Shadow of the Fox (Shadow of the Fox, #1)

by Julie Kagawa

“And absolute power can corrupt even the purest of hearts. Such is the folly of men.

I flattened my ears, trying to convince myself that this was foolish, that the cold creeping up my spine was because Master Isao was a brilliant storyteller. Not an omen of what was to come.

“I am nothing,” I said automatically. “I am a weapon in the hands of the Kage. My life exists only to be the bearer of Kamigoroshi and to obey the orders of the Shadow Clan.”

Sake bottles lined the polished surface like ranks of warriors protecting their general, and incense hung thick in the air, smelling of smoke and sandalwood.

One milky eye was half-shut, the other burned with such intensity that it bordered on madness.

But this boy... He might be young, with the face of an angel, but there was no mistaking the truth in his eyes. He was a killer.

And yet, this soulless killer might be my best chance to reach the Steel Feather temple alive.

I was kitsune, yokai. Not human. This was what I was good at.

“It’s fortunate humans are all deaf, or they would hear you for miles. Does it really take such elaboration to kill one little half fox in an empty alley?”

One silver brow arched. “You’re going to have to lie better than that if you want to survive, half-breed,” he told me.

Thankfully, he was facing away from me, so he didn’t see my face heat like a teapot left on the brazier too long.

“I’ve heard stories of wild dogs who would defend a stranger on the road to their last breath, simply because that person threw a crumb instead of a rock.”

the tiniest pebble, when dropped into a pond, will leave ripples that will grow and spread in ways we cannot comprehend.”

My body had gone very still, ready to explode into movement, and there was a new emotion boiling just below the surface, one I hadn’t felt before.

“No one is taking anyone’s head,” I argued. “That would just be messy and disgusting. Let’s just try to find the way out of the mountains. It’ll be dark soon, and...”

“One who has no honor,” he stated, “will never understand the actions of those who do.”

“Right, because scary glowing swords are always used for the purest intent.”

“I’m going to have to teach you about sarcasm, Yumeko-chan. But not right now, because we’re being stared at.”

Be nothing. You are not a person; you are a weapon. A weapon does not feel. A weapon has no emotions to hinder or slow it down. Feel nothing. Regret nothing. You are but a shadow, empty and soulless. You are nothing.

“I am a weapon in the hands of the Kage. I will not betray them or fail my mission.”