Read Online Ai of the Mountain (A Fairy Retelling #2) by Dorian Tsukioka - Free Book Online
Authors: Dorian Tsukioka
Ads: Link
does not seem to surprise the daimyo. Instead, his gaze hardens and he takes a moment before answering me. “After you gave me those coins yesterday, I had to ask myself why your father didn’t give them to me himself. Why you? Surely, as head of your household, your father would want to present the tax payment. But, he didn’t give the coins to me. You did. By the time I reached the castle, I realized that your father must not know about the coins. For some reason that I don’t understand, you kept them hidden from him. Why?”
He stands up and circles around the table to stand just inches in front of me.
“What is so special about those gold coins that you didn’t even tell your father about their existence? Where did they come from?”
I refuse to answer, and say nothing.
His cruel smile remains slashed across his face.
“I didn’t suppose you would tell me,” he says after several moments of silence. He lifts his fingers to trace the edge of the kimono fabric that rest against my neck. “I wonder if perhaps you have already sold your beauty to the highest bidder. Perhaps that is where the coins have come from. I know I would pay such a price.”
I hear the smack of my hand against his face before I even know that I have lifted my hand.
“I am not for sale,” I say, the words sputtering out of my mouth in a quick burst. “Least of all, to you.” I pull the two coins that Grandfather Koi sacrificed for me last evening from the fold of my kimono and throw them at the daimyo’s bare chest. “Our debt to you is repaid in full,” I spit out and spin around to leave.
“Wait!” The daimyo grabs my hand and pulls me toward him. Before I can stop myself, my free hand flies across his face, and blood pools around the scratch marks I leave from my fingernails. He recoils, and releases me. I use this opportunity to flee the room.
Lord Nakaguchi doesn’t follow me, but I still cannot get out of the castle fast enough. The guard who led me to his chamber is gone, and I have to navigate myself through the maze of corridors, all the while pushing away tears that threaten to blind me. I finally find my way outside and run eagerly to the embrace of the mountain forest.
The green of the trees and grass blur together with the tears in my eyes, and I barely see the path down the mountainside as I run home. Distancing myself from the castle gives time for fear to grow in my heart. What will Lord Nakaguchi do to me, to my family? What repercussions will I be responsible for because of my hasty words and actions? I may have doomed us all; there is no one who will be able to save us if the daimyo decides to be vindictive.
I can only hope to warn my father when he comes home tonight. Perhaps we can leave, make our way to another region. A picture of my mother, lying sick in her bed, flashes in my mind. Of course, we can’t leave. Mother is too sick, and honestly, both of my parents are too old. They would never survive a trek across the country. We will have to stay, wait, and simply endure whatever punishment the daimyo decides to render. My plans and worries are all I think about as I stumble down the mountain, weeping and hoping that I can somehow salvage my future and my family.
I don’t even see the old man, until I nearly run into him.
He is stooped over, picking up fallen branches off of the forest floor. His clothes are dark brown and tattered, and he blends so well into the background that I am only inches away from where he stands when I notice him. I jump back and squeal in surprise. The man drops the branch he was holding and stumbles back as well. I’m not sure how he didn’t hear me crashing through the forest, but it’s evident that he is just as startled by me, as I am of him.
The old man missteps and falls down to his backside with an “Oomph!”
“Ojiisan!” I cry out, “I am so sorry. Please, let me help you.” I hold out my hand, and the old man takes it. I pull him up. His hands
He stands up and circles around the table to stand just inches in front of me.
“What is so special about those gold coins that you didn’t even tell your father about their existence? Where did they come from?”
I refuse to answer, and say nothing.
His cruel smile remains slashed across his face.
“I didn’t suppose you would tell me,” he says after several moments of silence. He lifts his fingers to trace the edge of the kimono fabric that rest against my neck. “I wonder if perhaps you have already sold your beauty to the highest bidder. Perhaps that is where the coins have come from. I know I would pay such a price.”
I hear the smack of my hand against his face before I even know that I have lifted my hand.
“I am not for sale,” I say, the words sputtering out of my mouth in a quick burst. “Least of all, to you.” I pull the two coins that Grandfather Koi sacrificed for me last evening from the fold of my kimono and throw them at the daimyo’s bare chest. “Our debt to you is repaid in full,” I spit out and spin around to leave.
“Wait!” The daimyo grabs my hand and pulls me toward him. Before I can stop myself, my free hand flies across his face, and blood pools around the scratch marks I leave from my fingernails. He recoils, and releases me. I use this opportunity to flee the room.
Lord Nakaguchi doesn’t follow me, but I still cannot get out of the castle fast enough. The guard who led me to his chamber is gone, and I have to navigate myself through the maze of corridors, all the while pushing away tears that threaten to blind me. I finally find my way outside and run eagerly to the embrace of the mountain forest.
The green of the trees and grass blur together with the tears in my eyes, and I barely see the path down the mountainside as I run home. Distancing myself from the castle gives time for fear to grow in my heart. What will Lord Nakaguchi do to me, to my family? What repercussions will I be responsible for because of my hasty words and actions? I may have doomed us all; there is no one who will be able to save us if the daimyo decides to be vindictive.
I can only hope to warn my father when he comes home tonight. Perhaps we can leave, make our way to another region. A picture of my mother, lying sick in her bed, flashes in my mind. Of course, we can’t leave. Mother is too sick, and honestly, both of my parents are too old. They would never survive a trek across the country. We will have to stay, wait, and simply endure whatever punishment the daimyo decides to render. My plans and worries are all I think about as I stumble down the mountain, weeping and hoping that I can somehow salvage my future and my family.
I don’t even see the old man, until I nearly run into him.
He is stooped over, picking up fallen branches off of the forest floor. His clothes are dark brown and tattered, and he blends so well into the background that I am only inches away from where he stands when I notice him. I jump back and squeal in surprise. The man drops the branch he was holding and stumbles back as well. I’m not sure how he didn’t hear me crashing through the forest, but it’s evident that he is just as startled by me, as I am of him.
The old man missteps and falls down to his backside with an “Oomph!”
“Ojiisan!” I cry out, “I am so sorry. Please, let me help you.” I hold out my hand, and the old man takes it. I pull him up. His hands
Similar Books
