Cloak of Night

by Evelyn Skye

  And then there was the question about Sora’s soul and whether it could be purified . . .

  Daemon, where are you?

  Sora and Hana needed to get into Prince Gin’s castle, but their original plan to fly in would no longer work without Daemon. The quietest way in, then, would be down through the secret passageway that Empress Aki had shown Sora.

  “You’re sure the tunnels are still there?” Sora asked as they approached the spiraling swirl of black-and-white sands that hid the entrance.

  “Yes,” Hana said. “Prince Gin built his castle on the foundation of Rose Palace and left the escape routes that had been dug into the mountain.”

  “All right, then the center of that spinning illusion marks the entrance. It’s a short fall. I’ll go first.”

  Sora checked to make sure patrol on the Citadel wall hadn’t returned yet, then stepped into the middle of the swirling sand. It sucked her in like a whirlpool and spit her out eight feet below. She landed on the ground of the tunnel and rolled out of the way so Hana could join her.

  A few seconds later, Hana fell through, touched down, and rolled effortlessly to her feet. She coughed in the sand dust, though.

  “How is that supposed to be an escape route?” she asked when she’d finally finished coughing.

  Sora glanced up at the ceiling, which gave the illusion of being solid, albeit in a moving pattern of black and white. Then she saw a ladder propped against the tunnel wall. “I suppose they move that over and climb up and out.”

  “Oh, that makes sense.” Hana coughed again. “Let’s get out of this dust.”

  The soul pearl tugged in Sora’s collar desperately, sensing that its owner was near.

  Lead us to the Dragon Prince.

  Sora set off through the tunnels, trying to interpret the minuscule movements of the pearl. The red streaks in the black stone seemed to glow more ominously than ever as they wound their way through the storage rooms.

  In the distance, explosions sounded.

  “Broomstick, Fairy, and the empress have begun their assault,” Sora said.

  “That means the ryuu here in the castle will be on high alert,” Hana said. “Why didn’t we have them wait until after we’d tried to kill Prince Gin?”

  “Because this way, the ryuu will be focused on the attack, not on us,” Sora said. “The castle will be mostly empty, because the warriors will all go outside to deal with the assault. And don’t forget we’re invisible. If we play it right, they won’t know we’re here until it’s too late. You just have to get close enough to Prince Gin to get the pearl back down his throat.”

  “You never did like doing things the easy way.”

  Sora cocked her head. “No, I suppose not.”

  They slipped out of the storage rooms, up a dark staircase, and into a corridor on the first floor.

  The pearl rolled to the left of Sora’s pocket. “That way, I think.” She pointed.

  “That’s the direction of the throne room,” Hana said. She took off, and Sora followed.

  A half dozen ryuu turned a corner ahead of them, hurrying into the hallway. Sora smashed herself against the wall, hoping they wouldn’t hit her as they ran past.

  Hana shook her head furiously, as if to say, Are you kidding me? She pointed to the ceiling and leaped, adhering her hands and feet to it.

  Gods, why hadn’t Sora thought of that? She jumped up and crouched against the ceiling next to Hana.

  The ryuu ran beneath them only seconds later. The warriors jostled one another in their rush. One of them stumbled and brushed the wall where Sora had stood.

  Hana mouthed, I told you so.

  Apparently, the ryuu hadn’t taught her that saying that was incredibly annoying. But Sora ignored it. Some things didn’t matter anymore when you were dealing with life and death.

  Sora and Hana decided to stay on the ceiling. It would lower the chances of running into more ryuu. They crawled onward—the only downside of being up here was they had to move slower—and peered into every room they passed.

  The dining hall was empty, chairs probably knocked over from the ryuu hurrying to their posts once Broomstick’s explosions began.

  Likewise, there was no one in the ballroom, the receiving hall, and the other common rooms. But that was no surprise, and Sora and Hana climbed higher into the castle.

  Hana steered them into a familiar dark corridor made to look like the maw of a dragon. Inside lay Prince Gin’s throne room.

  Still on the ceiling, they snuck up to the heavy wooden double doors. Sora pressed her ear against one of them.

