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Prophecy

Zhou Lijuan stared into the largeon the far wall opposite her throne It was a piece of art given to her by an ado The admirer was lost in the ift—there was sos on the edges had been done with such delicacy, that spoke to her

Even after thousands of years of having it in the throne roo Perhaps because that disk reflected her as clearly as any ht dent but it would never break It had reflected her strength and arew older Today, it showed her the ravages of war

Many in the world still thought her dead and it suited her to allow the as they kept their hands off her territory Her generals were taking care of security, though she didn’t think even Michaela was arrogant enough to attempt an incursion All feared her

Good

But for the fear to remain, they could not see the woman in the metal mirror Not yet That woman had hair of a familiar icy white; Zhou Lijuan had been born with hair as black as night, but the color had faded with the growth of her power, as if her strength had leached it all away By the time she was a thousand years old, her hair hite as snow”

Her mother had said that to her and if she tried very hard, Lijuan could soiven birth to her Mostly because she had bequeathed Lijuan her fine facial bones The reflection in the ainst delicately translucent skin so thin it appeared it ht tear with a touch Thin blue veins pulsed beneath, but it was the red blood vessels around the pearlescent shade of her irises that caught the attention

It was as if her irises were swi in blood

And they were—Raphael had hurt her Her rage at that knowledge was a violent cold deep inside her body No one hurt Zhou Lijuan She would annihilate the upstart Archangel of New York for the insult, but first, she would make him watch as she enslaved his mortal consort And for that, she needed to have patience, needed to finish healing, needed to finish beco

Because not all of her had regenerated the same as before Raphael tried to obliterate her from existence

Lifting her hand with , she exa ruby red and hooked over her fingertips like the talons of a great bird of prey The incisors in her mouth, too, weren’t the same Her other teeth were pure white, the incisors dark scarlet

It was oddly beautiful As befit a goddess

Those incisors weren’t functioning yet, however She’d atte lifeforce of loyal subjects ished to sacrifice theoddess could heal quicker and with less pain, but while her incisors appeared strong, they weren’t mature She couldn’t penetrate the skin, and even when she used a knife to make the cut, she could suck up only a little useless blood, not the lifeforce of the sacrifice

Agony burned her nerve endings every instant of every day

Her bones ached

Her wings couldn’t hold her aloft

Only her mind hole

Laying down her fully regenerated right hand on the arhtelkind by those who had seen it, she focused on the kneeling forel below the dais He had his forehead to the floor, his wings held gracefully to his back She couldn’t re there and she couldn’t quite make out his form with clarity