Never had I so much to lose, yet so much to fight for. My eyes rolled up to meet Wugang’s. When had he drawn so close? I fought down the bile that crowded my throat, the dread that stiffened my limbs. My head seared like it was crammed with hot coals, tendrils of heat from the Sacred Flame Feather already surging free from its binds. Now was the time, before Wugang sensed it, before he struck—for what if he rendered me unconsciousness?

With a wrench, I loosened the enchantments around the feather, channeling my energy to pierce its shaft, crushing it into glittering shards. My magic coursed over each fragment, forming a thin shield to protect me from the feather’s power—and it was this alone that kept me alive. Even through the barrier, the brutal heat seeped into my veins until my blood blazed like liquid flame. Sweat dripped down my brow and neck, my silk robe sticking to my back. I gasped, sucking in a breath of cool air that yielded a pinprick of relief as I fought the urge to crumple. A little longer, I urged myself, struggling to hold steady. Time was running out. I needed Wugang to strike soon, to release the power dammed within me, before it consumed me whole. Still, he waited, a triumphant smile on his face as though savoring the moment … even as I burned within.

I would not wait for him; I would move the pieces on the board instead of waiting to be played. “It’s not too late to reconsider,” I told Wugang, my eyes wide and innocent. “If you return the emperor’s throne, if you beg for mercy, he might forgive you.” My voice was gentle, my words needle-sharp.

Wugang’s lips peeled into a feral snarl. A swish through the air and his axe descended, carving a clean slash along my arm, one after the next. Pain seared, silken smooth. Blood spilled from my torn flesh, speckled with the gold of the feather’s power—seething hot, with the tang of iron and char. Thin trails ran down my arms, falling between the undulating roots, sinking into the darkening earth. With each drop of my blood, another fleck of the feather’s power slid from my body—such relief, short lived though it was. For the heat seeped into the very thing I was tied to, the laurel’s bark already warming against my body.