The goddess pointed at me with her whip. “If you are sincere in your desire to seek forgiveness, you must face my champion—the fire phoenix. While its heat is not as potent as my beloved sunbird’s, it is a far more skilled fighter. Defeat it, and you will earn your life, along with the feather you seek.” She raised her head high as though daring me to object. “Blood must be repaid in blood. Perhaps then, my children’s restless spirits will be appeased, their eternal cries silenced.”

I nodded, my fear braided with relief. Lady Xihe would never have been satisfied by words; I would not have accepted them as recompense for Ping’er and Prince Yanming. Pain and suffering, these were the currency in which such debts were repaid. But I hoped this might be the end of it … or at least, a new beginning.

Her eyes pinched in speculation as she stared at my bow. “A few rules. You cannot draw a weapon or use your magic.”

I shook my head. “A weapon must be allowed.”

“Do you think I don’t know what you carry?” As she spoke, an unseen force ripped my bow from my back, hurling it across the ground. Another, crafted of bamboo, appeared before me, alongside a quiver of wooden arrows.

Little wonder that she had been so close to the Celestial Empress. Their natures were hard and unyielding, and they both drove an unfair bargain.

“Is this the justice of the great Sun Goddess?” I challenged. “A mortal weapon is of no use against the phoenix.”

Lady Xihe stiffened as she raised her hand. Light streaked across the bow and arrows, their tips gleaming brighter. I would have preferred the Jade Dragon Bow, but this was the atonement the goddess demanded—and a part of me whispered that she could have asked for more.

“I must be allowed to shield myself.” I did not ask, speaking it as a fact.

“Very well,” she agreed icily, already raising her whip once more.

I bent to snatch up the bow. It was light in my hands, an inadequate weapon. “What happens if I lose?”

“You die.” A mirthless smile spread across her lips. “There is a reason I am not fighting you, why I needed your consent. No court in the Immortal Realm will find fault with me, and your kin will have no cause to seek vengeance upon your death.”

The assured way she spoke stung. “If I win, this ends here. You will not seek further vengeance against my family.”

A mirthless smile curled on her lips. “If you win.”

I grasped my magic, weaving it over Wenzhi’s shield, glad for his foresight and that he could not interfere. He would not have stood idly by in this battle, a thought that both eased and tightened the tension coiled within me.