“Mingxi, I swear to all gods—”
Light flared again, drawing a startled cry from her as her fingertips lit like tiny moons. She stared at her hands in wonder and mild alarm.
“I’m glowing,” she whispered. “I’m actually… glowing.”
“You are beautiful,” he said.
She flushed, her entire body shimmering brighter in response. “Don’t say things like that when I’m trying not to drown in magic soup.”
“The water is shallow.”
“Still rude.”
Before he could reply, a surge of lunar energy wrapped her shoulders. The joy and pressure and light overwhelmed her all at once, dizzying, intoxicating.
Poppy giggled.
“Oh no,” Mingxi breathed. “You are moon intoxicated.”
“I’m not… hic… moon drunk,” she insisted, swaying. “I’m just… buoyant.”
“Poppy.”
She stuck her tongue out at a drifting ribbon of light. “It tastes like metallic sugar. Is that normal?”
“No,” he said. “Absolutely not.”
“Oh.”
She turned toward him, and with absolutely zero hesitation, scooped a double handful of glowing moonwater and hurled it at his chest. The splash hit him like liquid starlight. Mingxi froze. His tails flared outward in shock. His shoulders jerked. His pupils blew wide. A flare of foxfire burst along his arms involuntarily.
“Poppy.”
She grinned. “You looked like you needed to lighten up.”
“That water,” he said, scandalized, “has not touched a fox Guardian in generations.”
“So… you’re welcome?”
He stared at her, and then, impossibly, he laughed—warm and quiet and helpless.
“Only you,” he murmured. “Only you would commit sacrilege in the middle of a divine ritual and look pleased about it.”
“Sarcasm noted.”
“It was not sarcasm.”
Before she could parse that, the moonwell pulsed again—this time deeper, slower, resonant. A tide of silver rose around her chest, sliding to her throat. Her laughter broke into a gasp. Her magic flared bright enough to cast shadows.
“Mingxi!” she cried, hands grasping at empty space.
He was there instantly, kneeling at the edge of the pool, arms ready.
“Let it come,” he said. “It is choosing you.”
The water surged upward, not drowning but enveloping her, lifting her in a cradle of shimmering light. Her skin blazed. The mark beneath her ribs shone through fabric like a rising star.
Her magic roared.
