by Evelyn Skye
“But it did!”
“I know. But you’ll agree to treat it like it didn’t. My friends and I are completely innocent.” She pointed a dagger at the heart. She could stop the beating with a single plunge.
Zomuri’s eyes narrowed, but he held out his hand. “All right, all right. You’re innocent and free to go. Just give me the heart before you ruin it!”
Sora dropped the knife and tossed Prince Gin’s heart into the air. Zomuri snatched it, stuffed it into his mouth, and disappeared in a puff of green smoke.
Holy heavens.
The Dragon Prince was dead. Empress Aki was the ruler of the kingdom again. And Zomuri would no longer be the patron god of Kichona.
Sora wouldn’t allow herself to exhale yet, though. There was still a battle raging outside, and she didn’t know if Fairy and Broomstick were alive.
But then the explosions outside came to an abrupt halt. A minute later, a cheer erupted.
Daemon rushed out to the balcony. Sora and Hana followed on his heels.
Liga flew toward them, with Fairy and Broomstick on his back. Their faces were smudged with ash and their clothes torn and bloody, but they smiled and waved. When Liga landed on the balcony, they jumped off and ran to hug Sora and Daemon.
“You did it!” Liga said. “With the Dragon Prince’s spell gone, the taigas became themselves again!”
“And they’re rounding up those who were loyal to the prince,” Broomstick said. “Their Sight is gone, and with it, the ability to cast ryuu spells.”
“Tsarina Austine is also safe, under the protection of Queen Meredith,” Fairy said. “So tell us everything. What happened? How did you kill Prince Gin? How did Wolf convince the gods to carry out the purification ritual? Was that Zomuri we saw up here?”
Sora glanced over her shoulder. Empress Aki had gone to Prince Gin’s body, where she cried softly. Even though he’d never repented for what he did, he was still her brother.
This ending had been less celebratory than Sora had envisioned, yet that was life—unpredictable. But she and her friends had done what was right, and time would hopefully heal their wounds.
“I think we all have a lot to tell each other,” Sora said. “Let’s not do it here, though. Her Majesty needs some privacy.”
They went outside to the far end of the balcony. Sora took in the smoke and destruction below. But rising from them was a happy sound: the chattering of their taiga classmates and teachers, fully in control of their minds again. And they were no longer damned.
“Where to?” Daemon asked, bending down so Sora and Hana could climb onto his back. Fairy and Broomstick got onto Liga.
“To the best place I can imagine being with friends,” Sora said. “On the dormitory rooftop under the open sky. With lots and lots of cake.”
Epilogue
A week later, Sora, Daemon, and Broomstick stood backstage in the Citadel’s amphitheater.
“I can’t believe we’re being promoted to full-fledged warriors,” Sora said.
The week since the fall of the Dragon Prince had been a blur of activity. Empress Aki had buried her brother, then resumed her duties immediately, meeting with Tsarina Austine and Queen Meredith and negotiating new peace treaties and trade pacts with them. Prince Gin’s loyal ryuu were imprisoned while they awaited trial.
Now, the sound of wine-barrel drums filled the amphitheater, announcing the start of the Warrior Initiation Ceremony. Fairy led the performance on the black stone stage, yelling commands, clacking her sticks in time with the other members of the troupe, pounding her drum to the rhythm that throbbed from the stage to the arced benches carved into the grassy knoll. The audience of taigas sat rapt.
Sora could see Hana and Papa in the front row. Samara Mountain beckoned Papa home, but he wasn’t ready to go yet without Mama there, so for now, he stayed at the Citadel to be close to his daughters.
Liga was sitting in the front row, too. He had gotten permission to spend some time on earth to look for his mother, but he certainly wasn’t going to miss his brother’s big day.
The performance finished with a resounding boom as all ten drummers hammered their drums at once. The amphitheater vibrated. The audience broke out into whistles and cheers.
Fairy and the rest of the drum corps bowed. Then, as the applause died down, they cleared away the enormous drums and their stands, and Fairy jogged offstage to her place next to Broomstick. Sweat soaked the black handkerchief she’d wrapped around her head.
“Beautiful performance,” Sora said.
“It was brilliant, as usual,” Daemon said.
Broomstick just beamed at her proudly.
Empress Aki walked over. “Are you four ready?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” they said in a mottled sort of unison.
She climbed the steps to the black stage. The Councilmembers already waited on the far end, each holding a black wooden chest. The boxes contained the pendants that would mark Sora, Daemon, Fairy, and Broomstick as warriors: silver chains each with a round black medallion at its end, engraved with Luna’s triplicate whorls.
“We are here today to honor four of our taiga apprentices,” Empress Aki announced to the amphitheater. “They have fought bravely, thought shrewdly, and above all, they have done the ultimate duty—they have saved Kichona and its people.”
