Whisper of Blade | ✓ (Crimson #1)

Chapter 3: Of Kats and Kings

Sunrise was the finest point of the day. The magical moment when a flare of light emerged above the mountains and the sullied city of Pyronia for an instant became the shimmering capital of Empress Korlana's days, swathed in golden streams of sunshine. Heart swelling with pride for her heritage, Minerva would watch every morning, breathless, a deep longing consuming her.

A longing for something higher.

All too soon the vision snapped. The sun claimed the sky and harshly exposed the city's imperfections, where a moment before it had covered and beautified. Always, she stubbornly grasped at the receding image as it slipped through the fingers of her mind, already fading like last night's dream. It eluded her. When she was young, she had raged against the light's death, but now she only waited.

Waited for the next day's dawn and sunrise. And the next. And the next.

She stirred from her daydream. Though safer in the noble's precinct than the outer ring of the city, the residents of the many slumbering mansions would be waking soon.

Minerva stretched out where she lay on the roof's slope until her back popped. She sat up and came face to face with a smoky grey kat.

It blinked its large, green eyes at her.

Trying not to be obvious about it, Minerva tilted her head to peek around the kat and count how many tails it had.

Five.

"Fair morning, honorable one," Minerva said, using the proper address for a five-tailed.

Another slow blink. The kat began licking its paw.

Minerva waited patiently. Offending a kat could mean bothersome pranks and a ruined reputation among the kat community.

"I am Tamamo." The kat's voice brushed Minerva's right ear, a soft, feminine whisper. She spoke high imperial, the dialect of nobles with its lofty, drawling tones. Once a kat reached four-tailed, they could throw their voice at will, with greater control than even a skilled ventriloquist. "Why are you on my roof?"

Minerva stiffened as the kat walked over to rub up against her. Tamamo's fluffy tails tickled her under the nose. "My apologies," Minerva replied, fighting back a sneeze. "I came to see the sunrise."

"And thus robbed me of my prime sunbathing spot." The kat curled up a few feet away, paws tucked underneath her. "Though I can see why, your skin is the shade of a dead fish's scales."

Quite sure her complexion paled to an even deadlier hue, Minerva feebly offered, "I can leave." She started sliding toward the side of the roof where the drop wouldn't be so far.

"Stay."

Minerva bit her lip. If this kat turned her in to this mansion's owners or the Imperial Guard ... Well, she just wouldn't allow it. Better to skin the creature and sell its tails on the black market—bad luck be burned—than let it blow her cover.

The thought made her sick.

She glanced back at Tamamo. The kat hadn't moved from her loaf-like position, except for a twitching of her pink nose.

"You have fish?" the kat asked.

Minerva sighed, reaching into her satchel. She then unwrapped the furoshiki cloth that covered the wooden box.

Tamamo drew nearer. A purr of pleasure greeted the sight of the smoked salmon and rice inside the bento. "You will heat it for me, yes?"

"I cannot, honorable one."

Sharp claws dug into Minerva's leg. The languid look in Tamamo's eyes hardened to spite. "Do not lie to me, human," she hissed. "I am not blind, that I have missed your golden eyes."