The night I laid my egg, I watched through half-closed eyes as my cousin slipped into my chamber and traded it for her own. I feigned the deep, unyielding slumber of exhaustion. I did not move. I did not cry out. I let her spirit my child away into the shadows to be broken, while I drew her discarded shell to my chest. For ten years, I nourished that stolen egg with the purest essence of my heart’s blood, night after sleepless night. When it finally hatched, out came a celestial phoenix of the highest rank. Brilliant, untamed, magnificent. My husband and I showered the fledgling with an adoration bordering on worship, pouring the treasures of the realm down her throat. And my own child? Under my cousin’s roof, she cracked open as a common gray sparrow—devoid of spiritual gifts, stripped of divine grace. My cousin sliced her tongue in half to keep her mute, then fed her to the depravities of vile men to ensure her spirit was crushed beyond repair. Now, the day had arrived: the Grand Conclave to consecrate the new Phoenix Maiden. My cousin threw herself onto the marble floor, weeping theatrical tears of blood and repentance, begging for a kinship rite. She claimed there had been a tragic, terrible mix-up at birth. A faint, razor-thin smile touched my lips. “I have waited a hundred years for this exact moment.” … I was in the courtyard guiding Selene through her dawn fire-weaving when my cousin arrived with her entourage. “Oh, cousin,” Cora called out, her voice dripping with artificial sweetness as she rushed forward. “She’s only a girl. How could you push her so hard in the morning chill?” Without waiting for an answer, she bustled over to Selene, dabbing the fine sheen of sweat from the girl’s forehead with a silk handkerchief. Was she thirsty? Was she hungry? Was her delicate body aching? I offered a bland, noncommittal smile. Ever since she swapped our eggs a century ago, this was her routine. She would drop by under the guise of sisterly concern, dropping sly remarks about how I lacked a gentle maternal touch, or how she simply couldn’t bear to see me worn out—anything to seize a few stolen moments with the flesh of her flesh. And my daughter? I glanced toward the courtyard gate. A frail, wretched thing stood shivering in the wind, clad in rags that barely held together. At the slightest movement, she flinched, tucking her chin into her chest. Her skin was a mosaic of mottled purples and sickly yellows from uncounted beatings, completely devoid of any spiritual hum. My husband was a pureblood phoenix; so was I. Yet this child was a common sparrow. Catching my eye, she pulled her lips into an anxious, broken grimace. Her mouth was a hollow void. Her tongue had been sheared off midway down, leaving her able to offer only a muffled, guttural wheeze: “The… Wretch… pays respects to honored Aunt.” “The Wretch.” That was the name Cora had bestowed upon my daughter. Cora paused, watching me closely. When I showed not a flicker of sorrow or outrage, a quiet, malicious triumph flared behind her eyes. She turned back to Selene, clasping the girl’s slender, radiant hands. “Tell me, Selene, darling, is your cultivation progressing smoothly? My clan has a rare Heart Lotus tucked away in our vaults—it can shield you against the heavenly lightning tribulation. I’ll have it brought over tomorrow.” She squeezed Selene’s fingers tight. “Don’t be shy with your aunt. In my heart, you’ve always been as dear to me as my own daughter.” Selene held herself with the composed, effortless arrogance of someone who had never known hunger or doubt. “Thank you, Aunt Cora. I will not bring dishonor upon our line. I have already ascended to the Celestial Phoenix tier.” Hearing those words, Cora blossomed with pride. How could she not? When Selene was still an unhatched stone, I had pierced my own chest to feed her drops of living heart’s blood for a decade. After she broke through the shell, the finest elixirs and sacred herbs of the realm were laid at her feet. She possessed raw genius, yes, but it was our boundless indulgence that had forged her name across the beast clans. Drunk on the knowledge that this peerless prodigy was her own seed, Cora unconsciously straightened her spine before me. Then, she reached behind her, grabbed my daughter by a handful of matted hair, and dragged her forward like an old sack. “Look at your cousin Selene!” Cora spat, shoving the trembling girl toward the stone flags. “Then look at your own miserable self. If I’d known you would crawl out of your shell looking like pond scum, I would have smashed you on the rocks.” My daughter trembled violently, choking out muffled whimpers of pain. The more she wept, the harder Cora wrenched her scalp. “You dare squirm? I’ll teach you to squirm!” With a sickening tear, Cora ripped out a thick fistful of hair. The raw follicles dripped red. To ensure I saw every drop, she waved the bloody clump directly in front of my face. “You see, cousin? I’m doing you a favor, showing you how lowborn trash must be broken.” Selene frowned slightly, turning her head away in mild distaste. Cora caught the gesture instantly and softened, dropping the hair to take Selene’s hand again. “Don’t look, my sweet. Don’t frighten yourself. Filthy vermin like her