Any remaining conversation in the audience hushed like a campfire suddenly doused by a tsunami. Despite everything Sora had been through, her nerves still jangled as she waited to be welcomed on stage.
“Spirit, Wolf, Fairy, and Broomstick, please join me,” the empress said.
Sora led the way up the short flight of steps onto the stage. She and the others lay prostrate on the gleaming black floor at Empress Aki’s feet. Then they rose and bowed together, deeply, to each of the Councilmembers.
“It is with great pride that we have watched you grow,” Bullfrog, the most senior member of the Council, said. “From the day each of you arrived as a tenderfoot, through your classes, your exams, your missions, all the way to this day when you stand before us, ready to take your place among the ranks of the warriors. You have humbled us with your prowess. You have honored us with your dedication.”
He opened the lid of one of the black chests. “Fairy, step forward, please.”
Empress Aki picked up the pendant. “By my right as ruler of Kichona, I hereby declare you a taiga warrior.”
Fairy bowed to an almost ninety-degree angle. The empress draped the pendant around her neck.
“I am also going to make an unorthodox request of you,” Empress Aki said. “This war with the ryuu has taught me something very important. While we have much to learn from the old ways, fresh perspective is also invaluable. As such, I would like to ask if you, Fairy, would like to serve as one of my Imperial Taigas.”
Fairy gasped. Sora did, too. Becoming an Imperial Taiga was only for the best of the best, and it took a decade or more to even have a chance to be one of Empress Aki’s elite guards. But she was offering to let Fairy skip all that. Would she make the same offer to the rest of them? Sora could hardly believe it.
“I—I . . .” Fairy couldn’t get any words out, which further underscored what a shock this was. She usually had an answer for everything.
Empress Aki smiled kindly. “You can just nod to accept.”
Fairy nodded furiously, stars still in her eyes. She stood there, unmoving.
Bullfrog led her back to the line. Sora mouthed, Good gods! and Fairy clamped her hands over her mouth as though she was using everything she had not to squeal on stage in front of the entire Society.
“Please step forward, Broomstick,” Empress Aki said as Renegade, another Councilmember, brought forth a new black chest.
Broomstick lunged forward, more like an eager little boy in a sweets shop than an enormously grown one on the brink of official warriorhood. Some of the apprentices in the audience laughed. Broomstick either didn’t hear or didn’t care. He bounced on his toes while he bowe
d to receive his pendant and accepted a position as an Imperial Taiga.
Daemon was next. He was cool and collected as he received his warrior pendant, carrying himself with the dignity of a demigod.
“Wolf,” Empress Aki said, “I know you recently reunited with your celestial brethren and have obligations in Celestae in the autumn and winter. I would like to offer you a position in my Imperial Taigas during your months on earth, but I understand if you prefer not to spend your time in my service—”
“Your Majesty,” Daemon interrupted, and Sora was taken aback because he’d never been this bold before. She liked this new side of him. “I would be honored to serve as an Imperial Taiga,” he finished.
Empress Aki’s elegant composure faltered for a moment as she pursed her lips, not quite able to contain the excitement of having a demigod in her guards. “It is my honor to have you.”
Daemon smiled, then bowed again and returned to his place in line between Sora and Fairy.
It was almost Sora’s turn. Her heartbeat fluttered in her chest, like a dream knowing it was about to be released from its cage.
“And last, but certainly not least,” Empress Aki said, lifting the last pendant, “Spirit.”
Sora stepped forward. Her heart tried to burst through her ribs.
“By my right as ruler of Kichona, I hereby declare you a warrior.”
The empress placed the pendant softly around Sora’s neck.
Luna’s mark on the small of her back warmed, just a little. Sora smiled broadly, as Aki’s gesture meant more than just being inducted into the warrior ranks. It also meant that Kichona and the Society still existed, that Sora had succeeded in saving what she loved.
“Now I have a question for you,” Empress Aki said. “It isn’t what you expect.”
Sora looked blankly at the empress, then at Daemon, Fairy, and Broomstick. They all shrugged, just as clueless as Sora was.
Empress Aki faced the audience. “War has changed all of us, and what we’ve learned is that bravery is not measured in age or experience but in the spirit of the heart. It is a new era for Kichona and for the Society of Taigas. Which means it’s a new era for the Council as well.”
She turned to address Sora directly. “The Councilmembers and I agree that we want new ideas and new ways of thinking. And what we need now, more than ever, is formidable leaders. Therefore, it is my great honor to ask—will you, Spirit, be the fifth—and newest—member of the Council of the Society of Taigas?”