  Instead of the Dragon Prince’s deep voice, though, there was only a reedy whimper.

  Hana had crawled down onto the other door and was looking through one of the keyholes. “Prince Gin’s not there.”

  Sora touched her collar. Had the pearl led them astray?

  “If Prince Gin’s not in there, then who is?”

  Hana pushed her eye harder against the keyhole. “I think it’s Tsarina Austine of Thoma.”

  Sora dropped to the ground and looked into the other keyhole. “He captured her days ago. Why would he wait to give her heart to Zomuri?”

  “I doubt he did. But gods don’t always come right away when summoned, or sometimes at all.”

  Is that why Daemon wasn’t back yet? Was he having trouble getting the gods in Celestae to pay attention to him?

  As for Zomuri, Sora didn’t think that god would fail to show up for one of the mainland monarchs’ hearts. It was only a matter of time. She reached for the door, her fingers wrapping around the dragons carved into the wood.

  “What are you doing?” Hana hissed.

  “We have to save the tsarina.”

  “No, we have a plan, and our job is to kill Prince Gin. It’s Fairy’s task to get Tsarina Austine.”

  “But—”

  “You’re the one who said it’s safer for the tsarina to wait for Fairy than to wander around with us in the middle of a battle,” Hana said. “Tsarina Austine will be safe as long as Zomuri doesn’t come. We have no control over that, and we’re no match for a god, but we can try to get to Prince Gin. That’s how we save her and our own kingdom.”

  Sora held on to the door handle, having a hard time letting go when there was someone in need on the other side. But Hana was right. They had to stay on task.

  “Be safe,” Sora whispered to the tsarina through the door. She released her grip on the handle.

  “Crawling on the ceiling is too slow,” Sora said. “We have to risk moving on the floor.”

  Hana agreed, and they dove back into the castle, following the movement of the soul pearl in Sora’s collar.

  On the next floor, two more contingents of ryuu nearly ran into them. Sora and Hana managed to leap to the ceiling with only a hairbreadth of space to spare.

  Eventually, they reached Prince Gin’s study. The soul pearl didn’t react much to the location, but a pair of ryuu stood guard in front of it, firmly planted at the door. Maybe Sora was wrong about using the pearl as a compass. Maybe the Dragon Prince was inside.

  “Gods dammit,” Hana said. “How are we going to get in?”

  “Remember the plan,” Sora said. “They’re predisposed to trust you, because you’ve been the most loyal ryuu out of everyone for ten years. Make yourself visible. Tell them you and Tidepool were overpowered at Dera Falls and you’ve just returned to the castle. Act normal.”

  “Right.” Hana took several deep breaths.

  “Stinkbug?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You can do this.”

  Hana breathed in deeply again, then nodded. “Okay.”

  She backed down the adjacent hall, materialized, then turned the corner as if she were just walking to the study. Sora, still invisible, stayed a safe distance away but close enough in case Hana needed help.

  “I have a report for His Majesty,” Hana said in the caustic tone she had used as Virtuoso.

  “Where have you been?” one
of the ryuu asked. “We got word the prisoners broke free from Dera Falls days ago.”

  “You’re not important enough to know,” Hana snapped.

  The ryuu bristled. But he couldn’t argue against it. After all, Hana was the Dragon Prince’s second-in-command. He cleared his throat, then said, “His Majesty isn’t here.”

  “Where is he?”

  Smart, Sora thought.

  “Don’t you know we’re under attack?” the other ryuu said.

  He received a glare from Hana, and it chastened him like the blunt end of a sword to the head.

  The first ryuu said, more respectfully, “His Majesty went up to the highest spire. He needed a better vantage point for what was happening out there.”

  Hana nodded curtly. “If I somehow miss him and His Majesty comes back here, tell him I’m looking for him.” She spun on her heel as if she couldn’t bother to wait for a response.

  Sora hurried after her as Hana marched down the hallway.

  When they were out of earshot, Hana stopped. “Did you hear all that?”

  “Yes, you did great. Now let’s get to the highest spire.”

