I breathed deeply, catching the sweetness threaded through the air. Something surfaced in my mind—that of the phoenix’s breath, the stains on its tongue … the mulberries, did it like their taste? Slinging my bow upon my back, I bent down to grasp handfuls from the tree, ripe and sticky, as I piled them onto the branch in stacks of ruby, rich currant, and black. As I crushed a handful along the branch, rubbing their syrupy juice into the wood, the fragrance thickened, cloyingly sweet and heady. The phoenix’s cry grew louder, wind coursing through the air as its wings flapped closer. Did it smell the mulberries? I moved back into the thicket of branches, an arrow nocked to my bowstring—my body stiff with terror, my fingers like ice.

The phoenix approached my tree, its eyes fixed upon the berries, it’s beak parted eagerly. My arrows had little chance of penetrating its body, but what of its tender mouth? The softness of its throat, the gateway to its skull? Bile crowded the back of my throat, but I swallowed hard. Oh, I did not want to do this, but I did not want to die.

I sprang forward, my arrow aimed at the dark hollow where the creature’s beak parted, at the scarlet throat beyond. A perfect shot. My fingers clenched harder, emotions roiling within—fear mingled with revulsion and anger, that we had been forced into this confrontation that neither of us wanted. The phoenix had done no wrong. It was a victim of Lady Xihe’s misery, merely obeying her command. And fool that I might be, I lowered the bow. An enraged screech erupted from the phoenix, its eyes glinting with murderous intent as it lunged at me.

I dropped down to evade its attack, clasping the branch tightly as I sprang off to dangle below. The phoenix burst through where I had stood a moment before, then circled around to soar toward me once more. My nails dug into the rough bark as I swung myself along the branch, bracing for the phoenix’s inevitable return. I was shaking, my arms burning from the strain of my weight. As the phoenix shot forward, now just beneath my feet, I let go—