaped forward, glaring at Jirou, his hands balled into fists at his side.
Isamu leaned against Hana. The burns from the holy arrows had not healed yet and his face was covered in purple bruises that could not be disguised even in his humanoid form. It would be days before he was back to normal.
Jirou shrugged. “It wasn’t me who lured you out there.” He smirked at Kaito.
Kaito grabbed his brother by the front of his hoari. "Do you think this is funny?"
"I think a real ruler should protect his people from a threat. You should be thanking me for this opportunity to show us your prowess."
The dragons around them all stared at him. Those most loyal to his brother smiled, while Kenji continued to tremble with anger.
"If you try anything like this again, I will end you." He let go of his brother and turned his back on him.
Kaito turned to stalk away, but before he could Jirou called out to him. "You cannot ignore this problem. While you slept they've hunted us to the brink of extinction. It is time that we rise again, take back what belongs to us. It was said none who stood against you could defeat you in battle. The reign of yokai has been squashed for too long. It is you who should destroy the human menace."
Kaito balled his hand into a fist, barely controlling his rage. His patience was wearing thin as it was. Between Hisato's taunts of Suzume killing yokai and Jirou's goading him into fighting, he was nearly at his breaking point. He'd fought many battles in his long life. But now he doubted his own ability. His power had been less since he'd been freed from the stone and he did not relish the idea of a war. Because that was what it would be. A bloody war. One he might not win. The threat of Hisato lingered in his mind.
"You look in the wrong direction to glory, brother," Kaito said, hardly holding in his seething temper.
"We are yokai. This is who we are, or have you forgotten that?"
"I know that I bought this crown through the blood of my enemies."
"Your kingdom is infested."
"I do not waste my time on insects."
"The humans have grown too numerous and too powerful. You are a fool if you do not squash them now before it is too late."
"We will not start a war with the humans," Kaito growled, giving his final word on the matter. His voice echoed through the chamber with enough power to bring them all to their knees. They would not challenge him now, even his brother could not suspect just how little his power was. It was why he had not challenged him outright, but sought to damage his reputation. But if they found out the truth, it would be over.
Most of them wouldn't meet his gaze. He had to stop this uprising and now. The best he could do was move forward with his plans. Once he had the strength of other powerful yokai behind him, his brother and those who remained loyal to him would mean nothing. They were bloodthirsty but they were cowards as well. Power won out, even if it was a false power like his own. The scale was not tipped in his favor. But he'd fought greater odds before and won. He could do it again.
Kaito went back to his chamber. But once more found his room occupied. Ai sat on the edge of his futon, poised like a perfect, porcelain doll. It had been a long day cleaning up the mess his brother had made and he'd hoped to find a couple minutes of reprieve, but it seemed that was not to be.
"Why do I even have a chamber door, if everyone comes in whenever they feel like?" he snarled at her, storming past her to go stand at the open doors which led onto a veranda overlooking the ocean. In the old days this place had brought him peace and clarity. But it only really worked if he was alone.
"Ai needs to talk to you," Ai said, ignoring his surly mood.
"I'm in no mood. Leave now while I am asking you nicely." He kept his back to her. Ai had been scarce these past few days. What she was up to he could only guess at. She was as strong-willed as ever it seemed. Some things never changed, he supposed.
But he wasn't in the mood for any of her plots. Things were falling apart around him and the tension with the dragons was only growing. How much longer could he hold onto his kingdom?
"It cannot wait," Ai said. It was meant to be authoritative but her childlike voice ruined the effect.
Kaito rounded on her, baring his canines. "Leave," he roared, the force of his anger shaking the walls. Outside the sky darkened to gray and the sea churned with his mood.
Ai did not so much as flinch beneath the force of his rage. Kazue's spell had trapped Ai in a child's body but long ago she had been the favored daughter of the Lord of the Sea. As one of the first children, she was extremely powerful in her own right. And she'd never been told no. Even if she appeared weak now, Kaito knew what power dwelt beneath that small exterior. Ai knew it too. Her chin was jutted out in that proud way of hers. For a moment he saw the woman she had been, his mistress, and controller of his fate. But he wasn't her puppet anymore.
"You do not have the command of me, Kai," she said imperiously, losing her childlike way of speaking, if only for a moment.
Whatever he might think, she still saw him as beneath her. And maybe he was. She alone knew just how weak he had become. Just how little he had right now. But his anger only made his pride fiercer.
He stalked closer toward her, looming above her, but she only tilted her head back to maintain eye contact.
"You forget whose court you are in." He turned, flexing his clawed hand as he leaned in, using her diminished size to his advantage.
