Page 6 of For Ever More

Travel with my companion to the Waterfall of Eternal Night. Once he is awakened, you can relinquish the magic. It will aid his recovery. Her eyes gleam like sapphires. Until then, do not lose control of the power, else it will consume you—even destroy you.

My gut churns. Can I ask anyone for help?

Be careful whom you trust. Greed thrives everywhere. The greater the prize, the more monsters are roused, whether on our island or across its shores. The Moon Dragon tilts her head back. It lives in your heart too. You must be vigilant against this nameless enemy: a seed that takes root when least expected, and if allowed to flourish, becomes far harder to uproot.

The warning sinks through me. The lure of power and wealth tempted me once… it tempts me still. But this magic isn’t mine—a jagged shard embedded in my body, a constant sting of unease. I won’t keep it, especially not at the expense of the dragon’s safety.

I will be careful, and I will return this gift, I assure the Moon Dragon silently.

She comes toward me now, her claws clicking against the stone floor. The Elders, the captain, and my father follow her gaze as I suppress the impulse to shrink away.

Are you ready, child?

Ready?

To reclaim your place here.

She knows who I am. Just as the Sun Dragon did.

“Do you recognize this girl, Honored One?” Lady Shila asks in surprise.

All of you know her. This time, the Moon Dragon speaks to everyone. I was welcoming a daughter of Mist Island home, after her long absence.

Emotion floods my chest until it feels it might split apart. Without another word, the Moon Dragon’s mane ripples with light as she lifts the Sun Dragon upon her back, their tails entwined as they soar from the pavilion toward the forest, like two glittering stars in the sky.

“A daughter of Mist Island?” Lord Hairong repeats to me, his eyes wide. “Who are you?”

This answer, I will not give him. Instead, I face the one they call Master Sikyong. “I am your daughter.”

CHAPTER FOUR

MY FATHER COMES FORWARD, SEARCHING MY FACE LIKE he’s looking for something that binds us. “Is this true?” he asks, dazed.

Dian touches my hand with the ring. “Yes. She is my sister, your daughter. Lost all these years in the Iron Mountains, now come home.”

As the Elders confer among themselves, Mistress Weining and the guards study me. I’m glad the rest of the council has left, fewer to stare at me as if I’ve grown two heads.

“How do you know she’s not an impostor?” Captain Shenming’s hand rests on his sword hilt as though anticipating danger. “What if she’s a spy planted by the Iron Mountains?”

Dian rounds on him. “Do you think I’m a fool, Shenming? Do you think I’d pick a stranger off the street to bring home without being certain? My sister has returned.”

I expected the captain to protest, but he falls silent at her rebuke.

“The Moon Dragon acknowledged her, there is no doubt of her identity,” Lord Hairong declares.

“Welcome home,” Lady Shila says with a warm smile. “Your mother would be at peace to know you have finally returned to us. Will you tell us what happened to you?”

“Growing up in the Iron Mountains is all I recall. I don’t remember living here,” I say hesitantly, as my father looks at me in silence. Is he disappointed that I’ve forgotten him?

Lord Hairong nods in understanding. “You were very young when you were taken. It must have been terrifying. A shock.”

His kindness unravels my tension. The words come easier, no longer locked in my throat. “I always had my ring, but it was just a plain band then. My mother entrusted the flower and root to a carp spirit who brought them to me after years of searching. But then my ring was stolen and I had to venture to the Palace of Nine Hills to retrieve it.”

“Your mother should have destroyed the root of your ring, as she did her own,” Lord Zhu says somberly. “It was dangerous to entrust it—the key to our home—to another.”

“My family knows their duty.” My father speaks slowly as though reluctant to correct the Elder. “Dian removed the root of her ring before leaving here, as did my wife after she was captured. But she must have always hoped for our lost daughter to return one day, as she has now.”

My heart lifts at this acknowledgment, yet it strikes me—my father doesn’t know my name.