deserve every lash. You two are worlds apart.” She cast another venomous glare at the child on the ground. My daughter scrambled to her knees, wiping the smear of blood from her temple with a tattered sleeve, keeping her forehead pressed to the stone. “Sister Selene… I am sorry… I didn’t mean to frighten you…” It was an automatic reflex. She had learned long ago that her only hope of avoiding Cora’s wrath was ensuring that the dazzling Selene remained undisturbed. Before she could finish, Cora planted the heel of her boot directly into her stomach. The girl folded with a breathless wheeze. “Who gave you permission to call her sister?” Cora said, peeling a chilled grape and offering it to Selene without looking down. “Are you worthy of that word? Address her as the Maiden.” She dusted off her fingers. “Letting you draw breath after birth was the greatest mercy I ever showed.” She threw me a pointed, mocking glance. “A common sparrow… What right does a gray thrush have to soil the grounds of the Phoenix Court? If I were her mother, I would have thrown myself from the highest crag in shame.” I smiled faintly, offering no defense, indulging every twisted impulse she had nurtured. … At the banquet that evening, Cora hovered over Selene with sickening devotion. Selene was fond of river-dace, a delicate fish notorious for its needle-thin bones. Cora sat beside her, ignoring her own plate entirely, painstakingly picking out every single bone with silver tweezers before setting the sweet white flesh into Selene’s bowl. Meanwhile, my daughter was chained to the thick mahogany leg of the banquet table. She stared at the steaming platters, licking her chapped, split lips. In a voice as thin as paper, she whispered, “Mother… may I please have a piece of steamed bread?” The warmth evaporated from Cora’s face in a fraction of a second. She rounded on the girl, delivering two vicious backhands that snapped the child’s head sideways. Then, picking up a wooden basin, Cora swept all the greasy bones, sour broth, and discarded scraps from the guests’ plates into it, slamming the mess down and shoving the girl’s face into the slop. “You want to eat? Eat! Shovel it down! Did I starve you, you ungrateful beast?” The girl emerged choking, her face smeared with grease and filth, tears and snot carving tracks through the grime. In sheer desperation, her hollow eyes flicked to me, begging for a scrap of intervention. I lifted my jade goblet, taking a slow, deliberate sip of chilled spirit wine. It was exquisite. Selene looked away, her face slightly pale from the ugliness of the spectacle. Noticing her daughter’s discomfort, Cora jerked the chain, dragging the girl out of the hall like an unruly dog. “You disgust your betters,” Cora snarled into the night air. “Wait until we get home. I have new toys for you.” The Wretch’s eyes were entirely glazed over. Numb. Resigned to whatever torment awaited her in the dark. … The next afternoon, Cora returned with the Heart Lotus as promised. My daughter was nowhere to be seen. Leaning in close, Cora fixed her gaze on my eyes, making sure I caught every syllable. “Last night, I sent three beast-men into the cellar to teach that insolent little tramp some manners.” She smiled, a feral twitch of the mouth. “A mangy stray is worth nothing anyway. What matters is our Selene. Don’t you agree, sister?” I nodded gently. My husband, sitting nearby, cast a look of quiet disapproval in my direction. He was a man who prized his reputation for unblemished honor and high-minded nobility. He hated unsightly cruelty, yet he said nothing. Emboldened by my apparent spinelessness, Cora’s smile broadened. The sheer thrill of having us both dancing on the strings of her century-long deceit was intoxicating to her. She carried the crystalline lotus to Selene like an offering to a goddess. “Here, my darling. This is the heirloom of my maternal house. Take it, refine it, and no heavenly thunder will dare touch you.” Selene hesitated, glancing at me before reaching out. It was, after all, an extraordinary treasure. Seeing her pause, Cora grew frantic, grabbing the girl’s hand. She was terrified Selene might feel obliged to yield the treasure to me. “This is for your ascension! You don’t need to consider anyone else! Anyone who tries to stop you from taking this has a heart as black as coal!” She urged Selene to shift into her true form to begin absorbing the botanical essence. A soft rush of crimson light filled the room, and Selene manifested as a young, glorious firebird, her plumage shimmering like spun gold. Cora watched with naked, adoring hunger. Suddenly, Cora’s eyes locked onto the bird’s tail plumage. A single feather was missing from the tip. Her face twisted into instantaneous fury. She turned, pointing a trembling finger straight between my eyes, her spit flying into the air. “How have you been watching her?! A feather is gone! Gone! And you didn’t even notice?!” She shrieked, her voice cracking. “Is this how you play mother?!” I tilted my head, studying her with mild curiosity. “Your own daughter has been stripped practically bald by your own hands, yet you lose your mind over a single shed feather? What madness has taken you? If you have so much spare breath, go look after