A light shall rise where none have been.
Through her, the dawn will banish night,
If the dragon’s heart grants her might.
Should the hollow one consume her power,
Darkness will reign in the final hour.
Let the serpent’s heir stand by her side
And storms shall rage and kingdoms die.”
I swallowed hard, my mind racing, trying to stitch it all together. “So, we’re not Azures. We’re Reds.”
Edith nodded once.
The truth settled over me. This was why we worshipped Kuan Yin, the goddess of compassion, when the Azures prayed to Nuwa, the goddess of creation, and Silvers bowed to Guan Yu, the god of war. This was the reason I saw the Diviner in crimson, because redwas the color of my dominion. This was why Edith and I always served each other food first.
I took a slow breath.
My voice was tight as I asked, “Then why did we pretend to be Azures for so long?”
She bit her lip. “Because you have been in danger from the day you were born. And when the Annihilation occurred, I realized that even I could not keep you safe until you came into your full powers with your second zodiac year.”
I shook my head, pulling away from her and back against the headboard. “Start from the beginning.”
“All right,” she said, her voice measured, deliberate. “The Red Queen gave birth to her crown princess. The baby was so powerful that even the Lunar Forest, long dormant, awoke. This sacred grove, known for its silvery bark and moonlit leaves, had been lifeless for generations. Soon afterward, the Azure Queen gave birth to a boy. On the princess’s twelfth birthday, her first zodiac year, a jade bracelet manifested on her wrist. The boy grew greatly in power, far exceeding his peers. Both royal families believed this prince of the Dominion of the Azure Dragon was the dragon of prophecy,the dragon’s heart. They introduced the two children.”
My chest tightened.Draven.
I could almost feel him, the warmth of his skin beside me, the light of his smile when it shone on me.
“This prince and the crown princess grew up as friends.” Her gaze softened. “And they fell deeply in love.”
My fingers curled into the silk beneath me, desperate to block out the memories.
“They were betrothed. And the world rejoiced.”
“The Wedding of Flame and Sky,” I whispered.
Edith nodded. “It was heralded as the beginning of peace, a union meant to heal centuries of division between the dominions.But instead,” Edith said, her voice turning somber, “the opposite occurred. The hollow one, the Starved, came seeking the woman of prophecy during the wedding ceremony.”
The mirror tree’s shimmering light cast shadows across her face, making her words feel like a story ripped from legend.
“Many were killed,” she went on. “Including the body double of the crown princess.”
Something inside me went cold. The body double. The girl who had died in my place. The girl who had pretended to be me, while I…what? Disappeared? Was hidden away?
I sat up too fast, my head spinning.
“Are you telling me,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper, “that the Annihilation happenedbecause of me? That the Starved came because it wantedme?”
Edith nodded. “We believe it is acting on behalf of the Serpent Lord. That if it consumes you, its lord will become strong enough to manifest in the other realms once the Anchors fall.”
All those people had died because of me, while I had survived. I hadn’t even been standing up there with Draven during my own wedding.
Her voice was steady, but I could hear the regret in it. “I decided it was too dangerous to return you to our own dominion, so I hid you in plain sight as a powerless Azure with amnesia in the Dominion of the Silver Tyger.”
