Circle of Shadows (Circle of Shadows, #1)(49)

“Do we have fresh fish?”

“Yes, Tidepool swept up a section of ocean and had the waves deposit a school of mackerel for us.”

“I’ll have that then,” Prince Gin said. “Oh, and wine. Not just for me, but for everyone on the ship. You’ve all worked hard today. We deserve to celebrate.”

“Thank you, Your Highness!” the ryuu hurried off to report to the galley.

Daemon waited until the prince went inside his cabin. Then he ran for the ladder and scrambled several levels down to Sora in the bottom hold.

Their grumbling stomachs would have to wait.





Chapter Thirty


Fairy crawled through the narrow space beneath the floorboards of Warrior Meeting Hall. Broomstick followed, but he was bigger and had to scoot on his stomach, which made him lag behind.

“How did you even know this was here?” he whispered, even though they’d cast moth spells to keep from being overheard.

“My boys and I have use for secret nooks and spaces,” Fairy said.

Broomstick groaned.

She laughed.

But she quickly grew stern again. The Council was holding another meeting and Empress Aki was going to be in attendance. The apprentices had not been given any updates about the Isle of the Moon attacks, and even worse, Fairy and Broomstick hadn’t heard a thing about Spirit and Wolf. Broomstick had leveraged all his relationships in the office but learned nothing.

So Fairy had decided to take matters into her own hands and eavesdrop on the source.

The space beneath the Council Room was tighter than that below the rest of Warrior Meeting Hall, and Fairy also had to get onto her stomach. She used her arms to crawl forward, stopping every so often to blink away the dust puffing up from the dirt on the ground. Despite what she’d just told Broomstick, this was not one of the places she brought her boys; she’d tried it once and never again, because it really wasn’t much fun to mess around with someone when there wasn’t space to do said messing around.

Finally, she reached a pinprick of light that shone down through a minuscule hole in the floorboards.

“I barely fit here,” Broomstick said. “One less inch, and I’d be stuck like a cork in a bottle.”

“Good thing you passed on that second helping at dinner then,” she said.

“Ha-ha.” He punched her in the arm.

Above them, the Council filed in. The only reason Fairy knew that was because shadows passed over the tiny beam of light. Otherwise, there was no sound, because the councilmembers treaded so lightly, there were no footfalls.

A minute later, though, there was plenty to hear as Empress Aki arrived.

“Your Majesty.” It was followed by a pause as the councilmembers presumably bowed.

They settled back into their chairs.

“You have a report of your latest findings?” Empress Aki asked.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Glass Lady said. “I know you like to see all the details, so we’ve compiled summaries of the reports from each outpost, as well as the research our scholars have yielded thus far.” There was some shuffling of paper as she passed it across the table.

“As previously discussed, we are actively patrolling the seas and have increased the numbers of warriors on watch at every station around the kingdom. Ships and outposts send reports to the Citadel every twelve hours, rather than every twenty-four, as was the previous peacetime model. The most recent dragonflies from the navy this morning indicate nothing unusual in the seas—no unidentified ships or unusual weather. The reports from around the island are likewise—”

“Wait,” Empress Aki said. Papers rustled. “There still hasn’t been a dragonfly from Paro Village? And now Sand Mine and Kaede City have also failed to report.”

Beneath the floorboards, Fairy’s breath caught. Spirit and Wolf had gone to Takish Gorge. That wasn’t too far away from Paro Village. Had something happened to them? She reached for Broomstick’s hand.

He clutched his fingers against hers.

“What if—?” she began.

“I know,” he said.

“But Spirit . . . she always manages to figure a way out, right?” Fairy said weakly.

“Yeah, she’ll know what to do,” Broomstick said. His conviction was as uncertain as Fairy’s. It didn’t make her feel any better.

Above them, Glass Lady cleared her throat. “Forgive me, Your Majesty, for not leading with Paro Village, Kaede City, and Sand Mine. I wanted to give you some comfort that the seas are safe for now, that no new threats, like an incoming navy, have appeared. But it is indeed concerning that there has been no communication from three different outposts in the south. A ship has been dispatched to investigate, but it will take a few days, since those regions are remote, and the ship will need to sail around the tiger’s leg to access them.”

“Have we no taigas who can get there more quickly by land?” Empress Aki asked.

Bullfrog spoke up, his voice croaking a bit, as always. “It is unwise to divert resources from our other command posts, Your Majesty. And since the Imperial Navy is already patrolling the ocean, it makes sense to investigate via water. Besides, we haven’t received any distress calls from those three posts. If something bad has happened, surely one of them would have managed to send off a dragonfly.”