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Demon, spirit, fairy—whatever lived in my opal ring—did not like me.

That much was clear as she guided me across Elang’s courtyard, making me cut through brambles and plots of dirt instead of keeping to the illuminated paths.

I wondered if she had heard my entire conversation with Elang.

Maybe she thought it as preposterous as I did.

Or maybe it’d been her idea.

Hurry up, she hissed in my head when I dawdled to admire a view.

Her mist folded around my bare ankles, icy cold stinging my bones.

But I couldn’t help taking my time.

Elang’s home was beautiful in the night.

Lanterns hung from every tree and eave; against the blue-tiled roofs they were a sea of stars, mirroring the constellations above us.

I followed her into a wide house with red-painted doors.

Milky-white paper paneled the windows, and under the light of the half-moon, each sheet shone like a pearl.

Inside, Mama and my sisters were finishing up dinner.

A feast, it appeared, from the empty bowls that cluttered the round table.

At the sight of me, Mama instantly rose.

“What’s the matter, Tru? What did His Highness say to you?”

The words I’d rehearsed fled my tongue.

What could I say, that he was a half dragon who needed to marry me so I could accompany him into Ai’long?

“Where did all this food come from?” I asked instead, setting down the box that was under my arm.

It’d been a day, as Mama liked to say, and gods, I was hungry.

“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” Mama beamed.

“All we have to do is put our hands together, and whatever we wish for appears on this cloth.”

Fal demonstrated with a dramatic clap, and on the table materialized a tray packed with my favorite dishes: strips of cold bean curd in chili oil, red braised pork, steamed custard with chunks of salted egg, and a simmering bowl of glass noodles with prawns bobbing up and down in the broth.

I couldn’t resist.

I picked up two spoons at once and sampled everything I could.

Fal surveyed me with a cheeky smile.

“I thought you’d be concerned about poison.”

“An hour ago, maybe,” I mumbled with a full mouth.

“But now, if it’s poison, at least it tastes good.”

“It’s magic, ” said Nomi.

“Like Baba’s old games.”

I gave her a tender look.

“What’s this?” Mama had opened the lacquered box without asking.

“The prince gave you a book?”

Before I could stop her, Nomi swooped it up and skimmed the pages.

“It’s a marriage contract,” she said, brow furrowing.

“To the Demon Prince?”

I wished I’d gotten one more bite of noodles into my mouth before this debacle began.

I swallowed without chewing.

“He’s a dragon, not a—”

“An actual prince wants to marry my Tru!” Mama breathed.

“And not just any prince, a dragon prince!”

“A half dragon, Mama,” I said, unnerved by her interest.

“Don’t get excited, please. It’s an arrangement: I help him return to Ai’long, and he’ll give us money to pay off your debts and erase my record with Renhai. It would only be an act.”

“Even so, this is what girls dream of!” She squeezed my shoulder.

I hadn’t seen her this animated in years.

“Think, Tru! If you marry a dragon, they’ll have to make you an immortal. You’ll be like the gods themselves, invited to weddings in the high heavens, to luncheons with the flower fairies of Mount Jansu.” Mama clapped.

“What an opportunity for my daughter. My head is spinning just from the idea!”

My head was spinning.

I’d thought Mama and my sisters might have a good laugh over the contract and convince me it was a terrible idea.

Then we’d spend the night plotting how to evade Renhai’s and Yargui’s forces and take the first ship out of Gangsun tomorrow.

But no.

“The marriage would be temporary,” I reminded Mama.

“I’m not becoming an immortal.”

“Then make him love you,” she replied.

“You’re a beautiful girl, Truyan”—words she had never uttered since my hair turned blue—“and dragons are known to have their…temptations.”

My cheeks flamed.

“Mama!”

Mama’s attention had already turned.

She peered over Nomi’s shoulder, her eyes moving like abacus beads as she scanned the contract’s neat print.

“You say you’re helping him return to the dragon realm? There should be a reward for such a favor, and bridal gifts if he is the one who’s pursuing your hand….”

I stopped listening.

My mother, who had always wanted her daughters to marry rich, was living her dream.

She didn’t care that there were gaping questions to be answered.

That this Lord Elang was all but a stranger to me, and not even fully human!

“Where are the turtles?” I asked suddenly, looking about the chamber.

“Gone,” replied Fal.

“They left after they brought us here. Why?”

“You haven’t seen any guards, any servants?” I pressed.

Fal and Nomi shook their heads.

“Then who taught you how to summon dinner?”

“That phoenix demon in your ring,” supplied Nomi.

“Shani.”

I recognized the name from my first encounter with Elang in the garden.

So that was Shanizhun.

I rubbed the opal with my thumb.

“Shani!”

In a gush of wind and mist, two watery wings spun out of my ring and took upon the shape of a familiar, unsmiling phoenix.

“There’s no need to shout,” she grumbled.

“I can hear you.”

Like a real bird, she hovered in the air, wings tucked to her sides.

But unlike a real bird, she was made entirely of water and was transparent except for the edges of her form, which shimmered like ice.

“Elang said he’d send someone to answer my questions,” I said.

“I take that to be you?”