“What?” Sora’s jaw dropped in what was probably the most inelegant induction of a Councilmember in the history of Kichona. She stood on stage, unable to fully comprehend what the empress had said. For her friends to be invited to become Imperial Taigas was already unprecedented but this . . .
“M-me?” Sora asked. “On the Council?”
Empress Aki nodded. “If you say yes.”
“Yes! Yes yes yes! Thank you. I can’t believe . . . I’ll do you proud, I promise,” she said to the empress, the four Councilmembers, and, really, to the entire Society sitting in the amphitheater.
“I know you will,” Empress Aki said. “Hence, by my right as ruler of Kichona, I hereby declare you a member of the Council of the Society of Taigas.”
Sora’s breath caught in her throat. But her fellow Councilmembers—fellow Councilmembers!—began to clap. Fairy shrieked in delight, Broomstick pumped his fists and cheered, and Papa and Hana stood on their benches, whistling.
Daemon stood back, just watching Sora and smiling.
Is it real? She mouthed the words and sent the disbelief through their gemina bond, the same shock wave of emotion as the first time she saw him shift into a wolf.
He strode over, put his hands on either side of her face, and said, “Yes, Sora. All of this is real.”
Then he kissed her, right there on stage, and even though the amphitheater went wild with cheering, and even though they’d have to deal with his promise to live with the gods for half of each year, for that moment, it was only Sora and Daemon in the world.
Best friends.
Geminas.
A demigod and a girl who saved a kingdom when no one else believed there was danger.
Liga flew overhead, and the air above Sora and Daemon lit up with a thousand shooting stars, the celestial project he’d been working on.
And everything was exactly as it should be.
Acknowledgments
This book would not be what it is without an incredible team behind it. Special thanks to my editor, Kristin Rens, and everyone at HarperCollins, especially Caitlin Johnson, Alice Wang, Alison Donalty, Jon Howard, Sabrina Abballe, Kristopher Kam, Rosanne Romanello, Kelsey Murphy, and the EpicReads crew. Thank you also to Ronan LeFur for another beautiful cover.
It’s a special thing to have an agent who not only loves your work but also gets you as a person. Thank you to Brianne Johnson at Writers House and Alexandra Levick and the whole foreign rights team for always believing in me.
A huge thank-you to the Skye Guard—the most enthusiastic fan club ever—with an extra loud shout-out to my Major General, Brittany Press, and superstar supporters Freya Austine, Adriana & Ryan Erickson, Camille Simkin, Kayla Bauck, Geoffrey Stafford, Lee-ann aka @Grumplstiltskin, Meredith aka @Gryphongirl2007, and Elsa Vivíana Munoz.
Thank you to all the librarians, teachers, readers, bookstagrammers, BookTubers, bloggers, and everyone else who has picked up one of my books or told someone about them—you make it possible for me to live my dream.
I’d be very lonely without my bookish besties—Angela Mann, Elizabeth Fama, Dana Elmendorf, Karen Grunberg, Stacey Lee, Anna Shinoda, Sara Raasch, C. J. Redwine, and the wonderful Fantasy on Friday ladies.
A giant thank-you to my incredible family. Mom & Dad, thanks for buying every version of my books (even the compact disc!) and for schlepping them around the world to give to family and friends. To Ryan Stripling, for telling your brother he’d better marry me because authors are keepers and for passing along the love of literature to future generations. Thank you to Barbara Stripling for talking up my books to librarians everywhere. To Jeff Stripling, Doris Patneau, and all the other Striplings and Patneaus and this beautiful, massive extended family—thank you for reading my stories.
And last, but actually, always first—Reese and Tom, I literally don’t know what I’d do without you. Every word of every book is only possible because of your love and unerring support. I love you, I love you, I love you.
About the Author
Photo credit Joyce Goldschmid Photography
EVELYN SKYE was once offered a job by the CIA, she not-so-secretly wishes she was on So You Think You Can Dance, and if you challenge her to a pizza-eating contest, she guarantees she will win. When she isn’t writing, Evelyn can be found chasing her daughter on the playground or sitting on the couch, immersed in a good book and eating way too many cookies. She is also the author of Circle of Shadows and the New York Times bestselling novels The Crown’s Game and The Crown’s Fate. Evelyn can be found online at www.evelynskye.com and on Twitter @EvelynSkyeYA.
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Books by Evelyn Skye
The Crown’s Game
The Crown’s Fate
Circle of Shadows
Cloak of Night
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Copyright
Balzer + Bray is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
CLOAK OF NIGHT. Copyright © 2020 by Evelyn Skye. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access
and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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Cover art © 2020 by Ronan Le Fur
Cover title typography design by Vasava
Cover design by Alice Wang
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2019953343
Digital Edition FEBRUARY 2020 ISBN: 978-0-06-264377-3
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-264375-9
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FIRST EDITION
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