She kept digging. It had to be around here somewhere.
The footsteps were nearly upon her before Fairy noticed. Her pulse flitted like a caged hummingbird.
Nines, she swore as she dove into the bushes. Hopefully it was dark enough that they wouldn’t see her, or if they did, she’d pass as the silhouette of one of the boulders scattered around the garden.
“It’s better than we could have imagined,” a woman was saying. “Who knew that when he swore loyalty to Zomuri, it would impact the people?”
“Still not as strong as direct mind control,” a man said as they approached where Fairy hid.
“No, but it’s achieved with zero effort. And I’m sure Emperor Gin will find a way to magnify Zomuri’s influence.”
They passed Fairy without noticing her, but panic spiked in her chest nevertheless. Something was happening to the people of Kichona because Zomuri was the official god now? What was it? She hadn’t felt it herself, or noticed it in Broomstick, Wolf, or Spirit. Maybe they were protected because Luna, as goddess of the taigas, was still their patron god.
Even so, she worried for everyone else.
Broomstick’s concern pulsed through their gemina bond. He’d sensed her worry, and now undulations like sound waves drummed through their connection, a continual question about whether he needed to come to her aid.
She sent back an arrow of reassurance. He’d understand that she was dismayed but not in danger.
Fairy had to get back to digging. Finding Empress Aki was more important than ever. They had to stop whatever it was that Prince Gin and Zomuri were doing to the kingdom, put the empress back on the throne, and make Sola, goddess of the sun, the people’s patron god once more.
With a renewed sense of urgency, Fairy started scraping through the mud again. This time, she found the wooden trapdoor she was looking for, the planks softened from years of being forgotten and buried in the earth. She pried it open.
A blast of dank air greeted her. Fairy cast an owl spell, the skin around her eyes tightening as night vision took hold, and she slipped into the darkness and cobwebs of the abandoned staircase.
Soon, the humidity was so heavy, it was hard to breathe. The steps ended in what appeared to be a wall. It was actually the back of a massive boiler, though, installed at some point in the past for additional heat but with the side effect of rendering the emergency exit stairwell virtually unusable. That is, except for someone as tiny as Fairy.
She paused here and listened for any sign of guards or a prisoner. The room was filled with the labored pumps of steam through the pipes that crisscrossed the walls and ceiling. Fairy released her owl spell—she couldn’t see anyway, with the heavy mist clouding the air—and cast a new one to allow her to hear better.
As her ears tingled, she began to discern the sounds layered beneath the churning of the boiler. There were kitchen workers’ footsteps in the mess hall above. Rats skittering inside the walls. Moths clustered in the warm corners of the ceiling.
But no soldierlike sounds. No methodical pacing inside or outside the boiler room. No idle conversation between bored guards.
And there weren’t any prisoner noises either.
Fairy crept out from behind the boiler, stiletto knives in each hand. “Your Majesty, are you here?” she whispered.
The only answer was the rhythmic bursts of steam in the pipes. Dammit. Fairy lowered her knives. The chances had been slim of her guessing correctly on the first try where Empress Aki was hidden, but the failure was still disappointing.
If the empress wasn’t here, then it meant the main boiler room door wouldn’t be locked or guarded. Fairy might as well exit the mess hall that way. Fewer cobwebs.
She took one last pass around the boiler room, then headed up the stairs. She listened to make sure there was no one outside the door before she snuck out.
As soon as she was on the other side, the rich aroma of braised beef stew embraced her. Fairy’s stomach rumbled. She’d only had a few crackers and picked at a piece of fish jerky earlier. Now she realized she was ravenous.
I’ll just sneak into the kitchen and steal a bite, she thought. And maybe, if it was busy enough that the staff wouldn’t notice another body in their midst, she could get some provisions for Broomstick, Wolf, and Spirit. They’d be hungry when they reconvened.
Someone was coming down the hall. No, several someones. Fairy tucked herself into a corner.
Three women hurried by. They were dressed in plain brown tunics and trousers, white aprons around their waists, hair pulled back in neat buns. The Society employed an entire staff of non-taigas like these kitchen girls to help the Citadel run. Fairy recognized one of them as Mariko, who was friends with Broomstick and often would give him extra cookies when the baker made too many.
“Psst, Mariko!” Fairy whispered. Hells, she knew it was risky, but maybe they could help her. Or if they tried to fight, Fairy could easily take out three untrained girls in two seconds. Four seconds, at most.
No, definitely two.
The girls passed her, though, chattering excitedly about cooking for Emperor Gin.
Had they been hypnotized?
If so, maybe Fairy shouldn’t call out to Mariko. She did follow them down the long corridor, though. After all, it looked like they were heading to the kitchen, which was exactly where Fairy’s stomach wanted her to be.
The kitchen was bustling, preparing for dinner in a couple hours. It smelled not only of stewed beef but also dumplings, fried noodles, and roasted vegetables. Fairy’s stomach threatened to stage a revolt if she didn’t eat something soon.
She stepped into a nook with shelves lined with folded uniforms. Fairy grabbed one of the starchy white tops and buttoned it over her black tunic and pulled a matching white apron over it. Now she looked just like Mariko and the other girls.
Fairy emerged into the main part of the kitchen, next to a counter lined with baskets of rolls ready to be set on the long rows of tables in the mess hall. The rolls were shaped like triplicate whorls, the symbol the goddess Luna used to mark those she blessed as taigas. Fairy clenched her jaw. How dare the ryuu use the taigas’ symbol! She had half a mind to poison their meal, and she began to reach for the satchel on her belt.
But then she stopped. If she poisoned the food, she’d kill not only Prince Gin’s ryuu but also the innocent taigas who’d been hypnotized.
Gods dammit.
She left her satchel alone but grabbed a roll and crammed it into her mouth. The buttery dough seemed to melt on her tongue, and she almost moaned aloud, catching herself at the last moment. She gobbled up three more rolls to silence herself. Then she found an empty rice sack next to the counter and upended a couple baskets of bread into the bag to bring to her friends.
“Hello, servants,” a gruff voice said from the entryway to the kitchen.
Fairy looked up to see three ryuu—a man and two women. She didn’t recognize them.
“Master Ram,” the head chef said, bowing and fawning. “And Masters Quill and Edgewood. How can we be of service?”
They stormed into the kitchen and began snatching dumplings out of pans and sticking their fingers in bowls of sauce to taste them. “We want snacks in the sparring arena in five minutes,” Quill barked.
Fairy seethed. When the taigas had been in charge here, they were always respectful and grateful to the staff.
Mariko and a handful of girls hurried over to the stove to transfer the dumplings from the pans to platters.