The walk back to Akira's estate was the strangest experience of my life.
I was currently being carried like a princess by the most feared northern prince in the empire, who was also carrying my sick little sister. A two-tailed magical cat was draped over his broad shoulders like a furry, vibrating stole.
And I still had one burning question.
"Wait a moment," I said, looking down at Rin as Akira moved through the dark, quiet streets of the capital with effortless ease. "How do you even know about the cat? And the husband part? You were unconscious in the lower chambers this morning."
Rin sneezed softly into her coarse brown blanket. She looked up at me with tired, feverish purple eyes.
"The men in the green robes would not stop talking about it," Rin said, her voice raspy but perfectly coherent. "The one with the strange helmet kept complaining that his prince was throwing a dreadful fit over a lower-chamber rat who married a monster."
Akira's footsteps did not falter, but I felt his chest rumble with a suppressed chuckle.
"They also said the monster was very rich," Rin added, looking at Akira's pristine white yukata. "Are you very rich?"
"Extremely," Akira answered without missing a beat. His amber eyes glinted with amusement.
"Good," Rin nodded seriously, before turning her gaze back to me. "Also, you literally told me your plan on Tuesday. I said it was a terrible idea to give a demon cat a haircut. You never listen."
I wanted the earth to open and swallow me whole. "I was trying to give you hope."
"You gave me a northern prince," Rin pointed out.
"I believe it is a vast improvement," Akira murmured, drawing us both a little closer against his chest.
"I am going to die of embarrassment before the Emperor even gets a chance to execute me," I groaned, burying my burning face into his shoulder.
Jingle. Yuki patted my head with a soft white paw, as if to say, There, there, human. At least you still have me.
By the time we reached the heavy wooden gates of the Northern Lord's temporary estate, the household guard was already waiting.
"My Lord!" The Head Retainer dropped to one knee, relief washing over his scarred, weathered face as he saw the three of us safe. "The perimeter is secure. The healers are standing by in the inner chambers."
"Bring them immediately," Akira ordered, his tone shifting back to that of the Lord of the North. He strode through the gates without slowing.
Ten minutes later, Rin was tucked into a massive futon piled high with thick, cloud-soft silk quilts. The room was warmed by glowing charcoal braziers.
Akira's personal healers were nothing like the stiff, incense-soaked onmyoji from the Imperial Bureau. They were practical men and women from the Northern Marches, direct and unpretentious. But the moment they saw Rin's tiny, shivering frame, their stern faces softened completely.
An older woman with silver hair and a kind smile gently pressed two glowing green fingers to Rin's forehead.
"Ah, the taint of spirit-ash," the healer sighed, shaking her head. "It has settled deep into her lungs. A cruel thing for a child to endure. But entirely curable, My Lord."
"Do you have the elixir?" I asked breathlessly, my hands clutching the edge of the tatami mat.
The healer gave me an apologetic look. "We have the base herbs, Lady Kitsune. But to purge poison that has sunk this deeply, we require a catalyst of pure spiritual force. Usually, the fur or blood of a sacred beast..."
I froze. My eyes darted to Yuki.
The cat was sitting on a cushion in the corner, meticulously grooming his twin tails.
This is why I broke in, I thought, a wave of that old desperation washing over me. We still need the fur.
I looked at Akira. He was standing near the sliding doors, his arms crossed over his broad chest. He met my gaze, and his amber eyes softened. He did not say a word. He simply uncrossed his arms and nodded toward the cat.
Jingle.
Yuki stopped grooming. He stood up, stretched his front legs, and trotted over to Rin's futon.
The ancient nekomata hopped lightly onto the mattress. He did not look at the healer. He did not look at me. He simply walked right up to Rin's chest, circled twice, and settled down like a fluffy, heavy loaf of bread.
"Kitty," Rin whispered, reaching a tiny hand out to touch his red bow.
Yuki let out a deep, vibrating purr.
But it was not an ordinary sound. The purr resonated through the entire room, thick with ancient power. The twin tails behind him began to glow with a brilliant, soothing blue light.
Slowly, Yuki lowered one of his glowing tails and draped it gently across Rin's chest.
The effect was immediate.
A wave of pure, clean spiritual energy washed over the bed. I watched in absolute awe as a faint, ugly black mist, the spirit-ash buried within her, was drawn out through Rin's pores and breath, dissolving into nothing the instant it touched Yuki's blue radiance.
Rin took a deep, shuddering breath. For the first time in months, there was no rattle in her chest. The sickly pallor of her skin gave way to a healthy, warm pink flush.
Her heavy eyelids fluttered shut, and she fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.
