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I covered my head with my hands, bracing myself to shatter as Thadu thudded onto the bottom of the sea.

But there was only a rustling whoosh of sand as the monster made impact, and the elephantine thump of his pincers as they fell, a beat after his head.

Then his spine went soft against the seabed, his tongue making one last click against his wall of teeth and the life in his eyes petered into darkness.

I sucked in a breath of relief.

Using my umbrella, I pried his jaws open and crawled out.

I stumbled into a puddle of glassy, bright blood.

It was sticky, the globs clinging maliciously to my palms.

Disgusting.

My dress was in tatters, and my hair was slick with monster saliva.

With a sharp exhale, I waddled out of the mess and sprang to my feet.

Slowly I took in my surroundings.

The Fold.

It was the valley between the expanse of cliffs, a mysterious vacuum in the already desolate chart of Yonsar.

The water was murky, but if I squinted, I could make out a dim silvery light fanning across the seabed.

Under my feet was a field of sand, and veins of frost marbled the mountain face.

I shivered, rubbing my hands together for warmth.

The sea’s cold bite was already seeping into the marrow of my bones.

If I didn’t get out of here soon, I’d freeze.

“Shani?” I called, tapping on the ring.

Shani, can you hear me?

My voice echoed off the desolate cliffs.

Shani wasn’t here.

I gulped.

On the bright side, that hopefully meant the demon was on her way back to the castle with Mailoh.

On the not-so-bright side, it meant I was alone.

An icy knot hardened in my gut.

Or maybe not as alone as I thought.

I trod along the sandy bottom, following the silver light.

Swirls of thick fog laced the water, obscuring its source.

But I had a feeling.

“Nazayun,” I whispered.

His eyes blended well into the fog, yet nothing could mask the lightning crackling in his pupils.

They glowed bright, watching me.

This was the moment I’d foreseen.

A tremor came over me, and I clenched my teeth to keep from making any sound.

I stumbled over the sand, crumpling the sketch of my vision in my pocket.

No matter what, Nazayun couldn’t know about my Sight.

“W-why do you lurk in the dark?” I said, hating how my voice quavered.

“Are you afraid to show yourself?”

The words had an echo of what I’d once asked Elang.

Except his grandfather chuckled, the same deep and cryptic laugh he had made when we’d first met.

“Such disrespect,” he murmured.

“Careful now, Thadu was punished for a lesser offense. He used to be quite handsome, if you can believe it.”

“Are you going to punish me too?”

“Not yet.”

That was when he burst out of the fog, shooting over me in a ghostly arc.

I dropped the umbrella and fell flat, choking on sand.

To my disappointment, Nazayun was as I’d foreseen, a watery projection piercing out of the mountain walls.

His head hung forth like a hulking lantern, while the rest of his body looped behind him, thick as a whale’s.

The Dragon King peered down at me.

“What odd and fragile creatures you humans are. Everything shows on your flesh. Your anger, your fear, your cold. What would Elangui say, I wonder, if his new bride froze to death under my watch?”

I didn’t get up.

I lay in the icy sand, pretending to be gripped by fear when, in fact, I was memorizing every detail of his face I could.

His whiskers curled up, not down; there were three pinpricks of light in his left pupil, two in his right.

His lower jaw had four incisors, all hooked like the ends of an anchor.

But then I got to the finer work.

I counted his scales, I looked out for cracks in his nails, I studied the pebbly texture of his throat, and most of all, I studied the structure of his tail.

It undulated behind him, long and serpentine, just like Shani had shown me.

I pulled myself to my knees, my teeth chattering.

“I’ve seen what I need to see,” said Nazayun.

“You are interesting, little bride, but you are not impressive. Still, if Elangui claims to love you, then so begins your trial.”

If I hadn’t been freezing, I would have put my hands on my hips.

I’d already married Elang—what was I supposed to do to save him?

Kiss him?

Fall in love with him?

My imagination had drifted to such possibilities several times, but none of them felt right.

Nazayun wouldn’t have made it so easy.

So obvious.

Besides, Elang acted as though I repulsed him.

He didn’t even want his pearl back.

I know precisely where it is, he’d said.

That was when it struck me.

“ You have his pearl.”

A laugh scraped out of Nazayun.

“I took it, yes, but that was a long time ago.” He tilted his massive head.

“He hasn’t told you much, has he, little bride? You have quite the task, then, before you break his curse.”

I gritted my teeth.

“Why are you doing this? He’s your grandson, your blood.”

“Elangui is a monster,” Nazayun said sharply.

“No different from the Thadu you just gored and killed.”

“Except you can’t seem to get him to die,” I shot back.

“Could it be, the God of the Four Supreme Seas is afraid?”

I was lifted up, as if an invisible hook were under my chin, bringing me eye to eye with the Dragon King.

“Who are you to speak of fear?” he growled.

“I have ruled since before the sun and moon were born, long before your kind befouled the earth. This realm is my creation, my domain. Every being here is born with my permission, and allowed to live through my grace.”

“Except Elang.”

