Page 155 of A Forgery of Fate

“Can I count on you?” he repeated.

Shani folded her wings. “You have my demon’s honor. I will not fail.”

Elang expelled a breath. “Then we can begin with theplan.”

Shani lifted her wing from my forehead.

I was crying. Fresh tears brimmed in my eyes, and every new breath I drew was sodden. But she was right, the memories did make me smile.

“I always wondered when we first met,” I said. “Thank you for showing me.”

“I warned you not to fall in love with him,” Shani said quietly. She tucked her wings to her sides. “The last thing Elang’anmi told me was to take care of myself. Now I say it to you, take care ofyourself.If…ifthere is still a chance for him, you will be the torch that brings him out of the darkness.”

I touched her wing, unable to speak.

To my surprise, she swept a gentle wing across my cheek, drying my tears. “I’ll only say this once—you grew on metoo.”

No words from the demon could have moved me more. I raised my hand to hold her wing against my cheek, but she dissolved into the air. Without a word of farewell, she slipped through the cracks in the window, disappearing beyond thetrees.

When I closed my eyes, I could feel her dipping into the ocean, on her way to where she belonged.

I reached for my tea, taking a long and bittersweet sip.

May the tides bring you home,I thought.May the sea watch over you, until we meet again.

Chapter Forty-Seven

In the weeks that followed, I tried to keep busy. It wasn’t as difficult as I’d imagined, with new bodies bobbing to the surface of the pond every other day.

The first time it happened, Mama let out a scream that shook the entire manor. But it turned out most of the bodies were human—and alive.

They were the Dragon King’s former prisoners; some had been held captive for a few years, others for decades. They stumbled out of the pond, braids of kelp tangled in their hair, always with the same dazed look.

“What year is it?” they would ask. “Who is the emperor?”

Now I understood why Elang had grown so much sanheia: in the expectation that one day, the humans trapped in the dragon realm would be rescued, and they’d need sangi to return to land.

And so I took in Ai’long’s refugees. Patiently I answered their questions and listened to their tales. Many of them had lost everyone they’d known while they’d been in the dragon realm, and I comforted them, I cried with them. If they wished, I sent them home. Mama organized each journey.She chartered ships and served as navigator, with Baba as captain and Tangyor as steersman. My sisters took turns going, one always staying behind to be with me at the manor.

In this way, weeks passed, then months. Gradually, life found a rhythm again.

Then one spring afternoon, something in the water changed.

It was like a soft breeze tickling the nape of my neck, a chorus of whispers brushing against the tiny hairs on my arms. Even the pond had gone divinely still, not a ripple in sight—the way it did in the presence of…a dragon.

“Truyan.”

Queen Haidi sounded different on land, her voice high and airy. Her brown eyes were rich with flecks of starry gold, and her hair had begun growing back, curling past her elbows. I waited on the footbridge while she emerged from the pond. I searched the water hopelessly for a glimpse of Elang. But she had brought no familiar faces with her, no entourage at all, in fact—except for a surly young man wearing white.

He was leaning against one of the longan trees, his arms crossed. He had silvery horns and long green hair, half plaited over his head and tamed by a crystal headpiece, half wild and unkempt. Though we’d never met, I knew exactly who he was.

I bowed, low and reverent. “Your Eternal Majesty.”

Seryu’ginan uncrossed his arms. “Sons of the Wind,” he muttered. “Call me that again, and I’ll callyouBride of the Westerly Seas.”

I rose. “How shall I address you, then?”

“Seryu will do. All things considered, we’re family.” He stepped onto the paved path. “Is his altar in the manor?”

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