Cloak of Night (Circle of Shadows #2) - Evelyn Skye Page 0,110
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