The god snorted, and the room filled with his rank breath smelling of rotten eggs. “Do you think the other gods would allow me to simply give away the equivalent of Celestae? There is no Evermore. But humans will forever want more than what they have. Even if you did have paradise on earth, you’d sell your soul for something else. But I pit you against each other, and I receive quite a show, as well as the occasional heart. Royal blood is delightful.” He salivated again, eyeing Aki.

“How dare you play with our lives as if they mean nothing!” Empress Aki said, wriggling in his grasp.

Prince Gin bowed his head. “But my lord, even if the Evermore itself doesn’t exist, there must be something you can grant to me and my people. I can prevail against the mainland monarchs, all seven of them. I promised you an empire to worship you, and I can still deliver.”

“No, you can’t,” Sora said. “And Kichona doesn’t want you at its helm.”

“What are you—?”

She gave Daemon a quick nod.

Daemon unleashed a stream of blue sparks and brought Prince Gin to his knees. Sora called on the ryuu particles around her and sent them charging into the Dragon Prince’s chest. They rammed straight through his breastbone and cut a hole in it.

Prince Gin’s eyes bulged as he looked down in horror. “You fool.”

“It had to be done,” Sora said.

Then the Dragon Prince toppled. His heart flew forward.

Sora lunged and caught it.

Chapter Sixty-Four

Prince Gin’s body crumpled onto the floor of the tower. Blood spilled over Sora’s boots, and his heart pulsed hot and strong in her hand. Zomuri lunged toward the heart, dropping Empress Aki in the process, and she raced to safety behind Daemon and Hana.

Sora’s entire body felt strangely warm. It was more than the familiar swell of ryuu magic filling her to brimming, and suddenly, the heat began to drain away, as if someone had opened the bathtub stopper. She gasped as she literally saw the emerald dust streaming out of her and into the Dragon Prince’s heart in her hands.

On the other side of the room, the same thing happened to Hana, whose mouth hung open.

A rivulet of green glitter trickled in through the balcony, also drawn to the beating heart. Then more and more magic came, until the rivers became a flood.

The Dragon Prince’s heart absorbed it all.

Sora gasped. “What’s happening?”

Daemon circled the heart. “The last part of the purification ritual. Vespre began it, but the taint wouldn’t come off your souls until the originator of the curse was dead and you were free of the stolen magic.”