“All the other servants have been dismissed,” replied Shani tartly.

“And all the other servants happen to have guppy brains, so yes. That’s me.” She turned to Nomi, her feathers rippling as she spoke: “You ought to know, there’s no such thing as a phoenix demon.”

“But you’re a phoenix,” Nomi pointed out.

“I only look like one because it’s what your sister asked for. I can be anything I want.” To demonstrate, Shani took on Nomi’s shape, except again, she was transparent—and her eyes were red.

“Are you a river spirit, then?” said Nomi, who enjoyed guessing games.

“I’ve read they like sleeping in stones.”

“A river spirit?” Shani huffed.

“You were closer before. I sleep in the opal because it’s brittle and cold. The perfect home for a water demon.”

“A water demon,” echoed Nomi.

“I’ve never heard of that before.”

“That’s because I’m the only one,” Shani said crisply.

She shifted into a shapeless haze, her eyes stabbing out like two red thorns.

“I don’t have all night. What questions do you have about my lord?”

A dozen queries sprang on my tongue.

I started with the first: “Elang gave me the ring knowing you were inside. What do you do for him?”

“What demons do best,” Shani replied with a purr.

“I brew chaos, I pry out secrets, and I spread sweet, sweet catastrophe.” Then she sniffed, slinking back toward the wall.

“And sometimes, when I’m forced to waste my talent, I look after hapless young humans such as yourself.”

“He asked you to look after me?” I said.

“I don’t need a bodyguard.”

“Says the girl who was nearly killed by ruffians this afternoon,” replied Shani.

“You’re lucky Elang’anmi sent me to follow you. Otherwise you’d be a pile of ash and bone by now—and I’d have to find him another true love.”

I knew sarcasm when I heard it.

Unfortunately, Mama didnot.

She leaned forward, eyes bright.

“Is the dragon prince really in love with my daughter?”

“He hasn’t complained about her stench the way he does with every other human,” said Shani, flashing her icicle-sharp teeth in a smile.

“I’d call that love.”

“Why can’t she just pretend to be married,” said Fal, “and not actually go through the ceremony?”

“Because the Dragon King’s patrols would sense that your sister was a trespasser,” the demon replied.

“They’d seize her and bring her to the palace, where she’d be executed in the most excruciating way possible.”

Nomi couldn’t hide her morbid fascination.

“What do you mean, excruciating?”

With a whoosh, Shani adopted the form of a human boy.

She looked keen to tell the story: “Years ago there was a trespasser who had a fear of frogs. When Nazayun found out, he cursed him so whenever he made a sound, a frog jumped out of his mouth.” Shani demonstrated, spitting out a toad.

“Eventually, a big one ripped out of his throat and broke him apart. Quite a messy death. One of my favorites.”

She pivoted back to her shapeless haze and floated atop a divan.

“What would be most excruciating for the tuna-haired thief, I do wonder. I’m sure the Dragon King will have something special planned for his favorite grandson’s wife.”

“You’re not doing a very good job of selling your lord’s proposal,” I said thinly.

“Demons aren’t merchants,” replied Shani.

“We don’t flatter and lie when there are more delicious ways to get what we want.” She made a smacking sound.

“My instruction was only to answer your questions, not win you over.”

“How considerate,” I muttered.

“Then tell me this: Why does Elang need to take a bride in order to return home? Why must he fall in love?”

“Because he can’t.”

“Can’t what?”

“Fall in love. He’s cursed.”

I frowned.

“He never mentioned a curse.”

“He doesn’t like when I call it that.” Shani let out a grainy laugh.

“But that’s what it is, his lack of a pearl.”

“I thought every dragon had a pearl.” Nomi’s frown mirrored mine.

“It’s their heart, isn’t it? Their source of magic and power—”

“And feeling,” the demon interrupted.

“Lord Elang’s was taken from him when he was a child because his father, the late lord Ta’ginan, wed a human without the Dragon King’s blessing. Until he reclaims his pearl, he cannot become a full dragon, nor command the respect he needs as a prince of Ai’long.” Shani paused.

“Nor can he have a heart. Unless…”

“Unless what?” Mama said anxiously.

“Unless, against all odds, he finds his Heavenly Match. The one who will break his curse.” Shani bestowed me with a smirk.

“A role he’s asked your daughter to play.”

“Of course she’ll agree.” Mama tsked.

“It’s a divine honor.”

I ignored my mother’s enthusiasm.

“How does his curse get broken?”

“Only Elang’anmi knows the answer to that. And he can’t tell you. He can’t tell anyone.”

“Of course he can’t,” Mama echoed.

How inconvenient, I thought as my brow knotted with revelation.

Elang had only taken interest in me after finding out about my visions.

Could it be, he hoped that my Sight would help him get his dragon pearl back, bypassing the need for a pesky true love?

“No matter,” Mama was saying.

“You’ve found the right girl. Tru is a master of deception!” She scooted closer to the demon, wearing a sly smile.

“But it’s no small undertaking, you know, asking her to jeopardize her life by going to Ai’long. She will be rewarded for her bravery, won’t she?”

“Looks like Mama’s on her favorite topic again,” Fal murmured to Nomi and me.

