Cloak of Night (Circle of Shadows #2) - Evelyn Skye Page 0,117

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