Once Suzume had a few swallows, Rin set aside the cup and said, "For a moment, I thought you were going to try to seal him. I never thought you would come to his defense."
Suzume did not bother to open her eyes as she said in a halting raspy voice, "You are too kind."
Rin laughed. "That's not what I meant, I knew you were a decent person from the beginning, well, good enough for a human. I just thought history was going to repeat itself."
Suzume considered telling Rin that she had planned on doing just that. For a moment she had considered trying to seal Kaito to save him. If it hadn't been for Kazue's intervention, then Kaito would be back inside the stone.
"I wasn't sure myself," Suzume replied. She suddenly felt very tired again and it was more than physically tired. She was emotionally drained. So much had changed in such a short period of time. She felt like she did not even know herself anymore.
Rin stood up. "I'll let you rest."
Suzume did not bother responding. She slipped into the oblivion of sleep once more. She did not dream, or at least she did not remember her dreams upon her next waking.
The next time she opened her eyes, she woke with daylight coming through a window high in the wall. Some of her strength had started to return and she was able to sit up. Someone had left a bowl of soup. She picked it up and drank it down. The broth dribbled down her chin, and she wiped the liquid away with her sleeve. She was starving--she felt as if she had not eaten in days and perhaps she hadn't. She set down the empty bowl, and with shaking legs and leaning heavily on the wall, she left her room.
Outside the sliding door to her chamber, she was surprised to find a long hall, with flooring made of polished wood and several sliding doors on one side. The opposite side opened onto an ornamental garden complete with trimmed hedges and a koi pond. A maple tree stood to one end of the garden and red leaves drifted from it and landed on the surface of the water. She looked around and found more of the same. Where am I?
She took a few wobbling steps down the hall in search of the others. Using the wall for balance, she followed the sound of voices, which led her to a common area.
Akira and her father sat together, speaking in low tones. The room they occupied was big enough to host hundreds. Sliding doors surrounded it on all sides, but one had been left open, which faced the garden. From beyond the door, Suzume could see the mountain ranges. Suzume stood up straight as she cleared her throat.
They both looked up at her and Akira smiled. "Well, look who's awake."
Suzume inched into the room, and before she could collapse and make a fool of herself, she sat down hard on the ground. "I'm starving, is there anything to eat?" she said without preamble.
"I'm sure I can find something for you," Akira said. She stood up and left Suzume and the guardian alone.
Suzume watched Akira go, wishing she had not been left with someone she was pretty sure despised her.
She looked around the room, searching for a topic of conversation to cut through the tension. "Where is this place?" Suzume settled on a question at last.
"This has been my home for the past five hundred years."
She cast about the room. The floors were high-quality bamboo and the doors were well made, framed in wood, and well cared for. "It's a nice place."
"Even if you drape the prison in gold, a prison is still a prison," he said.
Suzume clamped her mouth shut and decided small talk was not necessary. Akira returned at just the right moment and brought with her a bowl of rice and several dishes with lids. She set them down in front of Suzume.
Suzume pulled the lids off the dishes, revealing blackened fish, dumplings and more soup. She dug in with gusto, hardly taking a moment to breathe between bites. She did not even ask where the food had come from. Were there servants here? She did not really care. She could not remember the last time she had been this hungry.
When she was finished, she stacked her dishes on the tray and looked to Akira. "Where is everyone?"
"Kaito has been gone for a couple of days, he's trying to find Hisato, and Rin is out in the garden, I believe. She feels more comfortable outdoors."
Suzume nodded. She was relieved Kaito was away.
"We found Kazue's heart after you collapsed. I don't know if it will be of much use now," Akira said.
Suzume startled as she looked up at Akira. "What do you mean it won't be of much use?"
"It cracked in half." Akira removed the object from her pocket and tipped it into Suzume's hand.
Suzume stared at the jagged patterns in the red stone, which had dulled to a pale pink. The flickering light was gone and with it the power she had felt from it; Kazue was gone, for now. There still remained her shattered soul fragments that Suzume had to collect. She thought of Hisato's hand on the back of her neck, urging her to kill Kaito, and his threat to return for her. How can I defeat someone who I cannot injure? But Kazue could attack him and I didn't get hurt. I wish I could ask her why.
"We're not sure what to do now. We hoped my father would know what Kazue was after, but he was left in the dark. We've studied the staff, but it has yielded no answers.
Suzume closed her hand around the fragments of Kazue's heart. "There are things I need to tell you, but it might be best to wait until we are all together."
"Tell us what?" Rin said as she came in from outside, wearing a green robe with a pattern of maple leaves on it, and her auburn hair was tied up on the top of her head. I guess now is as good a time as any. It will be easier telling them the truth without Kaito here. I don't want to face his wrath when he finds out I wanted to seal him.
