Bingmei smiled at him.
He cannot go.
It wasn’t a rebuke. But she felt the sting of it anyway. Why not?
If he leaves, he will be trapped by the season and be unable to return. He is here to help you during your pangs. You will not be left alone.
“What’s wrong?” Quion asked, noting the change that came over her.
“The phoenix speaks to me, Quion. It’s part of me now. Rowen has bonded with it too, and I think you were also chosen. It wants you to stay here and help me.”
“The phoenix . . . knows me?”
Immediately, she felt her heart surge with feelings of tenderness, compassion, and deep love. These were brought on by the phoenix, a demonstration of its power as well as its compassion. Yes, indeed, it knew Quion. And it cherished him too.
Bingmei started to weep again and nodded. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it, unable to speak.
With his other hand, he wiped a tear from his own eye. He sniffed, looking so overwhelmed and humbled. Then he pulled his hand away and went outside, standing in the bright sunshine. He gazed at the sky, his back to her, and she saw his shoulders slump. The feelings of love intensified, and she wondered at how her heart could contain so many feelings. Their smells were overpoweringly pleasant. It lessened the sting of her anguish.
Finally, Quion turned back and entered, his eyes red-rimmed and a little puffy. He nodded to her. “If that’s what it wants, then I’ll stay.”
“Thank you,” she whispered thickly.
“I just can’t tell you how good it made me feel . . . to know that the phoenix knew there was such a person as me.”
Her heart swelled again. “It knows every finch and every thrush, Quion, not just the eagles and falcons. And it knows all of us. I’ve spent my whole life avoiding emotions, but now it feels like I’m never going to stop crying.” She laughed and wiped her eyes again. “I’d thought everything would be different when I returned. That it would be farther into the future, and the baby might be ready to come. But everything’s the same.” She paused, thinking, then added, “Maybe it’s better this way. I don’t know much about being a mother.”
Quion shrugged. “I don’t know anything about taking care of babies either,” he said, “but people have been doing it since the dawn of time. It can’t be that hard.” His lips pressed together, and he rubbed his arms. “It gets a little cold at night. And it will get colder as the season changes. I’ll get some wood so we can have a larger fire tonight.”
In her mind, she recalled vividly the time Echion, in his dragon form, had abducted her from Sihui and flown her to the top of a majestic mountain. He’d drawn Immortal Words in the air, one for fire and one for air. She felt she could do the same.
You can. And I will summon the birds to bring you food.
Bingmei took another nibble from the meat. “We won’t suffer from the cold, Quion,” she promised. “And we won’t starve. This place was made to protect us.”
She sensed the ancient shrine had served as a shelter for her sisters as well. In a flash of unbidden memory, she saw a girl, one of her sisters, demonstrating a form atop this very mountain. Bingmei felt she was watching the scene from a bird flying around in a huge circle. She recognized the phoenix form as the one she’d practiced in Fusang. The one that had given her power to knock her guard down.
Power to confront a being such as Echion.
She couldn’t leave this rock until the child was born. And how long would she need to stay after that? When would the protection end?
I cannot answer every question you ask, Bingmei. Time will tell.
The thought of staying in the shrine for so long was daunting. She wanted to help. She wanted to do something, but she couldn’t speak through the birds. How could she get a man like General Tzu to listen to a bird?
He was too hard-headed, too pragmatic. It was in General Tzu’s character to be a general. To act like one. To think like one. He’d developed his plan because he thought it was the right thing to do.
It would take something powerful to stop him, to change his thinking, and there simply wasn’t time. Bingmei herself had heard him say that he intended to attack before the snowy season arrived.
And that’s when the thought struck her mind.
Was there an Immortal Word that could start the season of the Dragon of Night now? Not even the brave general would attempt an attack then. And neither would Echion. If the battle could be held off long enough, she could join it.
The phoenix seemed to stir inside her.
Yes.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Ice Glyph
“I think I have an idea,” Bingmei told Quion. She started pacing around the sarcophagus. Why hadn’t the phoenix suggested the idea to her? Or had it sparked the idea within her? She wondered whether it would become increasingly difficult to separate her own thoughts from those of the majestic bird.
Please understand, Bingmei. We are one in purpose, but we are not the same being. You will still make your own decisions. Even if you choose poorly, I will not always correct you. It is important that you gain wisdom from experience. That is the way of things. I will guide and help you. Just as I will guide and help you once I am reborn, but the actions and choices are yours to make.
“What is it?” Quion asked her.
“We cannot leave this place until after the baby is born. And we cannot warn General Tzu from here. But there is an Immortal
