I leapt onto his back, my feet skidding against the snow as he tried to throw me off. Fangs snapped at my face, and the world spun, the sky a gray-blue blur as the wolf tried to slam me against the hill. But I held on.
He smelled like smoke, and his eyes were murky yellow like those of the other wolves, yet they snagged the light in a way that made me look twice. He snarled, trying to shake me off, but I held on, blindly brandishing my dagger.
He pinned me down in the snow, about to finish me with his claws. But I stabbed my blade into his flesh, twisting deep until it pierced bone. The wolf let out a deafening cry. Blood gushed from the gash in his gray fur.
I thought he would charge again in revenge, but his yellow eyes swept over me, taking me in. His gaze was menacing even for a wolf. And oddly calculating.
With a sweep of his tail, he whirled and bolted up the hill, howling for the rest of the wolves to retreat.
Takkan ran to my side, breathing hard. There was blood on his face, and his cloak was torn beyond repair. But he wasn’t hurt and neither was I.
He dropped his sword in relief. “That was…the most reckless, most foolish…bravest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Stop talking.I pulled him into the snow with me, and for a moment we lay there, half recovering our breath, half laughing that we were miraculously alive.
Before long, a horse galloped toward us. It was Megari on Admiral, the bow in her sash becoming undone as she charged our way. Her face was streaked with tears, but she wore a scowl fiercer than any wolf could have made. She jumped off the horse and threw a fistful of snow at her brother.
“Don’t you dare send me off like that again!”
“And let you get eaten by wolves?” Takkan shielded himself from his sister’s attacks. “Better I get eaten than have Mama kill me at home. You are her favorite, you know.”
“I know.” Megari wrapped her arms around her brother’s waist. “But it’s only because you’re so dense.” She pretended to punch his ribs. “Throwing yourself at a pack of wolves when anyone sensible would have run.”
Brother and sister laughed.
The ghost of a laugh escaped my lips, too. Barely a sound. But a dreaded shadow writhed from the top of my bowl: an invisible serpent slithering down into my pocket.
I thrust my hand inside, pulling out the sprig of plum blossoms Megari had given me. Its leaves and flowers had gone black.
Whatever joy I’d tasted quickly fled. My heart sank. For a precious instant, I’d forgotten the dark curse looming overme.
When Takkan and Megari weren’t looking, I dropped the sprig, letting its withered buds fall into the snow.
I did not smile again the rest of the way home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
It jolted me to see Hasege back at the fortress. He stood beside Pao, guarding the gates, and greeted Takkan, Megari, and me with a scowl.
“So it’s true. You have taken up with the demon girl.”
Takkan’s reply was the coldest I had ever heard: “You’ve returned early, Cousin.”
“Have you lost your senses, Takkan? War is coming, and you send me away when I should be defending the castle—all for this demon?”
“Call her demon once more, and you will not be welcomed back in Iro. Not ever again.”
Hasege’s lips thinned. He wouldn’t look at me, as if unnerved by my presence. The scar I’d given him gleamed in dusk’s violet light, crooked and pale and ugly.
“I caution you, people will talk. Iro is already in disgrace after your broken betrothal—why do you think more soldiers are being directed to Tazheni Fortress than here? Now you humiliate us further by making a houseguest of this…this evil spirit! No wonder they say the dead princess rejected you because you were unworthy.”
There was a hiccup in my breath, and a mix of anger and shame stirred in my chest. That hadn’t been why I’d run off from the ceremony! Was it truly what everyone was saying?
At my side, Takkan had stiffened noticeably. “I care naught for Gindara’s gossip. But you will have more respect for Shiori’anma.”
“Respect as she had for you? I only hope that while I’ve been away, you’ve ceased wasting everyone’s time looking for her. On this, your father would agree with me. Even Lord Yuji has given up.”
“Has he?” Takkan said grimly. Taking his sister’s hand, he strode past Hasege and turned to Pao. “We encountered wolves on our way home. I want the area scouted.”
