their gemina bond, but now his shield enveloped Hana and Empress Aki, too.
The anger fell away from Hana’s face as the Dragon Prince’s spell lost control of her. She looked at her stomach and rubbed the cut. “What did I almost do?”
Prince Gin staggered away, his back against the tower wall.
Sora wanted to run to Hana and hug her, but they needed to deal with Prince Gin first. “You’re outnumbered,” she said.
He didn’t look at her, though. Instead, he turned to his sister. “Go ahead and kill me. It’s what you’ve wanted from the start.”
Empress Aki took a step forward. “No, it isn’t,” she said. “I wanted Kichona at peace, and I wanted my brother with me, helping me to rule.”
“You never would have shared power.”
“I offered it to you when Father died; your memory is selective. I would have been happy to lead our kingdom together. It’s the Cult of the Evermore and your pursuit of empire that I would never subscribe to.”
Prince Gin looked around the tower, as if assessing whether he had any chance of escape. But Daemon put a quick end to that speculation by taking away gravity’s hold on the prince, and the Dragon Prince floated up until he was pinned against the ceiling.
“Put me down!” he said, thrashing.
“It’s over,” Sora said.
“My ryuu will be here any minute.”
“No, they won’t,” Daemon said. “There is more than one demigod like me, and they’re out there now, capturing your army.”
Sora wasn’t sure if he was bluffing. She thought she’d seen only him and Liga. Were there really more of his brothers and sisters out there?
“Demigod . . . That’s what you are?” Prince Gin’s entire body slumped, his arms and legs dangling uselessly in the air.
“Yes, and my father will see to it that all the souls you damned will be redeemed.”
“Vespre conducted the purification ritual?” Sora cried. Joy and relief rose tentatively in her chest. “You convinced him?”
“I struck a deal,” Daemon said, suddenly refusing to look at her.
Hana let out a small gasp of understanding. “That was the secret you hid from us before you left.”
The relief Sora had momentarily felt now vanished. “Daemon . . . what did you do?”
“What I had to. He tried to cast me away as soon as I showed up, but I made him listen by offering the only thing he truly wanted of me. I promised to live in Celestae—”
“No . . .” Sora stumbled. It seemed that all the air had been sucked from the tower. She and Daemon had just begun their new journey together as more than geminas, and now it was being dashed to pieces.
She whirled on Prince Gin. “This is all your fault! You claim to love your kingdom and its people, but all you’ve caused is misery.”
“Sora.” Daemon sent her a cascade of tenderness, like a bolt of rich velvet unfurling in their gemina bond. “You didn’t let me finish. I compromised with Vespre. I’ll spend fall and winter in Celestae, and spring and summer here with you.”
“But that’s only half your time . . .”
His voice went soft and quiet. “Believe me, I wish I hadn’t had to promise that to him. But it was the only way. During life, souls are marked as pure, tainted, or uncertain. Your soul—and all the taigas’ and other ryuu’s—were tainted, destined for an eternity of torture. Vespre was able to change the mark on your souls to ‘uncertain,’ giving them a chance to go either way when you die.
“The bargain with my father was worth it, Sora,” Daemon said. “And it won’t be that bad. I’m a demigod now; I’ll find a way for us to communicate even if I can’t be with you. Maybe I could use our gemina bond to visit your dreams.”
“Without genka?”
He laughed. “Without genka.” But then his smile faded. “The deal with Vespre only stands, though, if we survive this war. My father did his part of the purification ritual, but we still have to do ours.”
“Tell us what to do,” Hana said, stepping up so her sister could recover.
Sora was overwhelmed. But everyone had made sacrifices, and she wouldn’t let them do it alone. That was the taiga way.
She nodded at Daemon. “How do we finish the purification ritual?”
Strength like steel surged through their bond, and Sora no longer had any doubt that she and Daemon would be together through everything, even if they had to be apart. They would figure out the little details, but the big