The light in the globes wavered, the air rolling into wild gusts that tore through the mulberry trees. Above, the wind chime clanked in jarring bursts, swinging so forcefully I thought it might snap. Dread sank through my flesh—the same gray chill as when I had entered Xiangliu’s cave, when Governor Renyu’s venom had frozen my limbs, when I awoke in the Demon Realm and discovered my love had become my worst enemy

I shielded myself instinctively—just as Lady Xihe flicked her palm forward, waves of crimson flame surging toward me. They engulfed me whole, searing even through the barrier, the scalding heat more potent than the Celestial Empress’s attack.

The gold in the goddess’s pupils had spread across her entire eyes, light radiating from her skin. “How dare you come here? Did you wish to gloat over my misery, to tempt my wrath?” Each word pounded like the beat of a drum.

“No, Lady Xihe. On behalf of my family, I ask your forgiveness—”

“Forgiveness?” She spat the word like a foul thing. “Never.”

“I do not presume to understand your loss, but I grieve for it nonetheless.” I spoke through gritted teeth, struggling beneath the force of her might. I did not attempt to extinguish her fire, I did not want to challenge her—I was her enemy, but she was not mine.

She stilled. “Why aren’t you fighting? Do you think to trick me into mercy? You will find none.”

“I ask your forgiveness,” I repeated hoarsely, channeling more of my energy into my shield as her flames raged across it, unabated. “And I am here to beseech your aid.”

A laugh rang out, arched in bitterness. “How convenient that your conscience affects you now. That you only came here when you needed something.”

I stiffened at her derision, though it was well-deserved. “Only recently did I learn more about the circumstances behind this tragedy. While the threat to our realm drove me here, I mean what I say, nor did I attempt to lie to you when I could have.”

“If you had, you would already be dead,” she snarled. “How can you imagine I would ever aid the kin of the Sun Slayer, the one who murdered my children?”

Even as shame flushed me, I made myself say, “This is not for me alone. The Immortal Realm is in grave peril, for the Celestial throne has been usurped. A terrible evil threatens the realms above and below, and the only way we can vanquish it is with the Sacred Flame Feather.”

“I do not care.” Despite the heat of her fire, her voice was like ice. “The Celestial Kingdom failed me, their empress most of all. Regardless of who sits on the Celestial throne, the sun will rise and set as it did when I had ten children, as it does when one remains.”