Daemon rushed out to the balcony. Sora and Hana followed on his heels.

Liga flew toward them, with Fairy and Broomstick on his back. Their faces were smudged with ash and their clothes torn and bloody, but they smiled and waved. When Liga landed on the balcony, they jumped off and ran to hug Sora and Daemon.

“You did it!” Liga said. “With the Dragon Prince’s spell gone, the taigas became themselves again!”

“And they’re rounding up those who were loyal to the prince,” Broomstick said. “Their Sight is gone, and with it, the ability to cast ryuu spells.”

“Tsarina Austine is also safe, under the protection of Queen Meredith,” Fairy said. “So tell us everything. What happened? How did you kill Prince Gin? How did Wolf convince the gods to carry out the purification ritual? Was that Zomuri we saw up here?”

Sora glanced over her shoulder. Empress Aki had gone to Prince Gin’s body, where she cried softly. Even though he’d never repented for what he did, he was still her brother.

This ending had been less celebratory than Sora had envisioned, yet that was life—unpredictable. But she and her friends had done what was right, and time would hopefully heal their wounds.

“I think we all have a lot to tell each other,” Sora said. “Let’s not do it here, though. Her Majesty needs some privacy.”

They went outside to the far end of the balcony. Sora took in the smoke and destruction below. But rising from them was a happy sound: the chattering of their taiga classmates and teachers, fully in control of their minds again. And they were no longer damned.

“Where to?” Daemon asked, bending down so Sora and Hana could climb onto his back. Fairy and Broomstick got onto Liga.

“To the best place I can imagine being with friends,” Sora said. “On the dormitory rooftop under the open sky. With lots and lots of cake.”

Epilogue

A week later, Sora, Daemon, and Broomstick stood backstage in the Citadel’s amphitheater.

“I can’t believe we’re being promoted to full-fledged warriors,” Sora said.

The week since the fall of the Dragon Prince had been a blur of activity. Empress Aki had buried her brother, then resumed her duties immediately, meeting with Tsarina Austine and Queen Meredith and negotiating new peace treaties and trade pacts with them. Prince Gin’s loyal ryuu were imprisoned while they awaited trial.

Now, the sound of wine-barrel drums filled the amphitheater, announcing the start of the Warrior Initiation Ceremony. Fairy led the performance on the black stone stage, yelling commands, clacking her sticks in time with the other members of the troupe, pounding her drum to the rhythm that throbbed from the stage to the arced benches carved into the grassy knoll. The audience of taigas sat rapt.