Tatsumi has no choice to join her on her journey as her bodyguard, but Yumeko knows that she is playing with fire. Pretending that she does not know where the scroll is, she tells Tatsumi that she can take him to the place where it is kept. However, Yumeko is quick to use this to her advantage. The head of his clan also has her eyes on the scroll and has ordered him to retrieve the fragment from the Silent Winds temple at any cost. Tatsumi is the Kage demonslayer – a shinobi who is fated wield the cursed sword Kamigoroshi. Knowing that this is what the demons seek, Yumeko sets off on a dangerous mission to locate the rest of the scroll. Legends say that if a person obtains all three pieces, they will be able to summon a powerful dragon and ask it for one wish. The head monk entrusts her with the greatest secret of the temple – a fragment of an ancient scroll. Yet, when her adoptive family is slain by demons, Yumeko has no choice but to leave her home. In the outside world, most people would never trust someone with yōkai blood. Although she suffers from an insatiable urge to use her magic to play tricks on people, the monks at least tolerate her behaviour. As a half-kitsune (fox spirit), she knows that she is lucky to have found a home with the monks. Yumeko knows nothing about the world that lies outside of the Silent Winds temple. The novel forms the first part of a planned trilogy and its sequel, provisionally titled Soul of the Sword, is expected to be released next year. It is a fantasy novel based around Japanese mythology, which focuses on a half-yōkai and assassin who team up to find a legendary artefact. Shadow of the Fox was written by Julie Kagawa and first published in 2018.

Shadow of the fox yumeko