"Ai has not forgotten. It is you who has forgotten how it got this way."
"Not even for a moment have I forgotten what brought me here," he said through gritted teeth.
"It does not seem so to Ai." She looked him up and down. "You're letting your affection for the human blind you to what must be done."
He threw a punch, swinging past her and slamming it into the bed beside her. For the briefest moment her eyes grew wide, then she snapped her gaze back to him.
"I do not love humans," he snarled.
"Perhaps not all. But you are letting the past affect you."
He stood up to pace away from her before he gave into his impulse to knock her up
side her head. The anger was burning in his gut like a thousand twisting snakes. I cannot close my eyes without thinking I will not wake again, that I will never open them again. That I will be trapped in that nightmare for all eternity.
He turned to face her. "I will never forget what was done to me. And yet you think I love the humans?" He threw his head back in mocking laughter. "I would be glad if I never saw another one again."
"Then why not get rid of them?"
"I have more important things to attend to." He gestured broadly around the room.
"You're lying."
They stared at one another for a few minutes. No one would dare call him a liar to his face but her. He considered retaliating but it would get them nowhere.
"Get out. I tire of this conversation." Kaito turned back to the window, ending the conversation. Outside the sea was tossing and slamming against the island, reflective of his dark mood.
"Your brother is a danger to your rule."
"He is jealous, he always has been. I can handle him," Kaito replied, trying to sound glib.
"If you do not secure your place, then he will. By killing you."
"He knows his place." He would not tell Ai that his brother's open hostility concerned him. They were not close enough for that sort of honesty.
"He'll use her against you."
Suddenly the pieces fell into place and he turned toward Ai with eyes glowing blue in his fury. In a deadly voice he said, "And how does he know her name at all?"
Ai stared at him without response, her round childlike face was blank of all emotion. But he knew without her admission it had been her. There was no other way.
"You have to let the human go," she said.
Anger vibrated through his body, while Ai remained composed. "Do not speak of her to me," he growled. Just thinking of the way they'd parted, and the fact that he continued to worry for her welfare only made him seem weak. When she sent him away he'd sworn he was done with humans.
"You need an ally," she replied, ignoring his outburst.
But he already knew this was coming. It was why Ai had told his brother about Suzume in the first place, to drive him to this point.
"Like you?"
She sat perfectly poised, a childlike mirror of the powerful woman she had been before Kazue had destroyed her.
"There are those who remain loyal to my father, to me. If you would consider a marital alliance-"
"I've already given you my answer. I will not be your puppet again." He turned his back on her, facing the window once more.
She stood up and her footsteps hardly made a sound on the tatami as she approached him. She placed a hand on his forearm.
"It would not be like before. Things are different. You are different."
"You are desperate," he snapped.
She did not even react to the slight. "I am. I need you, Kai. Akatsuki needs a strong leader. Together we can rebuild without bloodshed."
Kaito gave a ragged sigh and stared out at the stormy sea. For centuries he'd resisted his court's pressure to marry, never wanting to tether himself down to one woman. For a time, he thought Kazue could be that woman, but that had been a mistake. A foolish dream. But he could not deny it, the world had changed and he was desperate, as much as it pained him to admit that even to himself. Suzume was behind him, Kazue was dead. There was nothing holding him back from making an alliance that could secure him his rule again. And yet he couldn't bring himself to agree. Not yet.
He could not face Ai as he said, "Bring your allies to me, and then I will consider it."
A smile spread across her face. "You will not be disappointed, Kai."
13
Suzume woke in the morning and wiped the drool from her face. I can't remember the last time I slept so good. She stretched and yawned. I had the strangest dream I was back at the palace and I ate with the emperor. Suzume rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked around her room. A painted screen depicting a mountain haloed in fog divided her futon from a larger room. I don't remember that being in the inn room.
Suzume blinked away the sleep from her eyes and her hand fell onto something silky. These blankets were much too nice for an inn. Oh no. Was I kidnapped again? She threw back the covers, leaped to her feet, and darted around the screen. An unfamiliar woman in a familiar uniform was kneeling beside multiple plates of food. The scent of it made her empty stomach growl.
"Good morning, my lady," the servant said as she bowed her head to Suzume.
"It wasn't a dream?" Suzume asked her.
The servant only blinked at her in confusion. Just to be sure, Suzume pinched herself hard. "Ouch!"
"My lady?" The servant leaped up and rushed over to Suzume in concern. Or maybe she thought Suzume was insane.
I'm really back at the White Palace!
