Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,40
could keep it hidden, and one mistake or accident could cost everyone their lives. But I would keep trying. I had promised I would deliver this scroll to the Steel Feather temple, and I would keep that promise even if it killed me.
Two fully armed and armored samurai guarded a pair of painted doors at the end of a corridor. The image on the fusuma panels depicted a tranquil-looking forest, but the silhouettes between the trees and shadows were strange and somehow menacing.
A man also waited a few paces from the doors, watching us as we approached. I didn’t see him immediately; he had been standing quietly off to the side and appeared to have the Kage talent for blending with the shadows. But as we came to the doors, he stepped forward, like a ghost coming through the walls, and smiled at me.
I tensed. He was a noble like Lord Iesada, poised and elegant, with graceful features and a magnificent, twilightpurple robe scattered with golden petals. Unlike Lord Iesada, the smile he beamed down at me seemed genuine. Or at least, not mocking and cruel. He was also quite handsome, one could almost say beautiful, nearly rivaling Daisuke in how lovely he was to look at. Briefly, I wondered what would happen if you put the two of them in a room together.
“Thank you, Harumi-san,” he told the servant woman, who immediately bowed low with her gaze to the floor. “You may go. I will take the girl from here.”
“Of course, Masao-sama,” the woman almost whispered. She backed away, melting soundlessly into the darkness, and I was alone with the stranger.
I gazed at the noble, who continued to peer down at me with faint amusement. “Hello,” I said, making one of his slender brows arch. I was probably supposed to wait for him to address me, but I was tired, on edge and getting rather frustrated with continuously being looked at like I was some very interesting insect. “I’m guessing you’re here to warn me of all the things I should not do while speaking to Lady Hanshou?”
He chuckled. “How the lady sees fit to deal with visitors is her own matter,” he said easily. “If one does not know enough to be polite in the presence of the land’s daimyo, then there was little hope for them anyway.” He regarded me with sharp black eyes that seemed to pierce the fabric of my kimono, his smile never faltering. “But I suspect you are clever enough to know that,” he went on quietly. “After all, you convinced the Kage demonslayer to escort you to the Steel Feather temple. How does a simple peasant girl accomplish such a feat, I wonder? Had it been anyone else, Tatsumi might have killed them.”
Mention of Tatsumi brought a lump to my throat. At the same time, a flutter of alarm went through me. How much did Masao-san know? If he knew that I was a simple peasant and not an onmyoji, why was I here? I felt I was groping in the dark, and that one misstep would send me plunging down a hole I could never crawl out of.
No matter what, protect the scroll, Yumeko. Don’t let them know you have it.
“I needed to get to the temple,” I told the noble. “Tatsumi needed to find it, too. I promised I would take him there, and he would fight the demons on the way. It was a simple arrangement.”
“Nothing surrounding Tatsumi is simple,” Kage Masao said softly. “And you are neglecting to mention a very important piece of the story. Why Tatsumi was sent to the Silent Winds temple. Why it was destroyed. Why there are demons chasing you, because demons do not simply appear out of thin air to wreak havoc. Please do not insult me by pretending ignorance—we both know why Lady Hanshou has called for you.” His smile widened. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
My heart pounded. I could feel the scroll beneath my obi, pressing into my ribs, and deliberately thought about flowers and music and rivers and butterflies, anything but the scroll. I didn’t think Kage Masao could read minds, but I had seen Tatsumi create ghostly twins of himself, and Naganori had threatened to tear Okame’s shadow away from him, so you could never be too careful.
“Oh, but I’ve made you uncomfortable, haven’t I?” Masao’s smooth brow furrowed, and he looked genuinely concerned, before he offered a slight bow. “My apologies. You are an honored