“I’m happy he chose you,” I said, swallowing. “It would be a lie to say I don’t care for you.”
“But?”
“But we can’t pretend nothing’s happened. Even if we defeat the Wolf, we can’t just pick up where we left off five months ago. I’m a sorceress. My father can’t simply pardon me because I’m his daughter.”
“Why not? Perhaps it’s time that magic returned to Kiata.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you knew.” My voice filled with anguish. “My magic is dangerous.”
“But you aren’t,” said Takkan.
I withdrew my hand from his and pressed it to the nearest tree. The elm’s branches were gray with winter, and I buried the apprehension rising inside me, replacing it with memories of warmth and spring. “Bloom,” I whispered, and the branches glowed silver and gold until leaves budded on their spindly arms, bright as beads of jade.
Takkan drew a stunned breath. “That doesn’t look dangerous at all. That’s amazing.”
“No, it’s not amazing,” I said as I released the tree. Its branches went bare and gray again, and I gritted my teeth. How to show him?
I reached into my satchel, meaning to show him the starstroke net, but instead I felt the seven paper birds Megari had folded.
I whistled softly to the birds. “Awaken.”
Paper wings rustled against the bag. Then up they flew, disappearing before I could call them back.
“I can lend bits of my soul away,” I explained. “Kiki’s the only one that’s lasted. It’s why my stepmother cursed my brothers and me. It’s why the Wolf wants me—”
“Slow down, Shiori. Slow down. I’m not understanding.”
Of course he wasn’t. My emotions were out of control. It had been so long since I could speak, since I could use my magic, the rush of it coming back was too much all at once.
I let out a shaky breath. My tongue felt heavier than it ever had before, and the words came to me slowly:
“You know the stories, Takkan. About the demons trapped in the Holy Mountains? The gods sealed them inside, binding them with divine chains so they might never wreak their evil upon Kiata again.” I chewed on my lip. “Well, it turns out that my magic can break those chains. That’s why the Wolf wants me. He must have orchestrated everything, even Lord Yuji’s betrayal. Even the Four Breaths in the letter you found…that was meant for me. All this time, the pain and trouble you, my father, everyone went through…was because of me.”
Takkan hadn’t moved. His expression hadn’t changed at all. His brow was clear, his lips an inscrutable line, his eyes ever steady. Then he spoke: “For the last five months, I thought you were dead. There wasn’t a day that I didn’t pray for you, that I didn’t kick myself for leaving Gindara without seeing your face. If you think that there is anything you could say to dissuade me from coming with you, then you are sorely mistaken.”
“But the demons—”
“Would have to rip me from your side,” Takkan said firmly. “I’m afraid you are stuck with me, Shiori, even if you don’t ever wish to marry me. I pledge to protect you.”
I stared at Takkan, unsure whether I wanted to kiss him or knock some sense into him. Yes, he’d seen into my thoughts. He must have gotten good at that, these past few months.
“Now, where do we go from here?”
“To my brothers,” I whispered.
“The cranes. Six cranes.”
I nodded.
“Then let’s go.”
“Wait,” I said. Even now, seeing him with his hat slightly askew and ready to fall off his windswept hair, I was imbued with an involuntary rush of warmth. “Are you going to kiss me or not?”
The surprise on Takkan’s face was worth a thousand stories. “You know, you’re even bolder when you can speak, Princess Shiori.”
“I have many months to make up for.”
Takkan laughed, but he touched his nose to mine, drawingso tantalizingly close that our breaths mingled in the coldair.
