“No . . . ,” the emperor said thoughtfully. “You’re something more, aren’t you? If you join me, you could go down in history. Imagine it—the Dragon Emperor riding a magical flying wolf to victory as they bring the Evermore to earth. There will be songs sung in your name and myths passed on for centuries. We would be glorified for eternity.”

“I’d rather die now than be associated with you for even a day, let alone an eternity.”

Hana didn’t know what to do. Daemon and Sora were standing up for their principles. But what did Hana believe in? She’d thought she’d known, but now, with her parents at Emperor Gin’s mercy, all her previous doubts weighed more heavily than before.

“Don’t give in,” Daemon said to Sora.

But wasn’t a huge part of saving the kingdom about protecting the ones they loved?

Sora leaned close to Daemon’s ear and whispered something.

Then she jumped off his back.

“Spirit.” Fairy gasped. Hana almost did, too, but she managed to restrain herself, to stay invisible as she tried to understand what she was supposed to do.

Sora bowed to Emperor Gin, and there was no deception in her movement. “I surrender. Just don’t hurt Mama and Papa.”

He laughed. “I suspected you’d give in. Your heart is too soft. Glass Lady didn’t train the sentimentality out of you well enough.”

Shackles made of ryuu particles clamped around Sora’s wrists and hands, connected by glowing green chains. Whatever spell the emperor had used to make them, it was stronger than Sora knew how to fight. It didn’t matter, though. Hana could see that Sora had meant it when she made the bargain to surrender, and it pained her to see her sister so beaten. Sora had always been full of fight. But now she was just . . . deflated.

But Sora still shouted at Daemon, “Go!”

It was too late, though. Chains bound him, and Fairy, too. They rattled as Daemon tried to shake them off, to no avail.

Why wasn’t Emperor Gin controlling their minds, though?

“You can keep your shield against my powers of persuasion . . . for now,” the emperor said, shrugging. “You’ll tire eventually, and then I’ll have you.”

That blue glow around Daemon must be protecting them, even if it didn’t know how to break through Emperor Gin’s shackles.

“Weren’t there more of you?” the emperor asked. “Where is the fourth?”

Hana looked around. Where was Broomstick?

Fairy gave Sora a pointed look that the emperor didn’t catch, but Hana did. Fairy must have already alerted Broomstick through their bond. Hana exhaled in relief, and in that instant, she knew for sure which side she was on.

“My gemina is dead,” Fairy said to Emperor Gin, managing to bring false tears to her eyes. “Your barbaric skeletons murdered him.”

“At least they did something right,” the emperor said to Tidepool.