“The tales are told far and wide, sung in the mortal teahouses even,” I lied. “How they must pity you.”

“They would not dare!” His face twisted before it smoothed over, a mask slipping back into place. “Do you know, the mortals tell their own stories of the Moon Goddess? How she stole the elixir won by the noble Houyi, out of selfish desire to become a goddess. Some said she broke her pact with him to share the elixir, taking it all for herself. The entire one grants immortality, yet half of it would have bestowed them a long life beyond the mortal span. I would not have imagined such a ruthless heart to beat beneath this gentle exterior. How I applaud your choice, to disdain love.” His smile was sharp with malice. Repayment tenfold for her hostility.

“You know nothing of me, nothing of love.” My mother’s voice was hard and cold. I had never seen this side of her before, radiating ice and snow—the goddess the mortals knelt to worship.

“Love is worthless,” Wugang sneered. “Fleeting, inconstant, and shifting like the wind. All it yields is sorrow in the end, whether through indifference, betrayal, or spite. Those truly powerful have no need for love—a weakness, as it brought you all down today.”

His taunt seared. “Perhaps you’ve never truly been loved. Perhaps you’ve never really loved another.” A low blow as I wielded his pain as a weapon.

He laughed, though there was no joy in it. “What is love to eternal life?”

“Is that why you serve the Celestial Emperor even after he treated you so?” A part of me still hoped to sway him from the emperor’s side. To make him question his allegiance.

“Those of you who are born immortal take death for granted. You can’t comprehend the dread of an inevitable end, whether emperor or slave. That’s why your mother was banished instead of lauded, until you—her conniving offspring—tricked His Celestial Majesty into making a bad bargain. You were fortunate not to have died that day, a mistake that will be thoroughly remedied this time.”

“Not by you.” I fought for calm. Oh, he was skilled at deflecting my attacks, turning them upon me instead.

“His Celestial Majesty has been most generous to me. Immortality is the greatest honor any mortal could wish for. Worth any price, any insult, any betrayal—is it not, Chang’e?” His lips twisted into a cruel smirk.

An urge gripped me to lunge at Wugang, to attack him with my fists if need be. But my mother’s face contorted with fury as she rammed her elbow into Feimao’s gut. He released her, stumbling back—though he was a seasoned soldier and should not have been so easily overcome. As his eyes met mine, a flash of knowing in them, I dipped my head in silent thanks.