"Incredible," the older healer whispered, bowing deeply to the cat. "The nekomata has purified her core entirely. She needs only rest and good food now, Lady Kitsune. The sickness is gone."
A sob broke out of me. One I had been holding in for six months.
I covered my face with both hands, my shoulders shaking as all the terror, the guilt, and the sheer exhaustion finally broke loose. She was safe. She was cured. My little sister was going to live.
Then I felt a large, warm hand settle gently on my back.
"She is safe, Kitsune," Akira murmured, kneeling beside me. He pulled me against his side, wrapping one strong arm around my shoulders. "It is over."
"Thank you," I cried, turning to bury my face in his chest. "Thank you so much. Both of you."
I reached one hand out blindly toward the bed. Yuki leaned over and bumped his wet nose against my knuckles.
"You are my wife," Akira said simply, pressing a soft kiss to the top of my hair. The gesture was so casual, so intimate, that it made my heart skip a beat. "There is no debt between us."
We stayed like that for a long time, listening to the steady, even breathing of my sister and the rumbling purr of the chaotic cat who had brought us all together.
For a few precious hours, the world outside the estate did not exist.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The harsh, aggressive sound of a bronze gong shattered the peaceful morning air.
I jolted awake. I was lying on the futon beside Rin. Akira was already on his feet, his hand resting instinctively on the hilt of the sword he had strapped to his waist during the night.
"Stay here," Akira ordered, his voice tight.
He slid the paper doors open and stepped out onto the engawa porch. I scrambled up immediately, creeping to the edge of the door to peer outside.
The sun was barely rising, casting a pale, cold light over the courtyard.
Standing at the front gates of the estate, flanked by a dozen heavily armed Imperial Elite Guards, was a man in brilliant crimson and gold robes.
It was not Prince Jin.
It was the Crown Prince, Ryu. And he looked absolutely furious.
"Lord Kurogane!" Ryu sneered, holding up a scroll sealed with the Emperor's golden dragon wax. "By order of the Son of Heaven, open your gates!"
Akira did not move to open them. He stood on the porch, staring down at the Crown Prince with a look of absolute, chilling indifference.
"It is too early for barking dogs, Ryu," Akira said flatly. "State your business or leave."
The Elite Guards tensed, their hands dropping to their weapons at the blatant disrespect. Ryu's face flushed an ugly shade of red, but he forced a nasty, triumphant smile.
"I bring an Imperial Decree," Ryu announced, unrolling the scroll with a dramatic snap. His voice echoed loudly, making sure every servant and guard in the estate could hear.
"The Emperor is deeply concerned by the sudden, unorthodox marriage of the Third Prince to a woman of... questionable origins," Ryu read loudly. "While the Consort Mark proves a magical bond, the purity of the woman's soul remains untested. She is a commoner. She could be a worshipper of dark things. She could be cursed."
My blood ran cold.
"Therefore," Ryu continued, his eyes locking onto Akira with pure malice, "to prove she is worthy of holding title in the Imperial Court, the Lady Kitsune is summoned to the Grand Shrine of Amaterasu at noon today."
Ryu snapped the scroll shut.
"She will walk the Path of the White Lotus," Ryu declared, his smile turning deadly. "If her spirit is pure, the sacred flames will part for her. If she is a fraud, or harbors dark corruption... the flames will burn her to ash."
I stopped breathing.
The Path of the White Lotus was not a test. It was an execution rite reserved for heretics. One needed enormous reserves of pure, high spiritual energy to shield oneself from the sacred fire.
And everyone in the court knew I had almost no magic at all.
"If she refuses to walk," Ryu added, his eyes gleaming, "the marriage will be declared void. And you, Akira, will be stripped of your titles and banished from the capital permanently for attempting to deceive the throne."
It was a perfect trap.
They could not attack Akira directly without risking a war. So they were coming for the weakest thread in the knot. They were using me to strip him of his power.
Akira stood perfectly still. The air around him did not turn cold this time. It began to visibly warp with heat, blue spirit-fire flickering wildly at the edges of his form.
He was going to kill the Crown Prince right there in the courtyard.
Before Akira could unleash his power, I pushed the sliding door open and stepped out onto the porch.
"Kitsune," Akira warned, turning to me, his eyes flashing with panic and rage. "Go back inside."
I did not listen. I walked right up to his side, slipping my small hand into his large, clenched fist. I squeezed his fingers tightly, grounding him.
I looked down at the smug Crown Prince waiting at the gates. I had no magic. I had no noble blood. But I was done letting these people use me to wound the man who had saved my sister.
"Tell the Emperor," I called out, my voice miraculously steady, "that the Lady of the North accepts his invitation."