Free Dragon Sword and Wind Child by Noriko Ogiwara

swept the room, so that Saya, although she hurriedly ducked behind the screen from which she had been peeking, was too late to escape notice.
    â€œWhat are you doing there?” Princess Teruhi said sharply, her voice severe. “This is no time for playing hide-and-seek. If you’re coming out, then come!”
    Saya, her face on fire, reluctantly emerged from behind the screen. Prince Tsukishiro ordered the maiden serving them to leave the room. In Saya’s defense, he said, “She was late, actually. I had no time to tell her what to do.”
    Saya knelt and, placing her hands on the floor before her, bowed low, saying faintly, “I am honored to meet you. I am Saya, from Hashiba.”
    â€œHashiba?” Princess Teruhi repeated dubiously.
    â€œShe was reportedly adopted by an old couple when she was a child,” Prince Tsukishiro explained.
    The Princess’s penetrating gaze never wavered, and Saya could feel her eyes boring through her. What am I doing here? she wondered. When she thought of her parents and how they had been killed, she knew that she should see this woman as a demon, a deadly viper. Yet she could not hate her. Although she trembled with fear, at the same time, she could not help being drawn to her beauty.
    After a brief pause, Princess Teruhi turned to Prince Tsukishiro and said, “I despair of you, brother. Again and again you find and you lose. And now once more the same thing. Are you not weary of it? Why do you harbor an attraction to such an aberration?”
    Prince Tsukishiro answered softly, “Is it not extreme to call the Water Maiden who yearns for the Light an aberration? Look at her. Don’t you want to scoop her up like water in your hands? She is youth itself, newborn.”
    With a slight frown, Princess Teruhi brought the sake cup to her lips. “I certainly feel no such desire. Why should I? No matter what you may say, she belongs to the people of Darkness—to our enemy. They die, and then return to life, again and again. Which is why they can never escape from eternally repeating the same stupid mistakes.”
    â€œPerhaps you’re right,” Prince Tsukishiro said in a low voice. “But might that not be a strength in this world? The reborn know defeat, and yet they know it not. They’re naïve, and yet they hope that they can move a mountain.”
    Princess Teruhi glared at her brother. “Where on earth did you acquire such weakness?”
    â€œVictory in the east is certain. Surely there’s no harm in viewing things with a more open and generous mind,” he replied rather hotly. When his eyes flashed with anger, the resemblance between him and his sister was even stronger. “Considering that we have the Dragon Sword, they are stubborn in their resistance, of which you, fighting on the western front, sister, must also be well aware.”
    The Dragon Sword. The name caught Saya’s attention, for she had heard it before. Torihiko had mentioned it. And Lord Akitsu, too.
    Princess Teruhi glanced sharply at Saya. Resting her elbow on the armrest and cupping her chin in her hand, she remarked in an amused tone, “Look at the little one—her ears pricked up at that. Listen carefully, and you’ll make a good little spy.”
    â€œI–I came . . .” Saya stammered, then continued, forcing herself to speak clearly, “I came to the palace to cut any ties with such people.”
    â€œI’m sure that you speak with all sincerity, but I doubt that’s possible,” the Princess replied coldly. “I know there’s nothing you can do to disrupt the Palace of Light, but I find the very presence of one of the people of Darkness here offensive. If you weren’t one of Tsukishiro’s handmaidens, I would have slain you at first sight.” She looked over her sake cup at the Prince and smiled. “Isn’t that so?”
    Although she spoke lightly, her tone was