Circle of Shadows (Circle of Shadows, #1)(91)

Sora and Fairy emerged from the Field of Illusions and faced the grand fortress walls of the Citadel. Sora made herself visible. The particles lowered Fairy onto the ground before her, and her body also reappeared.

They were home. They were safe. Sora finally let herself breathe.

“Who goes there?” the guards shouted as soon as the moon cast its light upon them.

She bowed to the ground and splayed her fingers flat before her. “It is Spirit. I’ve returned with urgent news for the Council on the Dragon Prince’s imminent return. And I’ve brought Fairy, who’s in a rira-induced coma.”

There was no response for a few moments. All Sora could hear was her pulse pounding in her ears.

A long minute later, the iron gates began to open on their silent hinges. Bullfrog, one of the councilmembers, strode out.

“Your Honor,” Sora said, hurrying forward, “I’m so glad to see you. I came to tell you—”

“Save your breath,” Bullfrog said, drawing his sword.

Sora’s heart leaped into her throat. “I don’t understand.”

Except she could. Everything she’d done with the ryuu could be explained, but the truth was less believable than what it looked like from the outside—that she’d been brainwashed by Prince Gin and sent to deceive the taigas.

Bullfrog advanced.

Sora took several steps backward. But she couldn’t pull a weapon on a councilmember. What was she supposed to do?

“Spirit,” Bullfrog said, “you are under arrest.”

She continued to back away. “No, please. Let me explain. I know how to defeat Prince Gin and his army. I came to report to you.”

“Your allegiance cannot be trusted,” Bullfrog said. “You made an attempt on Empress Aki’s life. You murdered Imperial Guards. You are possibly still under the Dragon Prince’s charm, sent here on his orders to mislead us.”

“It’s not true!” Sora turned, looking for another way out.

But several other taigas had descended from the fortress walls. They came at her from all sides, even behind her. She was surrounded.

“I’m sorry to do this,” Bullfrog said as he stepped so close to her, she could smell the remnants of rice and pickled plum on his breath. “But until we defeat Prince Gin and find a way to undo his spell on our taigas, you must be considered a threat. And neutralized.”

Before Sora could protest more, Bullfrog sheathed his sword, choked off her windpipe, and jabbed a needle into her throat.

For an instant, Sora saw stars. And then the stars burst in a blinding explosion, and her knees gave way, dropping her to the ground and flinging her into unconsciousness.





Chapter Fifty-Nine


At first, Daemon dreamed of clouds and clear blue sky.

Soon, though, the clouds began to melt and come back together again, swirling and sliding and changing from white to silver to green. One morphed from a blotch into a green cat. It was like being in the middle of a hallucination. The sky shifted suddenly to green—in fact, everything looked as if he were dreaming through an emerald-tinted lens—and the clouds billowed and started to funnel into Daemon’s head, tickling his temple as the wisps drifted in through his ear and wafted inside his skull.

What is this? Daemon thought.

Somewhere in the back of his head, a girl giggled. It sounded almost like Sora, if Sora giggled. Which she did not. She laughed, but she didn’t giggle.

Daemon, you’re here! the girl said.

What in all hells—? Daemon blinked and shook himself awake.

Even with his eyes open, though, he didn’t see reality. The green-tinged dream pushed on.

Aren’t the stars pretty? the girl said.

Who are you? What’s happening?

The girl really did sound like Sora, if she were drunk. But again, impossible. Sora didn’t ever drink enough to lose control. Two small cups of sake, and she would cut herself off.

The girl sighed. I don’t know who I am. Am I a taiga or a ryuu? Or both? A taigryuu? She giggled. But then she grew pensive again. What kind of soldier am I, though, if I have no weapons? Or maybe I do, I don’t know. They were on me when I came to the gate. . . . I think Bullfrog injected me with genka after he knocked me unconscious?

Oh gods, it was Sora. Or at least a version of Sora. She’d come back to the Citadel, only to be confronted by the councilmember most vehement in his belief that she’d succumbed to Prince Gin’s charm. So Bullfrog had subdued her by shooting her with genka, a botanical drug used to pacify violent prisoners.

This is a dream, right? Sora asked. I’m dreaming that you’re in my head, Daemon. . . . Ooh, look, a green serpent! Isn’t it pretty?

Daemon smiled drowsily, at Sora missing him and her being back, and at the green stars shaped like a serpent. But the constellation’s tongue—a green comet of some sort—flicked as it floated by, licking Daemon’s cheek with a stinging twitch. The sharpness roused him.

He batted the serpent constellation away. How was this happening? Sora was hallucinating because of the genka, but she’d somehow pulled Daemon into her dream.

Maybe this was another facet of ryuu power. The Society had thought they understood magic, but they hadn’t even scraped the surface. And here was something even more, an extra dimension to gemina bonds. Maybe, in her drugged state, Sora’s new powers had expanded the connection she and Daemon shared.