He wasn’t sure what he expected. Perhaps lightning and thunder. Or the wind to stop howling and silence to press in like a cloth demon as his declaration sank in.

He was pretty sure he hadn’t expected Yumi to burst out laughing.

“This is somehow news to you?” Yumi asked. “You, the most paranoid person I know. The one who called us crazy for believing that our loved ones weren’t evil murderers.”

“Yes, yes,” Kuro ground out. “You can’t possibly call me an idiot more than I’ve already called myself.”

“So when Kuchisake told her demons to disobey Ren and mock him behind his back, you thought she was, what? Trying to push Ren to become a better leader? Or how about all those times Kuchisake got Ren to beg her to discipline her troops?”

“Yumi, enough!” Ren stood.

Kuro stared up at him. “Is that true?”

Ren started to turn his back on Kuro, but Kuro jumped to his own feet, barely managing to keep the sacred mirror from tumbling to the ground. The mirror clutched to his chest, he chased Ren to the door. Ren reached up to yank the rug away, but Kuro grabbed his arm.

“Don’t go,” Kuro said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know she was doing any of that.” He’d been too busy hiding in his den, and acting like green tea and mochi and kind words meant affection. Then, when Ren came to him, Kuro would blow him off, invoking Kuchisake’s name. No wonder Ren had been so furious with him.

Ren stopped, and let the rug fall back into place as a rogue wind blew in a scattering of snow. He leaned his forehead against the top of the frame. “I didn’t want you to know.”

They’d both been hiding secrets. But no more. Kuro ran his hand down Ren’s arm to his hand, and squeezed his palm. Kuro would be there, right next to him, being suspicious of everything and everyone. Just as Kuro had promised Ren when he’d become his familiar. The promise he’d forgotten.

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Ren squeezed Kuro’s hand back. Over his shoulder, Ren gave him a smile. Kuro returned it.

“This is what I’ve been saying for two months,” Yumi said. “We can’t trust the Night Parade.”

Kuro glared at her again. Yumi should be thanking the gods that he wasn’t so skilled at foxfire that he accidentally set her on fire for ruining their beautiful moment.

Ren sighed, in the way that meant that she really had been saying this for months. Not that Kuro had doubted it in the first place. Ren turned away from the door, still holding onto Kuro’s hand and returned to the hearth. “We can’t leave the Night Parade, not without leaving the humans unprotected. The only way we can protect them is by pretending to play into Kuchisake’s hands.”

“Pretending.” Yumi snorted. She went bright red, as if her unladylike behaviour startled even her. “Here I thought your only concern was the throne.”

“That’s what Kuchisake needs to think,” Ren said. “Or the humans would be in even more danger. Perhaps when I’ve trained them enough, they can protect themselves, but until then, there’s no point making other plans. Unless you have a suggestion.”

Yumi opened her mouth, then closed it, crossing her arms.

But Kuro did. “If you had the Kusanagi, you could destroy the Night Parade in one swing.”

Yumi nodded vigorously. “Yes! Let’s do that.”

Ren stared at Kuro. “You… want to destroy the Night Parade. The only thing standing between Gorou and complete control.”

“Or just threaten to,” Kuro said. “Besides, what use is the Night Parade if Kuchisake constantly sabotages you?”

“When she figures out that we’ve double crossed her—”

“Kuchisake won’t know that we’ve found Kuro already,” Yumi said. “We could be gone for weeks before she’d suspect a thing.”

Ren’s jaw clenched, but his throat Buddha bobbed. He looked into Kuro’s eyes, and Kuro did his best to relay as much assurance as he could. Ren tore his eyes away, and Kuro’s shoulders sank. He wasn’t going to agree.

Ren stopped moving. “What are you holding?”

Kuro looked down at his arm, still wrapped around the bronze sacred mirror. He couldn’t hold it up without letting go of Ren’s hand, so he just shrugged. “This? The Yuki Onna had it. It was glowing before. The Yuki Onna were using it to cause the blizzard.” Or so Kuro hoped. If Kuro was right, then the blizzard should dissipate by the morning. “Why?”

Ren pursed his lips, closing his eyes for a moment.

“That,” Ren enunciated, “is the Imperial Mirror. The Yata no Kagami.”