She held her breath. It was possible she was imagining things. Or that there really was someone outside, perhaps another ryuu or skeleton, and this was a trap.

Still, she had to try again, because she didn’t know when she’d have another chance. Gin had paid her a visit not long ago to remind her that he had every intention of keeping her alive and suffering in this prison. But then there’d been a commotion as Gin and the two non-ryuu he’d brought—were they ordinary Kichonans? What was their significance?—hurried out of the waterfall and up to the surface. Aki had used the excuse of being emotionally overwhelmed and needing a nap to retire to her little cell in the grotto walls. Her skeleton captors had been all too willing to believe her fragility in the face of their mighty emperor.

But instead of resting, Aki crawled down her tunnel. She hadn’t known what she could do, since the solid rock still blocked her escape, but maybe she could dig in a different direction. She started scraping at the clay with her spoon, but each time, the metal had hit the wall. Until she’d gotten that clanking response.

Was it someone come to rescue her? Is that why Gin had left in such a hurry?

Aki was about to try again when a keening like an injured animal pierced the air. She jumped. The sound had come from the far end of the tunnel. What was happening out there? Aki had to hide the entrance to this route before the ryuu barged into her cell and she was discovered.

She hit her spoon against the rock wall rapidly, like an alarm, in case whoever was on the other side was here to help, and then she scurried down the tunnel back to her cell.

Aki exhaled in relief as she climbed out from beneath her mattress pallet and found no one in her room. She squeezed herself through the narrow passageway that led to the grotto opening, cautiously sticking out her head to see what had made the painful animal wail.

The awful ryuu Skeleton and his minions lay dead—truly dead—on the ground. Aki’s heart skipped as she saw Fairy standing over the bodies.

But then she saw another taiga apprentice—Wolf, she recalled from her time at the Citadel—holding a hysterical girl in his arms. This was the source of the cry Aki had heard.

She pushed out of the passageway and ran to their sides. Oh gods, the girl was Spirit. “What happened?” Aki cried.

“Your brother murdered her mother,” Fairy said, coming up behind her.

Aki took in a sharp breath. That’s who that couple was. Gin had been using them as bait. Or vengeance.

Spirit let out a desperate sob. “And Papa . . .”

“What happened to her father?” Aki asked, not wanting to hear the answer.