I thought it more probable that she would claw me to shreds—but surely, she would understand the threat of Wugang should take precedence over all else. When she remained silent, I let a note of disdain slide into my voice. “Perhaps you do not know. Perhaps only the great Queen Fengjin has the answer.”

“I know far more than an ignorant girl like you does,” she hissed. “You are wrong; what you seek is not in the Phoenix Kingdom. The Sacred Flame Feather grows from the sunbird’s crown.”

Sunbird. As the word resonated through the silence, my father’s face contorted with pain. I did not think he regretted saving the Mortal Realm, yet it did not mean he relished his victory.

“The sunbird resides in the Fragrant Mulberry Grove. The domain of Lady Xihe.” Wenzhi’s gaze was sharp and assessing. “I doubt Your Celestial Majesty will grieve should the goddess attack us.”

She would have just cause. Lady Xihe was the Goddess of the Sun. Mother to the sunbirds, nine of whom my father had slain.

The empress’s lips curled. “Don’t you dare look at me that way. I am no liar—not like you, you treacherous spy.” She swung to my father. “Murderer of my kin, surely you remember the day you slew them. You have felt the potency of their heat. You have seen the feathers I speak of.”

She laughed, a brittle sound. “Thanks to you, there is only one left in the world, when once there were ten. A fitting penance to have you grovel for Xihe’s mercy, to witness the suffering you wrought upon her family.”

I took an involuntary step back. “Lady Xihe will never aid us, not even if the Immortal Realm burned to ash.”

“Yet we must try,” my father said gravely.

“How can we find the grove?” Liwei asked his mother. “I have heard it’s no easy place to enter.”

“Follow the trail of the sun’s descent, the path the sun chariot traverses as it returns home. You must be quick and not fall behind its shadow. If you do, the way will be shut to you, and you must wait another day.” The empress spoke slowly, as though unearthing memories long past.

She had been close to Lady Xihe once—as intimate as sisters—until the sunbirds were killed while under her protection.

What of the key, Your Celestial Majesty? the Long Dragon pressed.

“Key?” Liwei repeated.

Three were crafted, for the three who were the closest of companions. One in Lady Xihe’s keeping, one given to Queen Fengjin. And one to Her Celestial Majesty. To enter the Fragrant Mulberry Grove without key or invitation, is to perish.