Suzume took a deep breath and then proceeded to tell the three of them the entire story. She left out the part about using the stone to return to the palace--they didn't really need to know that--but she did tell them about Hisato's offer and what she had learned from him. She told them about Kazue's revelation and her sacrifice to save Kaito, and when she finished, there was a deafening silence as the others contemplated her words.
"Does this mean you will not be able to free us?" Tsuki said with Akira's face.
Suzume held up her hand and twisted it over. "I don't think so, I don't feel any different than I did before. I think we'll have to gather all the pieces of Kazue's soul before we can do that."
The guardian sat with his arms folded over his chest. He had not said anything for a long time. Suzume kept glancing at him from time to time, expecting him to accuse her of lying or attack her because he thought she was Kazue.
"Father, what do you think we should do?" Akira said gently.
It was strange to think this man was her father, because he looked no more than five years older than Akira. But Suzume knew from the visions that he had served Kazue for a very long time.
"As I see it, I have no choice. I am bound to guard Kazue's heart, and while she possesses it, I am bound to her."
It wasn't quite a pledge of fealty, but it would have to do.
"Well, if you're going to join us on this hapless quest, maybe you could at least tell me your name. I can't call you the guardian forever."
He scowled at her, and she thought he was going to make her do just that when he said, "It's Naoki."
And thus their ragtag party gained another member.
***
It took time for Suzume to recover from her fight, and she spent much of her time sleeping or wandering the halls of the palace. Which she found rivaled the size of many a grand estate that she had visited. She wondered who had lived here before and why Kazue had chosen this place to seal her remains.
She discovered rooms full of strange objects, swords with ancient inscriptions that she could not decipher, and carvings of people who did not look quite human. One sculpture had a man with antlers; another woman had a bird beak. She asked Rin and she told Suzume in a hushed tone that this had been the home of the Kami before Kazue sealed him away.
They had searched the place from top to bottom and had found no sign of the
Kami. Kazue had hidden him somewhere and even Naoki did not remember. His time serving Kazue, as he put it, was like a hazy dream, and each day he forgot more of his time chained to Kazue's remains.
Kaito had been missing for days. No one seemed worried about him, so Suzume did not mention his absence to the others, but more than once she caught herself looking to the sky, awaiting his return. She both feared and anticipated their reunion. She had to tell him she was not Kazue's reincarnation but a piece of her soul lived inside her. She did not want to think about how that would change their dynamic. All the memories, the visions, and most likely even her powers came from that fragment.
One day while she was walking through the garden, she found Tsuki sitting in the crook of a cherry tree. It overlooked a pond that had been drained of water and now remained a barren crater. When he saw Suzume, he jumped down.
"Suzume, I've been looking for you."
"Oh?" She kept her distance, as of late Tsuki had been a little too friendly for her comfort.
"Yes, there's something I've been wanting to show you, will you come?" He held out his hand. She had no reason to say no, not really, and she was bored beyond belief.
She did not take his hand, but she did let him show her out of the garden and down a path that twisted and turned through rocks and at times was obscured by clouds. They emerged on a cliff that overlooked the valley. Mountains capped with snow burst from the clouds and the sky overhead was a brilliant blue.
"Hello!" Tsuki shouted and his voice echoed back at him.
He turned to her with a grin.
"Did you bring me out here just to show me the echo?"
His smile widened. "Something like that."
She took a step back. "I don't know if you got the wrong impression, but I am not really interested in you as anything other than a friend."
He laughed and the sound of it surrounded them and made it feel like there were a hundred Tsukis standing with her on that cliff top. He reached out and grasped a strand of Suzume's hair between his fingers.
"Has it ever occurred to you that I might not be interested in you, but in doing what is best for you?"
She frowned. "Is that supposed to make me fall into your arms and your bed?"
"Not into my arms..." He grinned and leaned in close.
She clenched up, preparing to push him away if he tried to kiss her.
"I'm making the Dragon jealous so he'll return. He's been wandering around the mountain for days, and he won't come back." He planted a kiss on Suzume's cheek.
Then the sky filled with dark gray clouds, thunder rolled across the valley, and Suzume looked up to see the serpentine shape of the Dragon headed straight for them. Tsuki took a few steps back.
Suzume watched as Kaito came and landed on the cliff edge. His transformation from beast to man was seamless. She gasped when she saw him. His hair was down and falling over his shoulders. She remembered the first time they had met; she had thought him handsome then. That was before he opened his mouth and I realized how obnoxious he is.
"Tsuki!" Kaito growled.
"She's all yours, Great Dragon. Don't say I never did anything for you." He waved to them and scurried away before either of them could stop him.
Kaito watched him go, but eventually he turned to face Suzume. Her stomach clenched and she wished she could be anywhere but here. She had hoped she would not have to face him. But it was time she did; they had to clear the air at last.
She opened her mouth to say something, but Kaito interrupted her. "I have been flying around for days. At first I was looking for Hisato, and when it became apparent he cannot be found, I came back here. But I kept putting off landing."
