AT THE SAME TIME
EMPEROR LIANWEI POINT OF VIEW:
I didn't know what to do except hold her. Mei Shen was still clutching her head, shaking, her breaths sharp and uneven. Huan stayed beside her like a little soldier guarding his mother, his eyes huge and wet. The fire hissed in the hearth, but the heat didn't touch the chill creeping into my bones. And then, the air changed again. Not like when Zeirith spoke. This was… warmer and stranger. The lanternlight shifted, shadows deepening at the far side of the chamber. The rain outside seemed to hush for just a moment, as if the world were holding its breath. And then she stepped forward. Rosalie. Not as the faint echo of a spirit I'd glimpsed before, but whole, radiant, real.
Her gown shimmered as if woven from morning light and stormwater, her hair catching the firelight like threads of gold. She looked younger than I remembered her… and impossibly sad. I rose slowly, never letting go of Mei Shen's hand.
