“Where did you get that bracelet?” she pressed.
“Oh, this? The sorcerer gave it to me as thanks for the Congee Conferment Rite. A girl from the settlement braided it and put it on for me, and it’s really quite beautiful. In hindsight, however, it may have been an attempt to win me—”
Keigetsu made a rough grab for the other girl’s hand. “Let me see that!”
Reirin blinked, surprised. “What’s wrong, Lady Keigetsu?”
“There’s a spell on this.”
“What?”
The other four Maidens shot her a blank stare, and the men turned away from the window to glance over.
“A spell? Are you certain?”
“Yes. It’s hard to tell without concentrating, but it’s exuding a qi that is neither mine nor yours. And it’s coming from this red thread specifically… I bet it was dyed with the sorcerer’s blood. Tying the bracelet activates the spell.”
“But a girl named Leanne tied it for me, not…” Reirin trailed off with a frown, then mumbled, “Oh, but she did say ‘Doctor Tou dumped the materials on me and demanded I do it.’”
Things were adding up.
“What sort of spell is it?” Her expression sobering, Reirin fished around in her sash. She produced an identically colored braid, one size bigger than her own, and held it out to Keigetsu. “As a matter of fact, he was quite insistent that I give a second one to Brother Senior. Do you know why?”
“It’s a marker.”
After taking one look at the proffered bracelet, Keigetsu snatched it right out of Reirin’s hand and tossed it into the brazier.
“Ah…”
“If I had to guess, he’s been searching everywhere for a body he can swap to on the Day of Ultimate Yin. This time around, he wants it to be a healthy one with working eyes. After all the years he’s spent in Prince Gomei’s body, his qi has probably taken on an earthen bent, so it would be ideal for his next vessel to have a strong affinity for earth as well. Cue you two coming along and meeting all the criteria. If I were him, I’d go after you too.”
The bracelet soaked up the heat of the coals and slowly burned to ash.
“It’s the mark of his sacrificial offering, so to speak. The disruption in the balance of yin and yang will make it harder to sense qi, but using his blood as a medium means he’ll be able to locate it with ease. It might even enable him to steal your life force or swap to your body from a distance. It’s dangerous to keep wearing it!” Keigetsu scowled and whirled on Reirin. “Why are you standing around with your head in the clouds?! Take it off already!”
“It was tied with a special knot that makes it difficult to remove. I’m supposed to leave it there until it snaps, so I imagine it’s a very strong—”
“Just cut it with a knife!” Keigetsu yelled. “That should break the spell!”
The rest of the Maidens chimed in with concern. Houshun covered her face with her sleeves and agreed, “She’s right, Miss Reirin! You have to get rid of it!”
Kasui said, “If it’s a knife you need, I would be happy to find one.”
“No, I’ll get it!” Seika insisted.
Both girls made to leave the room in search of a blade, only for Reirin to call them to a halt. “There’s no need.” Clutching her arm, she said the last thing any of them had expected to hear. “I think we’re better off not cutting it.”
“Pardon?” the other four Maidens asked in unison.
Reirin tilted her head to one side, distressed. “If it’s a marker, doesn’t that mean the sorcerer can use this bracelet to track what I do? He might grow suspicious if I were to suddenly discard it.”
It took Keigetsu a moment to process what she was saying. “Yes, perhaps, but leaving it on could provide him an avenue to cast magic on you.”
“All the better! That sounds like the perfect chance to track him down and lure him out.” Reirin’s eyes sparkled as though she’d just hit upon a brilliant idea. “Why don’t I leave the bracelet on and act as the bait? That ought to increase our chances of capturing the sorcerer, right?”
“Listen here, you.” Keigetsu’s voice grew low and dark. Why did that boar of a girl always have to act this way? “Do you understand what kind of magic I’m talking about? In a worst-case scenario, he might take your entire soul, not just your life force. Your extracted soul could end up stuck in the sorcerer’s body—or wiped out altogether, if we’re unlucky.”
In contrast to the way Keigetsu’s voice trembled, Reirin only cocked her head again, a blank look on her freckled face. “Er, but it would be my soul that gets wiped out, correct? Then—”
Before she could finish that sentence, she slapped her hands over her mouth, but it was easy to imagine what she had been about to say:
“Then I don’t see the problem.”
I can’t believe her! thought Keigetsu, gritting her teeth. She heard the other three Maidens gasp behind her.
Kou Reirin was too unconcerned with her own life. It was clear what she was thinking: Even if her soul was extracted, she would be the only one affected. Keigetsu just had to return to her own body before the sorcerer could get inside. Supposing she didn’t make it in time, she could still live on in the body of “Kou Reirin”—the body of the prince’s butterfly, which she had once coveted enough to steal.
Why is she always like this? Keigetsu clenched her hands into fists. Did our fight last night mean nothing?!
Keigetsu thought she had proven their friendship when she came running. She had communicated with every fiber of her being that she was worried—that she wanted Reirin to stop being so reckless. And Reirin had nodded along. She had promised never to forget. How could she offer up her life like it was nothing, then?
Yes, it was true that Keigetsu had found acceptance because this girl was so altruistic as to forgive her aggressors. But now that they had fostered a friendship, the devotion that was once Kou Reirin’s greatest virtue had turned into a source of deep frustration. Underneath that gentle smile, it was as if she had left everything behind to gaze alone into the distance.
“Um, Lady Keigetsu, I assure you that I will make every effort to keep this body safe. But to ensure that we catch the sorcerer, we really must—”
Ker-crash!
Reirin never got to finish her attempt to smooth things over. Keigetsu knocked all the teacups off the table first.
“Eep!” The other three Maidens shrank in on themselves. The men leaned forward with concern.
None of that could hope to quell Keigetsu’s rage.
“This again?” The same brazier fire that had been eating away at the bracelet flared. Keigetsu’s voice was shaking just as hard. “Why do you never change?”
Shaking with anger, of course. Her eyes ablaze with fury, she slammed her fists atop the table.
“Lady Keigetsu, I—”
“You’re always like this. ‘I’ll do it, I’ll die, so it’ll be all right.’ You always jump straight to the most dangerous course of action.”