Yue, Sooah, and Wen are at my side in an instant. Yue, I notice, has forgone the use of her mask. It hangs around her neck, tied loosely with bits of ribbon. I wonder whether it was Sooah or Wen who tied it on for her.
“I told you he’d pull through!” Wen exclaims.
I cough, looking up at them through my one unobstructed but bleary eye. “Don’t tell me you were worried.”
Sooah glances down abashedly, signing quickly.Of course we were worried. You should have seen the state you were in.
“How long was I asleep?”
“Nearly a week,” Wen says. “They didn’t think you’d wake at all.”
I take in my surroundings slowly. We’re inside one of the private rooms situated in the inner courts of the Jade Palace. It feels strange seeing daylight, as unnaturally orange and smoky as it may be, filtering in through the latticed windows. There’s movement outside. Not just soldiers, but civilians, too.
“His Majesty opened the palace gates to the people for temporary shelter,” Wen explains. “And the army’s helping with rebuilding efforts.”
“Does this mean the shamans were able to seal the gate?”
Yue nods. “It took them a few days, but they managed.”
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
A few hundred demons managed to escape, Sooah says.Ran off into the surrounding jungles. Maybe even farther.
I press my lips into a thin line. Not an ideal outcome, but I’m hardly in a state to go after them right now. Knowing what I know now about demons, I’m sure a great wave of them will be born of this tragedy. “And what of the Maskmaker?” I ask.
Yue shakes her head. “Dead. I dragged his body to the Gates of Hell and tossed him in before they sealed it closed.”
I study her expression carefully, noting the sourness in her tone. I would have thought she’d be happy now that her tormentor is gone.
The doors to the room slide open. In steps a procession of handmaidens, a few advisors, and then the king himself. My father regards me with such a wide smile that the corners of his eyes crinkle. He’s never looked at me with such pride before.
“I’m glad to see you’re well, my son,” he says before casting Yue a wary glance.
A eunuch steps forward. “Send that beast out. We won’t have it near His Majesty—”
“She stays,” I snap, forgoing the politeness normally reserved for my father’s station.
“It’s fine,” Yue says with a huff. “I’ll be outside.”
She turns on her heels and shuffles out the door, her tails swishing in a wide arc so that she hits the eunuch in the face on the way out. He sputters but doesn’t dare say a thing about it. I want to tell her to come back, that she out of everyone shouldn’t have to put up with such disrespect. If only they knew what Yue had done for them, understood the part she played in saving our people, maybe then they’d treat her with the admiration she deserves.
“That demon can’t stay,” my father says gravely as he kneels by my bedside. “It’s making the soldiers and courtesans nervous.”
“Shesaved countless lives,” I counter. “Hundreds more might have been spared if my warning had been taken seriously.”
My father’s face is impassable. He sits perfectly still, clearly contemplating what to say next. After a moment, he waves a dismissive hand to all still in the room. “Leave us. I would have a word with Prince Sonam in private.”
Everyone bows, Sooah and Wen included. They leave in a hurry, vacating without so much as a peep. Once the door slides closed, my father arches a brow.
“That nine-tailed fox…” he says slowly. “You seem quite attached.”
“I am,” I say with unflinching pride.
Father’s expression softens slightly. I’m not sure if it means I have his approval or sympathy—or perhaps even his pity. “You’ve grown into a fine man,” he says. “Just and fair and good. I could use more of that in my court.”
I furrow my brow. “You mean to have me stay here at the Jade Palace?”
The king nods. “You’d be a most welcome advisor. What say you? You could help me rebuild Longhao alongside your brothers.”