  Since the ryuu knew Hana was back now, she continued without making herself invisible. Sora jogged next to her but kept herself unseen. They didn’t encounter any ryuu as they wound up the narrow spiral staircase of the tower—the warriors were mostly stationed at defense posts on the outside of the castle—but the eeriness of the quiet only heightened Sora’s nerves.

  The door into the tower was a slender piece of oak on iron hinges. Hana knocked. “Your Majesty, it’s Virtuoso.”

  He didn’t answer, but the door flung open as if of its own accord. The soul pearl practically leaped against the fabric of Sora’s collar, yearning to be reunited with its owner.

  Soon, Sora hoped.

  The room was small and cylindrical, with a bare stone floor. A lantern flickered, casting dancing shadows on the walls. Prince Gin stood outside on the balcony, his back to the door.

  “Virtuoso,” he said, his arms crossed calmly behind his back. “What have you done?”

  Hana stepped tentatively into the room. Although invisible, Sora crept closer to the shadowed walls. Hana proceeded to the balcony. “What do you mean, Your Majesty?” she asked.

  “I mean,” Prince Gin said, “why am I being attacked?”

  Sora shivered from where she stood, unseen. The eerie evenness of his voice belied something much worse than the anger she’d expected.

  “I had nothing to do with the Faleese, Brin, and Caldanian navies,” Hana answered him.

  He sighed, as if annoyed by a mosquito. “Never mind them. The ryuu will finish them shortly.” He gestured to the smoke and chaos coming from the Citadel and the road leading up to the castle. From what Sora could see, the reinforcements from Ria Kayla, Emperor Geoffrey, and Queen Meredith scrambled to stay in formation in the face of the ryuu defense. They may have had numbers on their side, but it still wasn’t looking good. Why had Sora thought this would work?

  Prince Gin kept talking to Hana. The lantern light accentuated the scarred ridges of his face, and his skin really did look like dragon hide. “How did my prisoners escape from Dera Falls? Or . . .”

  “Or what, Your Majesty?” A quiver found its way into Hana’s voice.

  “Or did you let them go on purpose?”

  “I would never.”

  “Then why is your sister lurking behind you?”

  Hana blanched. “You can see her?”

  Prince Gin scoffed. “No, but I called your bluff, and now I know you’ve betrayed me.”

  Sora let go of her spell and stepped out onto the balcony to join them.

  “It’s rather foolhardy of you to come without your wolf,” Prince Gin said, his tone hardening now that he’d revealed them. “I can control your mind if I want to.”

  “Daemon protects me through our bond,” Sora said.

  Where is he? She could really use him here right now.

  “But your gemina doesn’t protect your sister.” Prince Gin seized Hana.

  Sora panicked for a second. Then she remembered she and Hana had a plan. It hadn’t involved the Dragon Prince threatening her life, but it did rely on Hana being close to him. Sora just had to keep him distracted.

  “You’re going to die before you kill me.” Hana produced a gold pearl from the hidden pocket in her sleeve and held it up so he could see. “Because I have your soul, and I’m going to destroy it.”

  Prince Gin laughed. “I don’t know how you got that, but you can’t destroy it. My soul is protected by god magic, and I’m invincible.”

  “Not if I reunite the soul with your body.” Hana wrenched free from his grasp and stuffed the pearl into his mouth. She held him in a choke hold and tried to cover his nose and mouth with her free hand to force him to swallow.

  “Stand clear!” Sora said to Hana as she hurled two throwing stars at Prince Gin’s eyes.

  Thwack, thwack.

  He tried to scream, but Hana kept her hand over his nose and mouth.

  Even without oxygen or Sight, though, Prince Gin swiped at her. Hana held on as tightly as she could while shifting onto his back at an awkward angle for him to reach.

  Hana gasped. “He’s healing.” Zomuri’s gift of invincibility worked quickly; the skin around Prince Gin’s eyes began to mend itself. The eye sockets spit out Sora’s throwing stars, which fell to the balcony floor with a clatter. The whites of his eyeballs swirled like clouds, stitching themselves back into spheres. “He’ll be able to see again any second!”

  Sora advanced with her sword out. “This is for Mama.”

  She plunged the blade into Prince Gin’s belly.

