of things in this reality, but she commanded the loyalty of these samurai. He struggled to his feet, determined not to be struck again by Chishihero or anybody else.
Chishihero studied Ren thoughtfully for a few moments and then she shook her head. The mastiff eyed him like he was dinner. ‘No, Hayato … I cannot risk it. Letting the Youkai escape was bad enough. A yabangin Youkai with a magical brand and no master is far too dangerous.’
‘If we confined it …’ Hayato began rather tentatively.
The woman let out a short, sceptical laugh. ‘Confine it, Hayato? You and your incompetent minions have already proven once this evening that you can’t contain a magical beast. I don’t have the time to be responsible for its imprisonment and ensure it doesn’t escape like the other one. If I leave the plantation now, we’ll never meet this season’s washi quota and I will risk nothing that will incur the wrath of the Empresses.’ She cast her gaze over Ren again and shrugged, turning on her heel, saying, ‘I’ll send the Sensei its hand for study and a report on the incident after you’ve killed it. Come, Kiba.’ The mastiff dutifully turned, following her back to the house.
‘Whoa!’ Ren cried, when he realised the ‘it’ she was planning to murder and dismember was him . ‘Kill me? Send bits of me for study? Are you serious?’ He looked around at the samurai.Perhaps they were smiling because this was their boss’s idea of a sick joke, but he knew it wasn’t. The woman would have slit Trása’s throat without blinking. He shouldn’t be surprised she was ready to dish out the same fate to him.
‘Don’t let it speak,’ Chishihero warned Hayato. ‘It has magic. Give it a voice and it will enchant you and your men and before you know it, you’ll be letting this one escape, too.’
‘Fuck you, lady,’ Ren said in English.
Chishihero glared at Ren, but didn’t respond. Instead, she turned on her heel with Kiba at her side and began to walk back toward the main house with the small mincing steps her kimono and wooden sandals forced her to take, leaving odd tracks in the raked sand of the yard.
Hayato gave his men a hand signal, which must have meant something along the lines of ‘kill the prisoner now’ because as soon as he made it, the samurai closed in on Ren with bared katanas .
Ren’s heart began to gallop as he realised he had only seconds to live.
He refused to accept his life could end like this. Ren had just discovered he had a twin brother. He’d just found out he was a Druid prince capable of wielding unthinkable magic. He’d just pushed his best friend through a dimensional rift to an alternate reality to cure her blindness. He’d just discovered his true home.
He’d just seen Trása morph into a bird and fly away …
It wasn’t going to end like this.
Not here. Not now.
The samurai were closing in, their blades reflecting the torchfire in the courtyard. They were seconds away from slitting his throat.
Ren’s head filled with the sound of blood rushing through his ears. His eyesight began to blur as the overwhelming desire tobe somewhere else overtook him. As the first touch of cold steel kissed the flesh of his throat, the world disappeared and the pain in Ren’s head exploded into a darkness so intense he was sure he must be dead.
CHAPTER 7
Brydie’s imprisonment in the amethyst jewel where she had been trapped by the djinni , Jamaspa, had robbed her of all sense of time. There was no day, no night, no mealtimes, no desire to sleep. She dozed off at times, but that was more from boredom than from a need to rest.
She knew her captor now, although his intentions remained vague. The djinni who had trapped her in this jewel claimed he meant her no harm, but neither was he inclined to release her, even when she couldn’t offer him a satisfactory answer to his questions.
Jamaspa asked many questions — some didn’t make sense but others were specific. She answered
Chishihero studied Ren thoughtfully for a few moments and then she shook her head. The mastiff eyed him like he was dinner. ‘No, Hayato … I cannot risk it. Letting the Youkai escape was bad enough. A yabangin Youkai with a magical brand and no master is far too dangerous.’
‘If we confined it …’ Hayato began rather tentatively.
The woman let out a short, sceptical laugh. ‘Confine it, Hayato? You and your incompetent minions have already proven once this evening that you can’t contain a magical beast. I don’t have the time to be responsible for its imprisonment and ensure it doesn’t escape like the other one. If I leave the plantation now, we’ll never meet this season’s washi quota and I will risk nothing that will incur the wrath of the Empresses.’ She cast her gaze over Ren again and shrugged, turning on her heel, saying, ‘I’ll send the Sensei its hand for study and a report on the incident after you’ve killed it. Come, Kiba.’ The mastiff dutifully turned, following her back to the house.
‘Whoa!’ Ren cried, when he realised the ‘it’ she was planning to murder and dismember was him . ‘Kill me? Send bits of me for study? Are you serious?’ He looked around at the samurai.Perhaps they were smiling because this was their boss’s idea of a sick joke, but he knew it wasn’t. The woman would have slit Trása’s throat without blinking. He shouldn’t be surprised she was ready to dish out the same fate to him.
‘Don’t let it speak,’ Chishihero warned Hayato. ‘It has magic. Give it a voice and it will enchant you and your men and before you know it, you’ll be letting this one escape, too.’
‘Fuck you, lady,’ Ren said in English.
Chishihero glared at Ren, but didn’t respond. Instead, she turned on her heel with Kiba at her side and began to walk back toward the main house with the small mincing steps her kimono and wooden sandals forced her to take, leaving odd tracks in the raked sand of the yard.
Hayato gave his men a hand signal, which must have meant something along the lines of ‘kill the prisoner now’ because as soon as he made it, the samurai closed in on Ren with bared katanas .
Ren’s heart began to gallop as he realised he had only seconds to live.
He refused to accept his life could end like this. Ren had just discovered he had a twin brother. He’d just found out he was a Druid prince capable of wielding unthinkable magic. He’d just pushed his best friend through a dimensional rift to an alternate reality to cure her blindness. He’d just discovered his true home.
He’d just seen Trása morph into a bird and fly away …
It wasn’t going to end like this.
Not here. Not now.
The samurai were closing in, their blades reflecting the torchfire in the courtyard. They were seconds away from slitting his throat.
Ren’s head filled with the sound of blood rushing through his ears. His eyesight began to blur as the overwhelming desire tobe somewhere else overtook him. As the first touch of cold steel kissed the flesh of his throat, the world disappeared and the pain in Ren’s head exploded into a darkness so intense he was sure he must be dead.
CHAPTER 7
Brydie’s imprisonment in the amethyst jewel where she had been trapped by the djinni , Jamaspa, had robbed her of all sense of time. There was no day, no night, no mealtimes, no desire to sleep. She dozed off at times, but that was more from boredom than from a need to rest.
She knew her captor now, although his intentions remained vague. The djinni who had trapped her in this jewel claimed he meant her no harm, but neither was he inclined to release her, even when she couldn’t offer him a satisfactory answer to his questions.
Jamaspa asked many questions — some didn’t make sense but others were specific. She answered
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