Chapter 7: The Feather That Burned
The next morning, Mei Lin awoke with a strange weight on her chest.
She sat up in bed and gasped.
There, resting on her pillow, was a single crimson feather—its tip glowing faintly, as if still smoldering from a divine fire.
She reached for it with trembling fingers. The moment she touched it, a rush of heat pulsed through her hand and into her chest.
Her breath hitched.
Images flashed before her eyes: a vast sky in flames, a palace of gold and smoke, wings—her own—spreading wide over a battlefield.
A voice echoed in her mind:
"Rise, Phoenix Queen. The world burns without you."
She dropped the feather, her pulse racing. Her heart knew the truth before her mind could accept it.
She wasn't just anyone.
She wasn't just Mei Lin.
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Later that day, Fu Gui found her in the garden, the feather hidden in her sleeve.
"You've been avoiding me," he said gently.
"I needed space," she replied. "But I think… something's waking up inside me."
He studied her carefully, unsure how much she had remembered.
"I had a vision," she confessed. "And a name… a title. The Phoenix Queen."
Fu Gui's eyes widened. "You heard that name?"
She nodded. "Is it real? Am I... her?"
He stepped closer, hesitation melting in the tension between them. "Yes. I think you were. And I think fate brought you back because something terrible is rising again."
Mei Lin looked at him. "Then why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"Because I was afraid you'd run. Afraid of losing you before I even had the chance to—"
He stopped.
"To what?" she asked, voice soft.
He looked away, then back. "To love you."
She didn't answer. Instead, she reached for his hand, and he let her take it.
"I don't know who I was," she said. "But I know who I am when I'm with you."