  “Aghhh!” His shriek of pain broke through the seal Hana had on his mouth. The gold pearl flew out.

  At the same time, his eyes reabsorbed the blood. Prince Gin’s pupils shone black, clear, and newly refocused.

  He roared in fury.

  “Now I’ve got you.” His ryuu magic snatched Hana off his back. He grabbed her by the throat and yanked Sora’s sword from his belly.

  Prince Gin sneered at Sora. “I’m the greatest ruler Kichona will ever know. You really thought you could defeat me by making me swallow the pearl?”

  The wound in his stomach closed. Other than the tear in his tunic, there was no evidence he’d been harmed.

  “No, I didn’t,” Sora said.

  He looked quickly around the balcony, trying to figure out what he’d missed. But then he moved his boot. Beneath the sole was the gold pearl Hana had tried to force upon him. His ryuu particles encircled it, and he laughed derisively. “Whatever trick you thought you pulled, you didn’t.”

  Hana tried to pry his fingers off her neck. “It’s called sleight of hand, and we did pull it off.”

  Sora looked pointedly at his stomach, while she touched the necklace around her throat. The pearl pendant was missing.

  Prince Gin followed her gaze. “No . . .”

  “Yes,” Sora said. “The pearl beneath your boot—the one that was in your mouth—was a decoy. I crammed the real pearl into your belly after I sliced you open. But now that wound is healed, and your soul is inside you again.”

  He stared horrified at the tear in his tunic and the perfectly smooth skin beneath it.

  But when he looked up again, his dragon scars pulled taut, and he said, “It doesn’t matter. I still have an army stronger than any that’s ever existed, and we will achieve the Evermore.”

  Prince Gin lifted Hana off her feet and squeezed her throat. Her face purpled.

  “Stop!” Sora screamed, but if she moved any closer, he might kill her sister, and Hana would be sentenced to eternal torture in the hells.

  He ignored Sora. His voice took on a lullaby softness. “Virtuoso, you are my most loyal warrior, are you not?”

  Despite being choked, Hana’s body relaxed in his grip. She nodded.

  “Hana, don’t let him brainwash you.”

  Prince Gin
bared his teeth in a vicious smile. “Virtuoso, you are also honorable. And you know what honorable warriors do when they make the mistake of crossing their sovereigns, don’t you?”

  “I do,” Hana said.

  “Good.” His ryuu particles whisked Sora’s sword off the floor and floated it into Hana’s hand. “Then you will die by suicide, disemboweling yourself. Hara-kiri is the way of death for traitors.”

  “Hana, don’t!” Sora dove toward her sister.

  But Prince Gin’s magic hurled Sora backward and pinned her to the wall inside the tower. Hana pointed the sword tip to her own belly, her free will a mere plaything for the Dragon Prince.

  Tears streamed down Sora’s face. She’d just lost Mama. She couldn’t lose someone else, not now, not ever again. And especially not when she knew Hana’s soul would be damned.

  Sora looked at the sun setting outside and shrieked at the gods. “What are you doing up there? We’re not just ants. If you ever loved Kichona, come help us now! Do you hear me? Don’t let this happen!”

  As if on cue, the sky burst in a blaze of blue lightning. It was blinding, and for a moment, Sora had to avert her eyes.

  But when she looked back, she saw what was at its center.

  A flying wolf, glowing like a beacon.

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Daemon flew through the break in the clouds. The sky lit up with his arrival, and whatever insecurities he used to have, they were blasted away by his thunder and lightning. He was a demigod who could harness electricity and gravity. He had gone back to Celestae and wrangled a deal out of Vespre, who had been recalcitrant but, in the end, outnegotiated by Daemon. There was no room anymore for doubt about his identity or ability.

  He glanced over his shoulder. Liga, in constellation alligator form, glided behind him.

  Daemon’s eyes narrowed as he flew closer to the Imperial City. He spotted Empress Aki and Broomstick leading some troops up the road, nearly obscured by the smoke of explosions. They saw Daemon and waved for help.

  He and Liga swooped down.

  “Boy, are we glad to see you two,” Broomstick said.