Suzume disregarded the maid's concern and plopped down on the ground in front of her breakfast, shoveling the succulent meal into her mouth. She could not remember the last time anything she'd eaten had tasted quite so good. After breakfast, feeling full and content, she flopped backward onto the tatami floor and stared at the ceiling. It wasn't a dream.
"My lady, it's time to get dressed," the servant said.
With a loud groan, Suzume got up and the maid started the complicated ritual of dressing Suzume in layers of kimono. Should I go and visit Mariko or Ayame? I wonder if Estuko ever married that lord with the crooked teeth she was so in love with? I think she did. I wonder if Ayame ever discovered who was writing those tragic poems? Suzume laughed, thinking of the horrid love poems. It felt for a moment as if she had woken from a long horrible nightmare. As if her exile and everything after it had never happened.
But halfway through getting dressed, Suzume's eyes rested on her staff leaning against the wall. And reality came crashing back down upon her. Hikaru was imprisoned, and the others were sealed in stone. The emperor's request to have her help with Hisato. That thought sobered her and all of her previous excitement was drained away. There wouldn't be any time for gossip or the childish pastimes of her old life. She had to rescue her friends. But how?
She'd didn't trust the emperor to release them. Fighting Hisato had to be an excuse for something more. Why choose her to fight Hisato? If he knew about her power he must know she had no real mastery of it. Someone like Hikaru was much better suited to Hisato. But the emperor had imprisoned him. There was more here that she'd yet to discover. No one in the White Palace did anything without motive, and the emperor was no exception. The only option was to get out of here as soon as possible.
Since she was in the White Palace, she'd have to play by the palace rules. When the servant finished dressing her, Suzume asked for parchment and brush to write with.
The servant gave her a strange look, but did as she bid. When she returned Suzume set out to write a letter. Her mother had allies, advisers to the emperor. Perhaps one of them could help her. But what can I barter with? She had no money, no influence. She shook her head. I'll figure out the second part later. First I'll write out a list of people who have enough influence to set Hikaru free and get me closer to where the others have been taken. She dipped her pen in ink and it hovered above the paper.
Black ink dripped onto the paper and it resembled tiny branches spread outward across it. She could not think of a single courtier who had enough influence to sway the emperor. Not even her grandfather, who was a high ranking official. If I could find Hisato... She set her pen down abruptly. No, she was not going to make any deals with him.
That's fine. I'll just... She had no allies, and no skills to fight her way out. How am I going to save them, then?
"Are you finished, my lady?"
Suzume stood up suddenly, nearly toppling over the ink and paper as she did so. If she couldn't do it the old way, then she'd have to think of a new plan. Maybe she couldn't break them out, but if she could get to Hikaru maybe she could ask him what to do. And hopefully he knew a spell to break the seals on the others. Then that would just le
ave figuring out where the others had been taken.
Suzume headed for the door. She was better at acting than sitting around making a plan. Before Suzume could open the door, the breathless servant rushed in front of her.
"My lady, allow me."
Suzume blinked at her in surprise. She had forgotten how little she actually did for herself when she lived here. Suzume stepped back and allowed the servant to open the door for her. She peered out into the hall and looked both ways. To her surprise there were no guards at the door. Maybe they're hiding? Surely the emperor would want her watched. She'd been brought in as a captive after all, even if it was under the guise of her helping the emperor.
"Is something the matter, my lady?" the servant asked.
"No, nothing," Suzume said and stepped out into the hall. As she walked, she could hear a faint echo of footsteps behind her. Suzume turned quickly, reaching for the weapon she wasn't wearing, only to find the servant following after her.
"Do you need anything, my lady?" the servant asked.
Suzume dropped her arm to her side. I forgot I was never alone when I lived here. I always had at least one servant with me. He doesn't need guards when the maid will report my every movement to him.
"It's nothing. I'm just going for a walk," Suzume replied before spinning on her heel and continuing down the hall.
She had forgotten how difficult it was to move in this heavy kimono, and she stumbled a few steps at first. When she'd lived at the palace before, she hadn't gotten out much unless she was being carried in a palanquin. The servant was at her side almost immediately, offering a hand. After a few tentative steps, Suzume fell back into the rhythm of it and continued down the hallway.
Not wanting to waste any time, she headed straight for the main palace gates. The palace compound was made up of several buildings and smaller palaces. The emperor, empress, and their children lived in the main palace. And for now, so did Suzume. She'd been surprised when the master of chambers had brought her to the room in the main palace. As a child, Suzume had lived in one of the smaller palaces on the grounds. She wasn't sure if she should be flattered by this honor or suspicious. Perhaps the emperor wanted her close to keep an eye on her.
The Dragon Saga Box Set Page 82