His only family had been an old woman who turned out to be a shape-shifting guardian. And the handful of friends he’d made at this school.
If he was still at the school...
“What happened to Koichi-san? How did I get here?” Actually,wherewas he? The last thing he recalled was being at the merchant’s house.
Keiko handed him a cup of tea. “He brought you here to be cared for after you almost exposed yourself to a very powerful shadow demon.”
“Where’s ‘here’?”
Keiko held up her hand, and the wall in front of him became a window where he could look out and see the school’s infirmary.
Ryuichi gasped as he saw one patient in particular. “Kato!”
As he scrambled from the bed, Keiko caught him and urged him back before he spilled his tea. “He’s fine, child. Like you, he needs his rest.”
“But—”
“No buts. You caused a frightful show tonight, and you’re lucky Haruki didn’t find you because of it. Or one of the other demons your father has out scouring the countryside for you.”
He sat back down. “I don’t understand.”
“There’s a price on your head, child. Steep and heavy. Whoever can deliver you back to the kage-tenchi will be rewarded beyond comprehension. Which I, personally, think means death for whomever returns you, but most demons aren’t that bright.” She snorted at her pun.
Ryuichi wasn’t amused. Mostly because he was still trying to process all of this as he sipped his tea. “What do I need to do?”
“At the moment? Stay hidden.” She indicated the bed where he sat with a gracious gesture. “Rest.”
And with that, she handed him a platter of food she manifested from thin air, then vanished out of the mirror, which returned to a solid wall as soon as she was through it.
It was only then that Ryuichi realized the room had no other door.
There were no windows here either. He was trapped.
Panic rose up inside him. He’d never liked the feeling of being locked in one place. It made him feel as if he were suffocating.
Closing his eyes, he tried to calm down. If Keiko had wanted him dead, he’d already be dead. Still...
He had no way out, and he was at her mercy.
Trust her.
That was easier said than done, when the truth was that he didn’t really know her. She’d been lying to him his entire life. Pretending to be something she wasn’t.
And she’d told him not to trust anyone!
Did she mean herself too?
All these years he’d wanted answers about his parents... and she’d known them. Rather than tell him, she’d stood by and allowed him to be abused and humiliated while knowing he wasn’t some poor, honorless samurai’s son.
I’m the son of a kami. Two of them.
He had outranked the lord who had abused him. All of them, in fact. Instead of humiliating him, they should have been honoring him and his parents.
That put a bitter taste in his mouth and stung deep inside his heart.
“Masaru?”
For once, the tricky little beast manifested in front of him. Too pretty for a man, Masaru stared at him with an interest he’d not shown before.
