Page 39 of Son of Shadows

It was a risk he was willing to take.

Especially if the reward for surviving was a bottle of sake.

* * *

As they loaded up their horses, Haruki quietly cursed herself.

She wondered when someone in their party would notice that ever since she went through the portal to the nether world, Haruki was unable to access her powers. For as long as she could remember, she served her beloved Ryukage with nothing but obedience and loyalty. Now she was a shell of her former self.

Haruki was used to using her venom and rage to channel dark magic and wield it with precision and cruelty.

While her master depended on her, he never loved Haruki. Her sister, Haruka, was the one who captured his heart.

Too bad that had gotten her killed.

“Do you really think we’ll be able to find Ryukage?” Ryuichi’s shadow asked as he mounted his horse.

She narrowed her gaze on him. “I doubt it. He is the most intelligent and deceptive demon I have ever encountered. If he doesn’t want to be discovered, he knows how to evade any yōkai who tries to track him.”

“Can’t you tap into his mind with your magic?” Koichi asked. “You two have a bond that no one else shares.”

Haruki’s cheeks flushed red.

That was true. While Ryukage never saw her as anything more than a partner in all things evil, they had a connection that others could never duplicate.

Still, her powers had vanished. Hopefully, temporarily.

But she couldn’t let Koichi and Ryuichi-kage know this. It would make her too vulnerable. Too exposed.

She had to come up with an excuse. Something they’d both believe.

“If you think I’m going to betray his confidence like that, you couldn’t be more mistaken”—she raked Koichi with a look of disdain—“and pitiful.”

Hopefully, that would do the trick.

“Why are you like this?” Koichi asked.

“Like what?”

“Impossible and mean.”

“You’d be impossible and mean, too, if you walked in my shoes,” she said.

When she’d first seen the man who would become the Ryukage, Haruki had fallen instantly in love with him.

He’d been noble and charming. More handsome than any creature had a right to be.

And he’d looked right through her, as if she were invisible. Because she wasn’t her sister.

And for that, she hated Haruka with every single piece of her being.

Haruka had been perfect. Haruki was shy and melancholic. Most of all, she was scared.

She knew why he didn’t like her.

Haruki didn’t even like herself. It was as if her twin had stolen all the good parts and selfishly kept them for herself, leaving Haruki with the leftover part Haruka hadn’t wanted.

When Haruka had died, Haruki felt nothing. She refused to feel anything other than relief.