The True Confessions of a Nine-Tailed Fox

That Idiot Star Sprite Clerk

In the Bureau of the Sky:

"Piri?" gasped Floridiana.

"Piri?" meowed Boot.

"Piri?" yelped Mistress Jek.

Filtered through the seal of the Bureau of the Sky, the Earth dwellers' voices came out thin and crackly – but the name they spoke was unmistakable.

"Piri?" Aurelia choked out.

Somehow – she didn't know how – she was on her feet, her chair shoved back, her slippers tangled in her hem, with one hand braced on her desk and the other clutching the jade pendant on her chest.

No, no, no, it couldn't be. The soul she'd sent to protect her daughter – it couldn't be Piri's. It couldn't possibly be Piri's.

Down in the cottage, Flicker's glow dimmed to almost nothing. That, more than anything else, confirmed to Aurelia what she had done.

She had sent the fox demon to watch over her daughter.

That fox demon was raising her daughter.

Again.

And she'd even sworn by the Jade Emperor that she would wring extra karma out of the Accountants for the sake of that demon.

She was going to spend her hard-earned political capital to help That Demon reincarnate as a fox again!

Because there was no doubt in her mind what Soul Number 11270 was after.

"I was wondering when you'd figure it out," sneered a voice from the doorway. "Actually, I half-expected that you already knew and were giving her a chance to redeem herself. In your infinite mercy."

The other person Aurelia most did not want to see in the world breezed into her office, letting the door slam shut behind him. Honestly, it was impressive that he even knew how to open it on his own.

"Good evening," she said coldly to her ex-husband. "What brings you to the Bureau of the Sky after work hours?"

Cassius inspected the carved rosewood chair for visitors. Scowling as if it fell beneath his standards, he dropped into it and looked her in the eyes.

"It has come to my attention that one of my junior clerks makes frequent, unauthorized visits to Earth. Naturally, I investigated his movements. Can you imagine my surprise when I discovered that he reports not only to his rightful superiors but also to someone outside the Bureau of Reincarnation. And not just any 'someone,' but the punctilious Overseer of the Bureau of the Sky!"

He feigned shock, but he wasn't trying very hard, and he'd never been good at acting anyway. Emperors typically didn't need to be.

Aurelia forced herself to sink gracefully into her own chair. "If you've done that much 'investigating,' then you should also know why he has been making those trips to Earth. It's to protect our daughter."

She stressed the last two words, reminding him that he had been fond of their youngest child. As much as he could be of anyone who was not himself.

His eyebrows rose. "'Our daughter'? You mean the soul that was once incarnated as Cassia Quarta?"

There was only one possible answer, but she gave it anyway. "Yes. That is what I mean. I understand that you hate me, and we can leave aside for the moment whether you have just cause, but why are you taking it out on Quarta?"

Cassius' jaw tightened. "That is not Quarta. Quarta died four hundred ninety-two years ago. That – that – peasant is not Quarta."

"She has the same soul. She has the same base personality."