Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,44

watched him constantly, you see, to make sure he followed orders, that the demon in Kamigoroshi did not overwhelm him. There is no conversation you had with Tatsumi that did not flow directly to me.”

I thought back to the times Tatsumi would disappear, giving no hint of where he was going or what he was doing. I hadn’t pressed him about it, because I knew he wouldn’t answer me anyway, but my heart sank at the realization. He had been reporting to the Shadow Clan the whole time.

“So yes, I know of the Steel Feather temple, and that they guard two pieces of the Dragon’s scroll,” Lady Hanshou went on. “I have already dispatched shinobi to find it. But that is not your concern, nor the reason I called you here. Let us speak of Kage Tatsumi, the demonslayer.”

I swallowed the dryness in my throat. “What about Tatsumi-san?” I whispered.

“You traveled with him,” Hanshou said. “From the Silent Winds temple in the mountains of the Earth Clan, across the Sun plains, to the capital of Kin Heigen Toshi. How you managed to pick up a ronin, a Taiyo noble, a shrine maiden and a monk along the way without Tatsumi killing any of them is a mystery but not the issue at hand. We watched you enter the city with the demonslayer. We watched you carefully at the emperor’s Moon Viewing party. A fine bit of trickery, that. Very well-done.” The illusion gave a wide, knowing smile. “Someday, you must tell me the secret of the rabbit and the emperor’s fortune, because you are certainly no onmyoji.”

I bit my tongue, heart pounding, and tried to appear innocent. Lady Hanshou chuckled at my silence, then sobered immediately, her face turning dark. “And then,” she continued, “you followed the emperor’s concubine into a storehouse at the edge of the lake, and simply…vanished.” She opened slender white fingers to reveal an empty palm. “Without a trace. And not just from the Imperial palace. You disappeared from the city entirely.

“You must understand, this caused the Shadow Clan some concern.” She folded her hands in her lap, peering at me intently across the mats. “When Tatsumi disappeared, I sent every shinobi in the capital to look for you and the demonslayer, but all I received were reports of strange mirrors and possible blood magic. And then, days later, a report comes back that someone has spotted Tatsumi, far to the north in Sora territory.” Her face darkened even more, and beneath the veneer of the beautiful woman, Lady Hanshou’s milky eye burned with searing intensity as it met my gaze. “Only, he is alone and is not Kage Tatsumi any longer.”

I shivered and closed my eyes, remembering Hakaimono’s terrible voice, his dark promises that he was going to kill me and everyone I cared about. The horror when I realized the oni had possessed the demonslayer, and that the real Tatsumi, his soul or spirit or whatever, could hear every word the demon said and knew exactly what was happening but could do nothing.

He was actually starting to trust you, little fox. Tatsumi never trusted anyone in his life—his clan punished any attachments or weaknesses. But he was starting to trust you, a kitsune who lied to him, who has been deceiving him from the very beginning. And now, he sees exactly what you are, and how you betrayed him.

Lady Hanshou’s voice burned with the smoldering heat of an ember. “What happened to cause Tatsumi to lose control is irrelevant,” she said. “I can hazard a few guesses as to what caused Hakaimono to appear, especially with the rumors of oni and blood mages swirling about, but that is not important. The concern now is that Hakaimono is free, and that Tatsumi is no longer in control of Kamigoroshi. Right now, only a select few know that the demon is loose, but this will not remain a secret for long. The course of action is clear.” Her lips thinned as she set her jaw. “Because of the enormous threat Hakaimono represents, to both the Kage and the rest of the empire, I must give the order to kill Kage Tatsumi on sight.”

“No!” I saw her thin brow arch and realized that the daimyo of the Shadow Clan probably had never had the word no spoken to her before. “Please,” I pleaded, leaning forward. “Don’t kill him yet. Let us find Tatsumi-san.”

“Why would I do that? I would only be throwing more lives to Hakaimono’s terrible