I try my best to concentrate as she plunges one finger up to the knuckle inside of me.
How do we breach her security ?
Veah’s grin is wry. It all has to do with a church.
I didn’t find out about Plan B until tonight.
And that went something like this :
A secret ? Really ? I say, letting Veah lead me down to the crowded Tokyo streets. She hails a cab, and pulls me inside.
But I trip on the side of the road, and manage to somehow collapse on top of her. Her back to the window, one of my legs between hers.
The high heels, I say apologetically.
She only laughs, a storm-bright glint in her eyes, and closes the door behind me. You look ravishing in that black dress, by the way. Have I told you that ?
Well, no. You haven’t said ravishing exactly. Although you have said beautiful, breathtaking, stunning, gorgeous . . .
Can you really blame me ? You’re my girl.
Shyly, I smile against her lips. You know, I . . .
But she kisses me, and the words escape.
So, tell me more, I say, gasping, my forehead against hers. What are we even doing ? We’re going to be late. Maiko and Ren will kill us, you know.
Kaneiji Temple, Veah orders the cab driver. To me, she says, We can annul it tomorrow. It’s only for tonight, just in case Plan A blows up.
Now I am worried. Annul it ? Annul what ?
Kaya Lee Rivers, she begins.
I shake my head, pulling back. You’re not . . .
I can’t explain it all to you now, but I need you to trust me. The Japanese crime syndicate is traditional. The Yakuza respect family. So if I die tonight
Don’t be ridiculous. You’re practically unkillable.
If I die, she continues, I need you to do this.
I don’t understand.
Tonight, when I try and blackmail Okami, it’s likely she’ll kill me on the spot. But if she does, I plan on taking her down with me. You have to trust me when I tell you this : if me and Okami are gone, the power of the Kogu-Ryu gang goes to someone who should never, ever have that kind of authority.
What does that have to do with me ? Or this secret ?
Just trust me, Veah says urgently. Please. Remember what I said about the Yakuza being traditional ? Well, if Okami dies . . . and I die . . . the leadership will fall on my husband or wife.
What about Okami’s spouse ?
Okami doesn’t have one. She has never been worried about an heir because she thinks she will never lose her throne. But if that happens tonight . . .
I still don’t get it.
We’re going to the Kaneiji Temple to get married.
Is she joking ? We’re a little young for that . . .
Kaya. She is serious now. Marry me. Marry me in case I die tonight. You’ll be able to stop the European trade deal. They’ll respect you as my wife . . . and my widow. Shut down Project Basilisk for good, and then you can give up the power to whoever you want.
Youyou’re trusting me with this ?
There’s no one I trust more. So all that’s left to say is . . . will you marry me ?
In theory, poisoning Okami should have worked.
But as of right now, theory sucks and I’m on my way to have a friendly chat with some suicidal bombers.
Veah told me that if we were both still alive tomorrow morning, we could annul the marriage.
Dear Heaven, I just hope I don’t end up making you a widow first.
My destination is clear as I approach the five guards in the hallway. Somehow, no bullets touch mealthough a throwing star does whiz past my arm, scraping the skin there.
So . . . what was the grand plan, Kaya ?
Walk up to some crazy, devoted lunatics and introduce yourself ?
How was that supposed to go, exactly ?
Hello, my name is Kaya. Nice to meet you. Please don’t blow yourself upand while you’re at it, please don’t blow me up either.
I’m actually here to, you know, drag your all-powerful ax murderer queen right to prison, so . . . if you don’t mind . . .
That would have gone really, really spectacularly.
By the time I make it to the front of the hall, I have no idea what I’m going to say.
But it turns out I don’t have to say anything at all.
One of them reaches into his pocket.
I freeze. Is this how it ends ? Is this
And then something crazy happens. Something crazy and ridiculous and flat-out miraculous. The guards move back, giving me a narrow path between them. Letting me through.
Is this a trick ?
Well, look at that. I didn’t have to get myself blown up after all.
But I still hesitate.
The banquet hall is on fire behind me. Glossy pools of blood darken the floor. There are bodies everywherecorpses dressed in black, corpses with tattoos. A Mafia massacre. Gunshots burst like rain across the room, splintering wood and shattering glass.
I don’t have much time.
At any moment, I could be hit by a stray bullet. I could be caught in the crossfire.
I want this. I want Okami to pay for what she’s done.