The moon shone full, suspended above the Palace like a silver eye.
The ceremony had ended, but the fire did not sleep.
Suwei rested in her new room, still unfamiliar, still cold.
She sat beside the open box, where the dragon crystal floated slightly above a stone platform.
Her thoughts were a whirlwind: what she saw, what she felt, the emperor's gaze.
And yet, she could not put it into words.
She just closed her eyes...
And then she dreamed.
She dreamed of chains.
Red chains, as if made of fire and blood, trapping the body of a colossal dragon.
Its eyes were closed, but its chest rose and fell with effort.
It fought against its invisible prison, roared without sound.
Suwei approached in the dream.
"Who are you?"
But she received no answer.
She only felt her chest ache...
And a tear, just one, running down her sleeping cheek.
—
At the same time, on the other side of the Palace, Jin Long awoke with burning eyes.
He was sweating. Breathing with difficulty.