She seemed to have lost the capability of speech. Her mouth felt incredibly dry all of a sudden. The tender moments they shared recently buzzed through her brain, but the one thought came to the forefront, He thinks I am Kazue.
Suzume opened and closed her mouth a few times like a fish out of water. She wanted to shout at him, hit, kick, punch, anything other than acknowledge what they were both dancing around.
"This is the part where you ask me what kept me away," he said. He took a step closer and she took a step back. "Suzume?" he said, but even if his mouth was saying her name, that was not what he meant.
He thinks I am Kazue. The words kept replaying in her mind. That's the only reason he's saying these things. It's not me he loves, but the echo of the woman who once was. The piece of her soul that has invaded me. She clutched her chest, wishing she could rip it out. "It's not me who you love," she blurted at last.
Kaito inhaled sharply, and his throat bobbed as he swallowed. "What are you talking about? No one said anything about..." He bit down on the word though she knew he was dying to say it. A small part of her wished he would. But that was the Suzume she had been. Before all of this happened, she would have delighted in his affection, no matter how disingenuous, but now she realized she wanted more. She wanted someone to love her for her, not her title or her power, just for who she was.
Suzume shook her head to rid herself of these melancholy thoughts. "Listen to me, you idiot. I'm not Kazue! So stop with the melodrama."
He frowned. "What are you talking about? I saw you, I saw you fight back Hisato for me."
Suzume's hands were balled into fists at her sides. Why is this so difficult to get through his thick head? "That wasn't me, that was Kazue. I'm not her reincarnation, she never really died. She was trying to become immortal so she could be with you, and instead she broke apart her soul and Hisato was born--or made, I suppose."
He took a step away from her. Confusion wrinkled his features. "She did it. She actually became immortal?" He looked around as if he expected to see Kazue standing there, waiting to throw herself into his arms.
And that was what hurt the most. Suzume felt as if he had jabbed a knife into her gut. He would never love Suzume, not really. A love like that was eternal. One way or another they would find each other. There was no place for Suzume in his heart. Once Suzume resurrected Kazue, Kaito and Kazue would be together again. And what do I care? He's an arrogant jerk. That same old argument rang hollow now.
"She's gone--or mostly. I have a fragment of her soul inside me, but the rest of it has been scattered. We have to find the pieces of her soul and resurrect her so she can stop Hisato from becoming a god."
Kaito swiveled his head back to Suzume as if he had just remembered she was there. "What do you mean before he becomes a god? You cannot become a god without having at least people to worship you. Even then, you would have to be an immortal with incredible power."
"That's what he's been doing this whole time, collecting power, preparing to become a god. The eight gods were sealed by Kazue; there's no one that can stop him."
Kaito grinned. "Let me guess, except for you."
She answered his grin with a raised brow though she would have rather not looked into his eyes right then. She did not want him to realize how she really felt. Her stomach felt like it was tied in knots. "Yeah. I guess it's up to me to stop him."
"I'm assuming you'll need help, then?"
She scowled at him. "Why exactly would I need help? Don't you think I can do this on my own?"
He laughed a barking laugh. "Do you really think you could do something so important by yourself?"
She placed her hands on her hips. "Maybe I do."
"Well, you don't have a choice. Whether you want it or not, I'm coming with you."
She had to fight the smile that was threatening to bloom on her face. "Why? What about your revenge?"
His smile slipped. "Revenge won't change the past. No matter how much I want to hate her, I can't."
He may as well have twisted the knife in her gut. "I see."
"You may not be Kazue, but you're still my bride, Suzume. You were promised to me and I am not done with you yet."
A blush burned the back of her neck and crept over her cheeks. She knew it was a joke, but it hit a little too close to hom
e in this instance. She crossed her arms and looked away from him, pretending to pout to hide her embarrassment. "I am not your bride. If anything, we are partners."
She could see his smile from the corner of her eye and it was difficult not to smile right along with him. A part of her had feared that they would be parting ways. She was relieved to realize they were not separating. I can only imagine what danger awaits us. And most likely my life will be threatened, but as crazy as it sounds, I cannot wait for the journey to begin.
***
From the Author:
The Sea Stone is not yet available. If you enjoyed this book please leave a review. By reviewing you help other readers decide to pick up my book, make my book more visible on e-book retailers sites, and let me know you want more from the Dragon Saga! Your review doesn't have to more than a sentence long. Even a 'I love it' makes a world of difference.
Thank you for reading,
Nicolette Andrews
About the Author
Nicolette is a native San Diegan with a passion for the world of make believe. From a young age, Nicolette was telling stories whether it be writing plays for her friends to act out or making a series of children's books that her mother still likes drag out to embarrass her with in front of company. She still lives in her imagination but in reality she resides in San Diego with her husband, children, a couple cats, and an old dog. She loves reading, attempting arts and crafts, and cooking. Connect with her at her website www.fantasyauthornicoletteandrews.com, on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest!
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