“She was punished by the Celestial Emperor for taking the elixir. She could not leave the moon until a year ago.”

His fingers curled into a fist. “I should not be surprised. It was the Celestial Emperor who deceived me, sending me from my home with false promises and lies. Not this place, but my real home, in the Eastern Sea.”

“You were immortal?” The moment the words came out, I flushed from their thoughtless cruelty.

“Long ago, before this mortal life.”

“Father, what happened to you? Why did Mother not tell me?”

“She didn’t know. Nor did I, then. When immortals are reborn in the world below, they lose their powers and memories—only regained once they are restored to the heavens.” He unslung his bow as he lowered himself to the ground beside me.

“Was it common for immortals to be sent to the Mortal Realm?” I asked.

“It was most rare. While it can help strengthen an immortal’s powers, few are willing to undergo the trials of a mortal life. It is only done in the gravest of circumstances with the Celestial Emperor’s consent, for the elixir is needed to restore them to the heavens.”

I glanced at the Jade Dragon Bow in my hands, recalling the recognition that had lit his face, the inexplicable bond that had always existed between me and this weapon. “Were you in the Eastern Sea with the dragons?”

His expression turned distant. “Some called me their ruler. A hollow title, as I never commanded them for my own ends.”

My father was the fabled warrior who had saved the dragons, binding their essence to the pearls. How strange this cycle of fate that had led me down the same path, but to free the dragons instead. Was this why the bow had cleaved to me? As I ran a hand across its limb, light rippled through the jade. It pulsed in my grip, for the first time pulling away with a sudden eagerness, dispelling the last flicker of doubt from my mind.

I held it out to him, the jade bow lying across my upturned palms. “Father, is this yours?” Regret coiled in my stomach; I did not realize how attached I had grown to it.

A brief hesitation, before he pushed it away. The bow stilled, its light fading. “It is yours now. I have grown accustomed to mine; we have been through much together.”

Relief—selfish and shallow—trickled through me as I lowered my hands. “Father, how did you end up in the Mortal Realm?”

A dangerous gleam sparked in his eyes. “The Celestial Emperor had long coveted the dragons’ might. Maybe he was unaware of the constraints on their power, that they would die if he turned them into instruments of war. Maybe he didn’t care. He was wary of me, though I gave him no cause, for I had no ambitions to rule as he did.”