“Are you listening to yourselves?” Daemon asked. “There are only four of us. Prince Gin has an entire army with superior magic. He hypnotized two hundred people—civilians—to murder themselves. And he captured the empress. Don’t you see? We’ve already lost.”

“And what should we do instead?” Broomstick asked, crossing his arms across his chest. “Flee from Kichona to save ourselves? Those are our friends back there. We grew up with them in the tenderfoot nursery, sparred with them since we were old enough to hold weapons and cast spells, and stayed up way too late playing cards and drinking cheap rice wine. You really want to abandon them all?”

“You’re making me sound like an asshole,” Daemon said.

“That’s not what he means,” Sora said. “Trust me, we’re all beaten down, too. You say we’ve already lost. You’re right. If the four of us don’t step up, then every single one of our friends is lost. Right now, Prince Gin has control of their minds. He’s brainwashed them to love him, to want to charge into battle and die for him.

“Maybe we’ll fail. But if we don’t try, then it’s all over for everyone we know and love. We owe it to them—and to Kichona—to take down the Dragon Prince and restore our kingdom to how it’s supposed to be.”

They were quiet for a minute. Then Daemon let out a long breath. “I feel sorry for our kingdom that all they get is our ragtag crew.” But there was a slight lift in the corner of his mouth, and she knew he was in, even if reluctantly.

“We don’t look that bad,” Fairy said.

“Actually, we do,” Sora said. “But no one said heroes had to be pretty.”

“Wait a minute,” Broomstick said. “You want to rescue Empress Aki. How do we even know she’s alive? She might be dead.”

“If she is, then the Dragon Prince is the true ruler of Kichona,” Daemon said, “and even without being compelled, the people would be obligated to carry out every one of his deluded, twisted wishes.”

Reality killed the momentary high Sora had felt from rousing her friends. She frowned. “We don’t know that the empress is alive. But until we’re certain she’s dead, I think we should assume the opposite and that she needs our help. The last time I saw her, she had a knife at her throat, but they didn’t kill her. If Prince Gin wanted his sister dead, wouldn’t he have done it then? It would have had greater effect at the Ceremony of Two Hundred Hearts, in front of a crowd.”

Broomstick nodded slowly. “Good point. But how do we find her?”

“The Imperial City seems like a good bet,” Sora said. “Not much time has passed—she could still be there.”