But you understand, don’t you?”
Hana didn’t respond. She teetered where she stood.
“Virtuoso!”
Her head snapped up.
“Did you hear me, or do I need to compel you?” Emperor Gin asked. “I’m sorry you had to see this, but I need you to look me in the eye and let me know you’re still with me. This storyteller was your mother by blood only, but I raised you and made you who you are.”
Hana trembled, unable to tear her eyes away from Mama’s lifeless body.
The emperor grabbed Hana by the collar of her tunic. “This woman was only one person, and one person is nothing compared to the greatness we are going to achieve for the kingdom. Do you understand? Are you with me?”
She looked at him with blank eyes. Yes, she understood. She knew now that his goals of bringing the Evermore to Kichona had always been driven by greed, by his need for glory, rather than wanting what was truly best for the people. Because if he had cared about his subjects, he wouldn’t have been willing to throw their lives away so wantonly.
Hana was guilty, too. She had deceived herself as much as he had deceived her.
But she could still try to fix it. She could fight back, in the way her sister had taught her—with all her spirit and stealth. From the inside.
And so Hana nodded. She would pretend she was his loyal soldier, but she would destroy him from within his own ranks. “Yes, Your Majesty. I—I’m with you.”
“That’s what I like to hear. Tidepool, take care of this body. Virtuoso, show the rest of them to their new prison.”
“Why don’t you just kill us now?” Sora said through a sob.
Does Sora not care about her soul being damned? Hana wondered. Mama’s death must have been the final straw.
I’ll care enough for both of us, Hana thought.
Emperor Gin looked at Sora with disdain. “Because even though you’re a piteous mess of snot, you are more valuable to me alive than dead. I could always use more ryuu, especially one with the power of invisibility, as well as whatever magic your pet has. And at some point, your wolf will give up and drop that shield. Then I’ll have you.” He turned to Hana. “Virtuoso?”
Whatever emotion she’d felt at Mama’s execution, Hana had smothered it, at least on the surface. She smiled with steely coldness again. “I’ll take care of everything, Your Majesty.”
“Good girl. I have an appointment with the tsarina of Thoma.”
“I hate you,” Sora spat at Hana.
It was like a spear through Hana’s heart. But she deserved it. She had to earn back Sora’s love and trust, and she would have to take the abuse for now, until she could prove herself.
Daemon glared at Emperor Gin. “You won’t defeat the Thomasians easily.”
“Oh, but I already have,” the prince said. “Did you think poking some holes in my ships would stop the ryuu for long? The tsarina is a prisoner aboard my ship. Now that I have dealt with you pests, I’m taking her back to my castle, where I’ll summon Zomuri and offer him her heart. One monarch down, only six to go.”
“No . . . ,” Daemon whispered.
With that, Emperor Gin strode off to the other side of the island, where his ship awaited.
But Sora didn’t seem to care about the emperor or the tsarina right now. She cared only for what was right in front of her, and she glared through her tears at Hana. “How could you?”
Hana couldn’t look at her, couldn’t face her disappointment. She stared instead at Mama’s bloody, lifeless body on the rocks, and Papa bent over her, rocking and wailing.
“Tidepool, go take stock of the situation on the rest of the island,” Hana said.
“But His Majesty tasked me with getting rid of that body.”
“I said, take stock of our positions!”
The ryuu bristled but saluted and marched off to follow orders.
Then Hana summoned ryuu particles to surround Sora, Fairy, and Daemon in orbs and floated them down into the waterfall. They would be safer in there as prisoners, for now, and then she’d get them out when she secured the situation out here on the island.
But first . . . Mama and Papa.
Chapter Forty-Eight
With her sister and friends gone, Hana walked over to Papa. She crouched beside him and touched his shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly.
He turned on her, face red with rage, and grabbed both her shoulders. “Where have you been all these years? We thought you were dead. We