Money, we all mouthed at the same time.

“Nomi!” Mama called.

“I think we should revisit the contract. How about a clause regarding the valuation of the jewels?”

While poor Nomi went to work, I drew Fal to the dining table.

“He’s a tyrant,” I grumbled.

“An arrogant, callous, self-centered fiend with no regard for anyone but himself. Look at him, keeping us prisoners here!”

Fal knew me.

She waited.

My shoulders sagged in defeat.

“What do you think?” I asked her quietly.

“Would you go?”

“Would I marry the dragon prince?” My sister sat beside me.

“I used to think I’d marry any sort of prince, even a frog, so long as it was rich. But this is Ai’long. No one comes back from Ai’long.” She bit down on her lip, trying to keep a brave face.

“And if I lose you…”

“You won’t.”

“How do you know? That Lord Elang, everyone calls him the Demon Prince. You can’t trust him, he’s a…a monster.”

“He might be,” I allowed, “but he did save us from Madam Yargui.” I heaped a spoonful of steamed egg custard into my mouth.

It was devilishly smooth and delicious to a fault.

“And he has good taste in food.”

Falina shook her head at me.

“Always leading with your stomach.” She gave me a wan smile as I ate.

“Have you at least seen his face?”

I didn’t know how to describe Elang’s face.

A dozen different words teetered on the tip of my tongue— terrifying, handsome, cold, melancholy.

None of them felt right.

Lost, came my answer, but I didn’t say it aloud.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ve made up my mind.”

“Let me go in your stead,” persisted Fal.

“I’m sixteen, that’s of age to be married.” She picked up a knife and spun it between two fingers.

“If he turns out to be a monster, I could stake him in the heart.”

“I don’t think a knife is enough to kill a dragon.” I thought of Elang’s iron-thick scales.

“You heard Shani—he doesn’t have a heart.”

“Poison, then? Nomi could help.”

I shook my head.

Much as I appreciated Fal’s offer, this was my problem to solve.

Besides, it wasn’t a wife Elang was after; he needed my visions.

“It has to be me,” I said.

“Me, in exchange for three chests of jewels and anything you and Nomi can wish for.”

“Tru—”

“When I come back, we’ll have enough money to build a new life anywhere we want to go. We’ll get Mama out of Gangsun. We’ll look for Baba.”

It was rare that I brought up our old promise to find Baba, and Fal’s shoulders went soft.

“It isn’t fair. You nearly died saving us from Yargui, and now this?”

I touched her cheek.

“Don’t worry too much. I can see the future, remember? I’ll be fine.”

“Still. I’ve got a bad feeling.”

“What are you girls chattering about in that corner?” called Mama.

“We’re talking about what bad business this all is,” Fal responded promptly, exchanging a glare with Shani.

“Tru can see the future. Why should she work alongside a disgraced and exiled prince? She could go to the Dragon King himself.”

Shani’s red eyes glowed with displeasure.

“Go ahead. Round up the turtles and shout into the streets while you’re at it. Tell everyone about her visions. Your big mouths will get your sister turned into sea foam.”

“Calm down,” I told the demon.

“Fal was only joking.”

“I hope so,” said Shani.

“Because I warn you, if any detail of our little proposal leaks…” She made a fearsome hiss.

“Ask your friend Puhkan how he’s faring. I promise he barely remembers his name.”

At my sisters’ stricken expressions, Shani cackled and spiraled back into the opal ring.

“No wonder everyone hates demons,” I muttered, twisting the band off my finger.

I sealed it inside the lacquered contract box.

“At this rate, I might despise Shani more than Elang.”

“There’s no need for such vitriol,” chided Mama.

“The demon’s only doing his bidding. And didn’t you hear what she said about Puhkan? We ought to be grateful to her.”

“Grateful?” Fal exclaimed.

“Did you not hear her threats to kill us?”

“A good servant looks after their lord’s safety.”

“More like their best interests,” my sister mumbled.

“Speaking of which,” said Mama, turning to me, “I don’t see what there is to dither about. Arranged marriages happen all the time; usually the bride and groom don’t even see each other’s faces! You’re lucky, Truyan, dragons are known to be devastatingly handsome. You might even find you want to stay married—”

“Not a chance,” I cut her off.

“He’s a monster, inside andout.”

“He’s a prince— who’s generously offering you a fortune—in exchange for a brief trip to Ai’long.”

I was too tired to argue with her.

“I’m going to bed.”

“You’re not going to paint? A vision might help to—”

“Maybe in the morning,” I interrupted again.

The truth was, I didn’t need to paint.

I’d already made my decision.

I’d known since the moment Elang had promised to keep my family safe.

I found my room and lay down on an unfamiliar bed.

The silk was cold against my skin.

I missed the smell of fish in the air and the windowsill at my feet where I could perch my ankles.

In the darkness, I let myself cry.

At first in relief that my family and I were alive.

We’d come so terrifyingly close to losing everything, but at least for now, we were safe.

Gaari hadn’t been so lucky.

As I thought of him my emotions thickened into sorrow, and I whispered a prayer for my old friend.

It was a long time before the sleep spirits claimed me.