A chill shivered down my spine. I had a sudden fear that if I went through with the ceremony, I’d become like her: cold and sad and lonely. Worse, if I didn’t find Kiki, someone else might, and my secret would get back to Father…
My secret: that I’d conjured a paper bird to life with magic.
Forbidden magic.
I spun away from the doors and pushed past Hasho, who was too startled to stop me.
“Princess Shiori!” the guards yelled. “Princess!”
I shed my ceremonial jacket as I ran after Kiki. The embroidery alone weighed as much as a sentinel’s armor, and freeing my shoulders and arms of its heft was like growing wings. I left the pool of silk in the middle of the hall and jumped out a window into the garden.
The sun’s glare was strong, and I squinted to keep my eyes on Kiki. She wove through the orchard of cherry trees, then past the citrus ones, where her frenzied flight caused the kitebirds to explode from the branches.
I’d intended to leave Kiki in my room, tucked away in a jewelry box, but she had flapped her wings and knocked against her prison so vigorously I was afraid a servant might find her while I was at the ceremony.
Best to keep her with me, I thought.
“Promise to be good?” I’d said.
Kiki bobbed her head, which I’d taken as a yes.
Wrong.
Demons take me, I had to be the biggest idiot in Kiata! But I wouldn’t blame myself for having a heart, even for a paper bird.
Kiki was my paper bird. With my brothers growing older and always occupied with princely duties, I had been lonely. But Kiki listened to me and kept my secrets, and she made me laugh. Every day, she became more alive. She was my friend.
I had to get her back.
My paper bird landed in the middle of the Sacred Lake, floating on its still waters with unflappable calm—as if she hadn’t just upended my entire morning.
I was panting by the time I reached her. Even without the outer layer, my dress was so heavy I could hardly catch my breath.
“Kiki!” I tossed a pebble into the water to get her attention, but she merely floated farther away. “This isn’t the time to play.”
What was I going to do? If it was discovered I had a talent for magic, no matter how small, I’d be sent away from Kiata forever—a fate far worse than having to marry some faceless lord of the third rank.
Hurrying, I kicked off my slippers, not even bothering to shed my robes.
I jumped into the lake.
For a girl forced to stay indoors practicing calligraphy and playing the zither, I was a strong swimmer. I had my brothers to thank for that; before they all grew up, we used to sneak to this very lake for summer-evening dips. I knew these waters.
I kicked toward Kiki, the sun’s heat prickling against my back, but she was sinking deeper into the water. The folds of my dress wrapped around me tight, and my skirts clung to my legs every time I kicked. I began to tire, and the sky vanished as the lake pulled me down.
Choking, I flailed for the surface. The more I struggled, the faster I sank. Whorls of my long black hair floated around me like a storm. Terror rioted in my gut, and my throat burned, my pulse thudding madly in my ears.
I undid the gold sash over my robes and yanked at my skirts, but their weight brought me down and down, until the sun was but a faint pearl of light glimmering far above me.
Finally I ripped my skirts free and propelled myself up, but I was too deep. There was no way I would make it back to the surface before I ran out of breath.
I was going to die.
Kicking furiously, I fought for air, but it was no use. I tried not to panic. Panicking would only make me sink faster.
Lord Sharima’en, the god of death, was coming for me. He’d numb the burning soreness in my muscles, and the pain swelling in my throat. My blood began to chill, my eyelids began to close—
That was when I saw the dragon.
I thought him a snake at first. No one had seen a dragon in centuries, and from afar, he looked like one of my stepmother’s pets. At least until I saw the claws.
He glided toward me, coming so close that I could have touched his whiskers, long and thin like strokes of silver.
His hand was extended, and above his palm, pinched between two talons, was Kiki.
For an instant, I bubbled to life. I kicked, trying to reach out. But I had no strength left. No breath. My world was shrinking, all color washed away.
With a mischievous glint in his eye, the dragon closed his hand. His tail swept over me from behind and encircled my neck.
And my heart gave one final thud.
CHAPTER TWO
“A…a snake,” I heard Hasho stammer. He wasn’t a very good liar. “She saw a snake.”
“So she ran all the way to the lake? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Well—” Hasho faltered. “You know how much she hates snakes. She thought it might bite her.”
My head hurt like a thunderstorm, but I blinked an eye half-open, spying my two eldest brothers, Andahai and Benkai, at my bedside. Hasho hung in the back, chewing on his lip.
I closed my eye. Maybe if they thought I was still asleep, they’d all go away.
But, curse him, Hasho noticed. “Look, she’s stirring.”
“Shiori,” Andahai said sternly, his long face looming over me. He shook my shoulders. “We know you’re awake. Shiori!”
I coughed, my body scrunching up with pain.
“Enough, Andahai,” said Benkai. “Enough!”
My lungs still burned, greedy for air, and my mouth tasted of dirt and salt. I gulped the water Hasho offered, then forced a smile at my brothers.
None smiled back.
“You missed your betrothal ceremony,” Andahai chided. “We found you on the banks, half-drowned.”
Only my oldest brother would scold me for almost dying.
Almost dying, I repeated to myself, my fingers flying to my neck. The dragon had wrapped his tail around it, as if to choke me. But I felt no bruises, no bandages, either. Had he saved me? The last thing I remembered was seeing two ruby eyes and a crooked grin. I didn’t remember coming up to the surface, and I couldn’t have floated up on my own….
Wings fluttered against my thumb, and I became suddenly aware of my other hand, hidden under my blankets.
Kiki. Thank the Eternal Courts! She was a little soggy, like me. But alive.
“What happened, Shiori?” Andahai prodded.