Steam puffed out from Nazayun’s mouth; it took me a while to realize he was chuckling.

“Strange as it may be, your husband and I have something in common. We put the future of Ai’long first, above all. Unfortunately, we have come to perceive each other as dangers to the realm, and therein lies the root of our discord.”

“You’re the one sending storms to Yonsar. You don’t think you’re a danger to this realm?” I retorted.

“You, like your husband, fail to understand that I am Ai’long. I know what is best for these seas, just as I know he would bring their destruction. I will not let that happen.”

His conviction was impressive.

I wondered if all gods had such a gift for self-delusion.

“Why not make it easy for yourself, then, and crush Elang’s pearl between your claws?”

“A dragon’s pearl cannot be destroyed,” Nazayun replied, “even when it belongs to an abomination like your husband. I didn’t think he’d meet his match, but now that you’re here, I am quite curious to see how this will all end.”

I tensed.

I didn’t like the direction this was taking.

Nazayun’s head, as large as a sailing barque, loomed above me.

“I give you a chance, Bride of the Westerly Seas, to reconsider your allegiances. I’ve heard you have a father who passed into my realm. It would be tragic indeed if something were to happen to him.”

Suddenly I couldn’t breathe.

My temples throbbed, pinched by an unrelenting pressure.

My voice crawled out of my throat, a bare whisper: “Is he alive?”

“It depends on what you mean by alive.”

“I want to see him.”

“Then tell me why you are here. Tell me the truth, and father and daughter will have a reunion.”

I swallowed hard, clenching at my skirt.

“Is that a promise? Same as the promise you made not to kill me?”

Nazayun bared his teeth.

“That promise only holds so long as you are his Heavenly Match. Better that you tell me the truth and leave Ai’long when you still can.”

Immortals were bound to their promises, I remembered, and Nazayun was one of the oldest in the world.

All I’d have to do would be to show him the crumpled vision in my skirt, and then I’d see Baba again.

I’d bring him home to Mama and my sisters, and my family would be whole at last, the family we used to be.

I wanted it.

More than anything, I wanted it.

But then I thought of the turtles who’d perished in the storm, and of how tight Elang’s voice had gone when he told me Baba had been found in Ai’long.

If the Dragon King truly cared about his realm, as he said he did, he wouldn’t let his subjects suffer.

He wouldn’t break families apart.

I’m sorry, Baba.

Just a while longer.

I promise, I’ll bring you home.

“Isn’t it obvious why I’m here?” I finally replied.

“To break Elang’s curse.”

The Dragon King leaned forward, his pale blue eyes unblinking.

I could feel them scrutinizing my every pore, every hair and fiber of silk on my body.

He whispered, “You lie.”

A blast of lightning shot out of his eyes, missing me only by an arm.

I staggered into a puddle of Thadu’s blood.

“If you wish to see your father again, bring me the truth. I won’t ask again.” In a puff, Nazayun disappeared.

And the water began to freeze.

It happened fast.

The puddle hardened, thickening from slush to ice.

I yanked my foot out of Thadu’s blood an instant before it solidified.

Even the bubbles of my breath turned to ice.

As I shot up, my every movement made the water crackle.

“Move, Tru,” I told myself.

I grabbed the umbrella and started kicking.

“Swim up.”

I tried, but the temperature plummeted faster than I could rise.

I could feel my lungs constricting, my breath congealing in my throat as my muscles choked, swiftly going numb.

My thoughts scattered with panic.

No!

I refused to die here, in this forsaken pit of the sea.

I needed to stay alive and save Baba.

I needed to free him from the Dragon King.

I focused my thoughts on my father.

On the hot sugar water with rice flour he’d make in the winter to keep us from getting sick.

On the snake-eye chilis he’d toast in a pan, then crush in a mortar, until the entire kitchen was smoky with spice.

I thought of the fairy tale he used to tell, about the carp who swam upstream for weeks to reach the gates of Ai’long.

Once she arrived, she failed to leap across, but she wouldn’t give up.

Every time she fell, she picked herself up and tried again.

I clenched the umbrella.

My knuckles had gone bone white, the rest of my skin so pale I could see the map of my veins, distressingly blue.

Chin up, not down, I told myself.

Stay defiant, Tru.

I leapt, kicking as fiercely as I could.

Every inch I gained was a little farther from the cold, I told myself.

A little more.

I had to persist.

Seconds or hours, I didn’t know how long I swam.

But eventually I could make out the faint gray light of Yonsar, blooming like one of Elang’s flowers.

I reached out for it with both hands, my fingers drooping as my eyelids turned heavy, my muscles rusted, and my pulse slowed to a glacial speed, the silence between beats becoming longer and longer.

Don’t…

give up, I thought as a white cloak fell over my head.

Before I could look up, a dragon tail hooked around my waist, and we shot up out of the Fold.

It was Elang.

“Tru,” he said, so close I could feel the heat of his lips against my cheek.

“Tru, stay awake. Stay with me.”

“You’re late,” I said, part delirious and part needing to have the last word.

Then I passed out.