“It’s your choice how long this goes,” he said. “You always have the ability to make it stop. Just say I’m right. Just say you, too, want the Evermore for Kichona.”

“I won’t.”

Hana dared to look back.

The drop of acid swelled.

And then it fell.

Princess Aki screamed as the acid seared the apple of her cheek. Her flesh bubbled and popped where the acid had hit.

A wave of nausea surged in Hana’s gut.

Another drop was already forming.

The princess tried to twist away from its path, but there would be no way to escape it.

Gin just shook his head, as if he thought his sister ought to take her punishment with more dignity. “Virtuoso, take it from here. I’m going back to the castle.”

Hana stared wide eyed at the bucket of acid. “But she’s a member of the imperial family.”

“And I’m the emperor, giving you a direct order.” He shook his head. “You’re usually a tornado of violence when presented with opportunities like this. You had no issue with the command to assassinate my sister in Dassu Desert, but you can’t do this?”

Hana twisted the hem of her tunic. “Spirit carried out your orders in Dassu Desert.”

Princess Aki stared at Hana, as if just realizing that she was Spirit’s younger sister. Two siblings on opposite sides of a war, just like the princess and Gin.

The second drop of acid splattered on Princess Aki’s cheek then, searing into her skin, and she screamed.

Hana cringed.

“Virtuoso,” Emperor Gin said, “whatever your lingering issues about the imperial family, get over them. Aki is a prisoner of war, and you will treat her as such.”

Hana’s heart pounded as if attempting to stage a rebellion.

I am a good solider, she told herself. The most loyal of all ryuu. If the emperor said this was how it had to be, then he was right. The gods wanted him to do this; they let him come back from the brink of death with new magic because pursuing the Evermore was his destiny. And serving him was Hana’s.

Emperor Gin stepped into his green orb.

“Brother—” Aki strained at her bindings.

“I wish it had turned out differently,” he said. “Maybe if you’d just let me rule from the start, we wouldn’t be here like this. But . . .” He shrugged as though there were nothing he could do to change the course he was taking. The emerald sphere closed around him. It sank into the grotto pool, whisking Gin away.

Another drop of acid hung like a threat above Aki.

“Please,” she said to Hana. “I can tell you still don’t want to carry out his orders. Just like Spirit, you’re better than this.”

Hana’s eyes flashed. “Don’t you dare compare me to Spirit. As far as I’m concerned, I have no sister.”