Page 80 of Son of Shadows

His father shrugged. “So what? Ruling the realm was just endless work, now that I think about it. Do you know how stressful it was to try and manage a world of yōkai and gods? They’re always mouthing off about something. Fighting over nothing. I think back on it, and I can’t believe I wanted to rule the human world too. What was the point in any of it?”

Ryuichi sat there, dumbfounded. Was his father really giving up his thirst for power to live here in seclusion? There was only one way to know.

And that was to bait him.

Tweak his pride.

Make him mad.

Ryuichi knew him well enough to know exactly how to do that.

“I never thought I’d live to see the day the Ryukage turned coward,” he said.

His father clenched his fists. “Don’t test me, boy. You’re an uninvited guest here.” Then came a long, hard stare. “Remember: The only reason you’re still standing is because it was beneath me to finish you off.” Rage glimmered in his eyes, turning them bright red. “I lift a finger and the heavens themselves shake. I could end you right here.”

Ryuichi didn’t flinch. “Then do it. Go ahead.”

The Ryukage shifted uncomfortably, letting Ryuichi know that his words had gotten to him. “Are you really so eager to die that you came all the way here to insult me so that I could destroy you?”

“I came here to remind you of your duty to the yōkai,” Ryuichi said. He sat on the edge of the hot spring to cool off. It was making him dizzy, and he needed a clear head if he was going to negotiate successfully. “Where is your honor? They were loyal to you, and then you abandon them?”

“You don’t know anything about honor. And yōkai aren’t loyal. They just fear me. That isn’t the same.”

“What about my okaa-san? Did she fear you too?”

The look on Ryukage’s face told him that his question stabbed him deeper than any blade. Ryuichi had not forgotten how much his father had loved his mother. Maybe confronting him about Haruka would help Ryuichi get through to him.

When Ryukage spoke, his voice was cold enough to form an icicle. “Don’t ever speak of her . . . She was my life.”

Tears started to well in Ryuichi’s eyes.

No, I can’t cry. Not now.

He got up and started putting his clothes back on, his back to his father so he couldn’t see his son falling apart.

“If that were true, then why would you kill her? So you could fade away in the end and let your world self-destruct? Look at yourself. Every horrible thing you did was for nothing. All that suffering you caused, and what do you have to show for it? You have no family. No friends. No army. No power. Nothing. You relinquished it all.”

His father scoffed. “You act like I owe you something. But I don’t.”

“Not even an apology?” Ryuichi said, spinning around to face him. “How can you not be sorry for denying me the life I deserved? For treating me like I’m the enemy instead of your flesh and blood?”

Ryukage looked speechless, like he was letting Ryuichi’s pain sink in.

“I don’t know if the scars you left on my heart will ever heal. But I came all this way to beg you to be the man you once were. The righteous warrior my mother loved, before you became a horrendous beast who rules with fear.”

“It’s too late for that,” Ryukage said, shaking his head.

But Ryuichi could sense he was breaking through. So he kept going.

“No, it’s not too late. Not yet,” he said, almost pleading. “Reclaim your throne and lead your realm. Help me stop the World Eater from taking over this world and mine.”

That caused his father to take notice. “Orochi? He’s on the loose? I thought he was exiled.”

“He escaped somehow. He intends to finish what you started.”

Ryukage let out a startling roar, one that shook the ground beneath them. Ryuichi tried not to be frightened by the rage in his father’s eyes, but that was close to impossible. He went to reach for his sword, when the door flew open.

His friends ran to his side, ready to fight Ryukage if he went on the attack.