Page 41 of A Forgery of Fate

Hurry up,she hissed in my head when I dawdled to admire a view. Her mist folded around my bare ankles, icy cold stinging my bones. But I couldn’t help taking my time. Elang’s home was beautiful in the night. Lanterns hung from every tree and eave; against the blue-tiled roofs they were a sea of stars, mirroring the constellations above us.

I followed her into a wide house with red-painted doors. Milky-white paper paneled the windows, and under the light of the half-moon, each sheet shone like a pearl. Inside, Mama and my sisters were finishing up dinner. A feast, it appeared, from the empty bowls that cluttered the round table.

At the sight of me, Mama instantly rose. “What’s the matter, Tru? What did His Highness say to you?”

The words I’d rehearsed fled my tongue. What could I say, that he was a half dragon who needed to marry me so I could accompany him into Ai’long?

“Where did all this food come from?” I asked instead, setting down the box that was under my arm. It’d been a day, as Mama liked to say, and gods, I was hungry.

“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” Mama beamed. “All we have to do is put our hands together, and whatever we wish for appears on this cloth.”

Fal demonstrated with a dramatic clap, and on the table materialized a tray packed with my favorite dishes: strips of cold bean curd in chili oil, red braised pork, steamed custard with chunks of salted egg, and a simmering bowl of glass noodles with prawns bobbing up and down in the broth.

I couldn’t resist. I picked up two spoons at once and sampled everything I could.

Fal surveyed me with a cheeky smile. “I thought you’d be concerned about poison.”

“An hour ago, maybe,” I mumbled with a full mouth. “But now, if it’s poison, at least it tastes good.”

“It’smagic,” said Nomi. “Like Baba’s old games.”

I gave her a tender look.

“What’s this?” Mama had opened the lacquered box without asking. “The prince gave you a book?”

Before I could stop her, Nomi swooped it up and skimmed the pages. “It’s a marriage contract,” she said, brow furrowing. “To the Demon Prince?”

I wished I’d gotten one more bite of noodles into my mouth before this debacle began. I swallowed without chewing. “He’s a dragon, not a—”

“An actual prince wants to marry my Tru!” Mama breathed. “And not just any prince, adragonprince!”

“A half dragon, Mama,” I said, unnerved by her interest. “Don’t get excited, please. It’s an arrangement: I help him return to Ai’long, and he’ll give us money to pay off your debts and erase my record with Renhai. It would only be an act.”

“Even so, this is what girls dream of!” She squeezed my shoulder. I hadn’t seen her this animated in years. “Think, Tru! If you marry a dragon, they’ll have to make you an immortal. You’ll be like the gods themselves, invited to weddings in the high heavens, to luncheons with the flower fairies of Mount Jansu.” Mama clapped. “What an opportunity for my daughter. My head is spinning just from the idea!”

Myhead was spinning. I’d thought Mama and my sisters might have a good laugh over the contract and convince me it was a terrible idea. Then we’d spend the night plotting how to evade Renhai’s and Yargui’s forces and take the first ship out of Gangsun tomorrow.

But no.

“The marriage would be temporary,” I reminded Mama. “I’m not becoming an immortal.”

“Then make him love you,” she replied. “You’re a beautiful girl, Truyan”—words she had never uttered since my hair turned blue—“and dragons are known to have their…temptations.”

My cheeks flamed. “Mama!”

Mama’s attention had already turned. She peered over Nomi’s shoulder, her eyes moving like abacus beads as she scanned the contract’s neat print. “You say you’re helping him return to the dragon realm? There should be a rewardfor such a favor, and bridal gifts if he is the one who’s pursuing your hand….”

I stopped listening. My mother, who had always wanted her daughters to marry rich, was living her dream. She didn’t care that there were gaping questions to be answered. That this Lord Elang was all but a stranger to me, and not even fully human!

“Where are the turtles?” I asked suddenly, looking about the chamber.

“Gone,” replied Fal. “They left after they brought us here. Why?”

“You haven’t seen any guards, any servants?” I pressed.

Fal and Nomi shook their heads.

“Then who taught you how to summon dinner?”

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