Cloak of Night (Circle of Shadows #2) - Evelyn Skye Page 0,100

lie. If I still believed in what Emperor Gin—Prince Gin—wanted to do, I could have alerted the other ryuu to recapture you. But I can’t support him anymore. He damned us all, and I just . . . I’ll do whatever you need.” She glanced up at Papa. “I promised him, and I promise you.”

Papa broke away from Sora and crouched to hug Hana. She threw herself into him as if she was six years old again. “It will be all right, my little one,” he said, stroking her hair. “I have you now. Everything will be all right.”

Seeing them together like that toppled Sora’s defenses. Ever since the Blood Rift Rebellion, all Sora had wished for was to go back in time, to have her sister with her again. That dream had almost seemed possible when Prince Gin returned to Kichona with Hana by his side. Sora had tried to persuade her sister to come back, to rejoin their family, to become a taiga again. Was Sora really going to give up on all those hopes so easily now, out of spite?

She knelt beside Hana and Papa. “We always talked about being a team, fighting side by side. We’d be the best taigas Kichona has ever seen—running faster, hitting harder, casting magic better than anyone in history. I’d still be interested in that, if you are. But you have to prove it’s not a lie.”

Hana let out a messy sob and nodded furiously. She looked up at Sora, and it was the same doe-eyed expression of admiration and love from when she was a tenderfoot watching her big sister’s every move.

Papa reached his arm around to draw Sora into their embrace. Grief and joy mixed in her chest: sadness that Mama was gone but happiness that Hana might finally be back.

“You have to be all in,” Sora said. “One false move, one indication that you’re still loyal to Prince Gin, and I won’t hesitate to act against you. We serve Sola and Luna, Kichona, and Empress Aki. That much must be clear. There are a lot of good people’s souls at stake, including yours and mine.”

“I swear to you,” Hana said.

“That’s all fine and good, but I need proof, too,” Sora said. “I have an idea for a good first step.”

Hana looked at her expectantly.

Sora gestured at their small group. “There are only four of us that can fight. Five, if we can depend on you. But that’s not enough. We need to build our army.”

“Just tell me what you need and I’ll get it,” Hana said.

“I want Tidepool as our prisoner.”

“Why?”

“No questions. Can you do it or not?”

Hana bit her lip. But then her uncertainty gave way to the commander she’d become, and she set her jaw and nodded curtly. “Give me ten minutes.”

She ran away.

“I don’t know,” Daemon said. “What if she’s going to get reinforcements? Now’s our chance. I can manage flying everyone out of here. We can still get Empress Aki out of harm’s way and come up with a final plan to stop the Dragon Prince.”

Sora hesitated. But then she said, “Take the empress, Papa, Fairy, and Broomstick and fly high, out of reach.”

“What about you?”

She looked at the empress, who nodded. “I’m going to give my sister a chance,” Sora said. “Ten minutes, and if she comes back fighting us, get everyone else to safety.”

“I won’t leave you.”

“You’re not. You’ll be right above me. Swoop down and someone will pull me up if it comes to that.”

Daemon grumbled about it, but he stooped to allow Empress Aki, Papa, Fairy, and Broomstick to climb onto his back. He flew them up into the air.

Sora’s stomach tied itself into knots as she counted down the minutes.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, . . .

Three, two, one . . .

Zero.

Just a little longer. It wasn’t an easy task she’d given Hana.

Sora decided to allow two more minutes.

But that time also passed.

Disappointed, Sora raised her arm to signal Daemon to come back. They had to get out of here if her sister had double-crossed her and was preparing again to attack.

But then Hana reappeared through the bushes with Tidepool, a dagger against Tidepool’s throat.

“A ryuu who controls the sea,” Hana said. “As requested.”

A wry smile blazed across Sora’s face. “It’s the perfect reunion gift, Hana. Thank you.”

Chapter Fifty-Five

With the skeleton troops destroyed and Tidepool captured, Sora and the others were able to make quick work of the remaining ryuu stationed near Dera Falls. There hadn’t been