Page 82 of A Forgery of Fate

Nazayun’s head, as large as a sailing barque, loomed above me. “I give you a chance, Bride of the Westerly Seas, to reconsider your allegiances. I’ve heard you have a father who passed into my realm. It would be tragic indeed if something were to happen to him.”

Suddenly I couldn’t breathe. My temples throbbed, pinched by an unrelenting pressure. My voice crawled out of my throat, a bare whisper: “Is he alive?”

“It depends on what you mean by alive.”

“I want to see him.”

“Then tell me why you are here. Tell me the truth, and father and daughter will have a reunion.”

I swallowed hard, clenching at my skirt. “Is that a promise? Same as the promise you made not to kill me?”

Nazayun bared his teeth. “That promise only holds so long as you are his Heavenly Match. Better that you tell me the truth and leave Ai’long when you still can.”

Immortals were bound to their promises, I remembered, and Nazayun was one of the oldest in the world. All I’d have to do would be to show him the crumpled vision in my skirt, and then I’d see Baba again. I’d bring him home to Mama and my sisters, and my family would be whole at last, the family we used to be. I wanted it. More than anything, I wanted it.

But then I thought of the turtles who’d perished in the storm, and of how tight Elang’s voice had gone when he told me Baba had been found in Ai’long. If the Dragon King truly cared about his realm, as he said he did, he wouldn’t let his subjects suffer. He wouldn’t break families apart.

I’m sorry, Baba. Just a while longer. I promise, I’ll bring you home.

“Isn’t it obvious why I’m here?” I finally replied. “To break Elang’s curse.”

The Dragon King leaned forward, his pale blue eyes unblinking. I could feel them scrutinizing my every pore, every hair and fiber of silk on my body.

He whispered, “You lie.”

A blast of lightning shot out of his eyes, missing me only by an arm. I staggered into a puddle of Thadu’s blood.

“If you wish to see your father again, bring me the truth. I won’t ask again.” In a puff, Nazayun disappeared. And the water began to freeze.

It happened fast. The puddle hardened, thickening from slush to ice. I yanked my foot out of Thadu’s blood an instantbefore it solidified. Even the bubbles of my breath turned to ice. As I shot up, my every movement made the water crackle.

“Move, Tru,” I told myself. I grabbed the umbrella and started kicking. “Swim up.”

I tried, but the temperature plummeted faster than I could rise. I could feel my lungs constricting, my breath congealing in my throat as my muscles choked, swiftly going numb.

My thoughts scattered with panic.

No! I refused to die here, in this forsaken pit of the sea. I needed to stay alive and save Baba. I needed to free him from the Dragon King.

I focused my thoughts on my father. On the hot sugar water with rice flour he’d make in the winter to keep us from getting sick. On the snake-eye chilis he’d toast in a pan, then crush in a mortar, until the entire kitchen was smoky with spice.

I thought of the fairy tale he used to tell, about the carp who swam upstream for weeks to reach the gates of Ai’long. Once she arrived, she failed to leap across, but she wouldn’t give up.

Every time she fell, she picked herself up and tried again.

I clenched the umbrella. My knuckles had gone bone white, the rest of my skin so pale I could see the map of my veins, distressingly blue.

Chin up, not down,I told myself.Stay defiant, Tru.

I leapt, kicking as fiercely as I could. Every inch I gained was a little farther from the cold, I told myself. A little more. I had to persist.

Seconds or hours, I didn’t know how long I swam. But eventually I could make out the faint gray light of Yonsar,blooming like one of Elang’s flowers. I reached out for it with both hands, my fingers drooping as my eyelids turned heavy, my muscles rusted, and my pulse slowed to a glacial speed, the silence between beats becoming longer and longer.

Don’t…give up,I thought as a white cloak fell over my head. Before I could look up, a dragon tail hooked around my waist, and we shot up out of the Fold.

It was Elang.

“Tru,” he said, so close I could feel the heat of his lips against my cheek. “Tru, stay awake. Stay with me.”

---