sea not long ago.
“This taiga is my sister,” Hana said.
Sora blinked. Hana was coming to her aid?
Prince Gin arched his brow. “You didn’t tell me this before.”
“I’d disavowed my family. For the past ten years, Spirit didn’t exist for me.”
It felt as if Hana were stomping on Sora’s heart, which already lay at the bottom of the ocean.
“However,” Hana said, “because we share blood, she probably has the same ryuu power that I do, just like how Skullcrusher and Skeleton both excel at controlling bones.”
The Dragon Prince considered this new information. Every ryuu on the ship was silent, waiting for his verdict.
Sora was the only one looking at Hana. What was her special power that made it tempting enough for Prince Gin to commute Sora’s sentence in order to have one more soldier?
A slow smile crept across his face. “Spirit, you’ve been trained by the Society and spent the last decade under my sister’s rule. I know there are some things about my past that may have been . . . skewed. I wasn’t here to offer my side of the story. But as you can see, there are many smart and accomplished warriors who support me, including your sister. I hope you’ll let me share my perspective.”
That warm, mushy porridge sense of calm she’d felt at the Kaede City outpost began to fill her. For a split second, she was aware that he was casting his hypnotic spell on her, but it was too fleeting a moment for her to do anything about it. Not that she’d be able to fight off his magic anyway. No one could, except Daemon.
Prince Gin told her what had happened after his warriors fled Kichona a decade ago. It was the same version he’d given the taigas in Kaede City. Sora nodded along, rapt. “I can give you access to our new magic,” he said. “Would you like that?”
Yes yes yes. Giddiness welled up in Sora’s eyes as the feeling of security and conviction inside of her warmed even more. There was a niggling in the back of her mind, as if Daemon would disapprove, but she couldn’t figure out why. And the tickle of wrongness was soon subsumed by the rightness of what the Dragon Prince offered. “Yes, Your Highness. I’d like to be a ryuu, more than anything. I’d like to be reunited with my sister, who up until today, I had believed lost to me forever. It would be an honor to serve you.”
She took a deep breath, knowing from Kaede City that the next part of becoming a ryuu required Prince Gin doing something that might hurt. Daemon had told her about the surprised cries from the taigas on that rooftop. But no matter what the Dragon Prince was going to do, it would be worth it. Everything was worth it for Prince Gin.
He smashed his fingertips to Sora’s eyes. She barely managed to close them in time so that he didn’t gouge her eyeballs directly. It felt as if his nails were drilling through Sora’s lids, and then as if hot iron was burning right through them. But even though it hurt, she didn’t care. The sound of magic whooshed around her like a small dust storm, and Sora smiled as she lost herself in the chaotic melody.
Prince Gin yanked his fingers away as suddenly as he’d started.
Sora rubbed at her eyes. When she opened them, she gasped.
Emerald particles floated everywhere, tumbling through the air and sprinkling down on her like colored sugar. She cried out in wonder. And then she stuck out her tongue. It tasted sweeter than apple sidra, than cherry ice cream, than golden empress cakes. She sighed with a deep-seated happiness as the ryuu magic twinkled all around her, the sweetest of snowflakes.
Prince Gin turned to Hana, his expression harder than before. “You asked for her, Virtuoso. She’s your responsibility. Train her and show me that I didn’t make a mistake in letting your emotions get the better of you.”
Hana paled. But then she squared her shoulders. “Yes, Your Highness. I won’t fail you.”
Sora should have been worried, both for herself and Hana. It was unknown whether she would be able to command magic the way it was implied that her sister could. And yet Sora was too entranced by the emerald dust to register rational feeling. Even though it was hardly dusk, the world was lit up like it was made of emerald galaxies. Everywhere she turned, the air sparkled. Even the Dragon