a solution. We can—”
“It’s too late.” He looked at her intently, and her mouth smacked shut.
She tore at her lips with her fingers, but they wouldn’t budge.
Gin kneeled before her, an ivory-handled dagger in his hands. “I was going to kill you, but I’ve changed my mind. I have a better idea.”
“Mrrr!” Her pulse pounded in her ears as panic grew.
He spun the knife’s handle. “All of Kichona already thinks you’re dead. You made sure of that, thank you very much. I simply have to ask you to abdicate the throne, and then make you disappear. You should suffer in exile, like I had to all those years.”
Aki’s heart didn’t slow at learning that she wasn’t going to die. What really mattered was not letting Gin become emperor.
But he smiled like a dragon, and she knew she was lost.
A moment later, warmth like a summer breeze enveloped her. It reminded her of birthday parties as a little girl, playing hide-and-seek in the palace with Gin, and their father scooping them both up and twirling them until they all fell dizzy to the floor with laughter.
“Everything is wonderful, isn’t it?” Gin said.
Aki nodded. The red light in the temple, which had seemed ominous before, now took on a dark beauty, like sitting inside a hummingbird feeder full of the sweetest nectar.
“And you agree that abdicating in my favor is what is best for Kichona?” Gin asked.
“I do,” Aki said. She didn’t know why she hadn’t seen his perspective before. But then again, he always had been a visionary. She was the twin who saw what was before them. He was the twin who saw what was possible.
“Then make it official,” Gin said, reaching out and holding her hand. “Give me the throne.”
She smiled at his touch. It was just like when they were children, holding hands as they splashed through fountains and searched the gardens for dandelions to make wishes on. “I don’t want to be empress anymore,” she said. “I abdicate. I give you the throne.”
Gin’s grip on her hand tightened. His eyes glistened, but Aki didn’t understand why. Were they happy tears? And yet, he frowned.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Aki just grinned at him.
He squeezed her hand once more, then released it and turned away without looking at her.
“Virtuoso,” he said to the ryuu who’d been standing behind him at attention. “You know what to do.”
The girl nodded. She looked at Aki and narrowed her eyes.
It happened in an instant. Aki had no clue what had happened, but she gasped. Everything around her seemed tinted, as if a green haze had descended upon the world.
“What did you do?” she asked, gaping at the temple around her. A second ago, the walls had seemed like rubies. Now they were unpolished emeralds.
“You’re camouflaged to the rest of the world,” Virtuoso said. “You still exist, but . . . you don’t.”
Gin, still looking in the other direction, let out a long sigh. The warmth and contentment Aki had felt vanished, replaced by deep chill.
He’d released her from his spell.
“Oh gods, what have you done?” Aki asked.
“I didn’t want it to be this way,” Gin said. “But I have to put the kingdom first.” He glanced over his shoulder at Virtuoso. “Take my sister away and stash her somewhere no one will ever find her.”
“With pleasure, Your Majesty.” Virtuoso produced a length of rope and a gag.
“No,” Aki said, backing up against the temple wall, everything still green. “Gin, don’t.”
“I’ll take care of our kingdom, Aki. I promise. I’ll make our family and all the gods proud.”
“Gin!” Aki screamed.
Virtuoso grabbed her, sinking her fingernails into the skin on her neck, and tied the gag roughly around her neck.
“See you later, princess,” she said. Then she slammed the heel of her hand into the back of Aki’s head, and all the green in the world went black.
Chapter Seventy
Sora and Daemon flew through the air in a bright blue blur. The electricity around him tingled on Sora’s skin, and while ryuu power had felt like sparklers inside her, now she and Daemon literally cast off sparks, and the energy he generated blazed through their gemina bond, powering them with more adrenaline than she’d ever felt in her life.
But the thrill was extinguished as they arrived at the base of the quartzite hill that led up to Rose Palace. The dusty-pink crystal wasn’t there to greet them.
The palace was gone. Mounds of shattered crystal lay in its place.
“Holy heavens,” Daemon growled, as he stopped in midair. He