your own flesh and blood.” My cool indifference hit her like a bucket of ice water. She trembled with impotent fury, unable to strike me, yet suffocating on her own suppressed rage. Then, a venomous thought occurred to her. She whipped out a transmission talisman and infused it with spiritual power. Her voice carried across the ether, sharp as a rusted blade: “Take a dagger and carve up that stray’s face. Selene dropped a feather—it must be that vermin’s cursed aura clashing with her luck. Flay her skin until it bleeds.” From the parchment came an immediate, bone-chilling shriek. The ragged, child-like screams of the Wretch echoed through the talisman, wet and desperate: “Mercy! Auntie, please, mercy! I know my wrong—!” Cora closed her eyes, listening to the agonizing cries as if they were sweet hymns. Selene looked at the floor, keeping her silence as she always did. I sat still, motionless as carved jade. Snapping the talisman shut, Cora sighed, visibly revitalized. The pain of my flesh was the only medicine that soothed her diseased pride. “Selene is destined to sit upon the Phoenix Throne,” Cora said, smoothing her skirts. “You would do well to be more attentive, sister.” Selene shifted back into human form, murmuring a mild rebuke. “Aunt, I snagged the feather on a branch during flight practice. It does not hinder my core. You make too much of small things.” Cora’s eyes welled with frantic tears. “How can you call it small?! Every inch of your divine body is sacred! Cousin, brother-in-law—you must use your heart’s blood again! Nourish her meridians! Mend her plumage!” I narrowed my eyes slightly, pinning her with a steady, unblinking stare. Cora shifted under my gaze, laughing nervously. “I… I only say so out of love for the child,” she stammered, ushering Selene toward the inner chamber. “Come, darling. Aunt will help you absorb the lotus. When you are crowned Maiden, I have a great secret to share with you.” As the heavy wooden doors swung shut behind them, I quietly walked over and fastened the latch from the outside, the warmth entirely vanishing from my face. “Yes,” I thought into the quiet gloom. “It really is time for secrets to be laid bare.” … In the weeks leading up to the Ascension Conclave, Cora was at our estate almost every day, but she never brought my daughter again. Once, my husband asked after the girl in passing. Cora had merely sneered, dripping poison: “Why, does my noble brother-in-law fancy that little wretch? If you’re so fond of her, perhaps I should wrap her up and send her to your bed as a concubine?” Choked by her vulgarity, he fell silent, sighing with helpless disgust. When the day of the Conclave finally broke, lords and immortals from the eight corners of the realm gathered beneath the towering peaks of the Phoenix Court. Selene descended from the clouds draped in a ceremonial gown woven from seven-colored fire-feathers, a vision of untouchable divinity. And dragged behind Cora’s guards came my daughter. Heavy iron chains had been punched directly through her collarbones. She was led on all fours like a slaughtered hound, leaving a thick, dragging smear of crimson across the white marble steps. Just as the High Elder raised the ceremonial scepter to proclaim Selene the new Maiden of the Realm— Cora burst from the crowd, clutching an ancient Blood-Pledge Stone, wailing with devastating grief. “Hold! Stop the ceremony! It is all wrong—everything is wrong!” She fell to her knees, weeping bitterly before the assembly. “Sister! The Wretch’s blood… it does not fuse with mine upon the Pledge Stone! I tortured the clan midwife until she confessed—she swapped our infants in the cradle out of terror when my labor went wrong! Sister, I give you back your Wretch! Selene… Selene is my trueborn daughter!” She crawled forward, clutching desperately at the hem of my gown, looking so fragile, so broken, so utterly pitiable. The elders erupted in murmurs of disbelief. “Absurd! Selene is a celestial firebird—she could only be the child of Lady Aurelia and Lord Lucian! Cora is a common songbird. How could a finch birth a phoenix?” “Selene was raised on divine treasures to lead our people! That wretched creature has been broken, mutilated, and soiled by commoners. How could they be traded now?” “Everyone knows Selene is the very marrow of Lady Aurelia’s bones!” Yet amid the chaos, an elder from the borderlands leaned forward, squinting. “And yet… look at the shape of the Wretch’s jaw. Does she not resemble Lady Aurelia far more than the Maiden does?” The girl raised her swollen, blood-crusted face, catching my gaze for a fraction of a second before ducking her head in terror. My husband’s eyes darted frantically between the two girls, his jaw working in stunned disbelief. I raised a hand. The courtyard fell dead silent. A slow, serene smile spread across my face. “If that is the truth,” I said smoothly, “then let them be returned. Selene is indeed your daughter.” Cora’s weeping cut off mid-sob. She had prepared an entire arsenal of rehearsed pleas, none of which she needed. My husband lunged forward, grabbing my arm, his face pale. “Aurelia! How can you make such an outrageous decision on your own?! We poured a century of our lives into Selene! I will not allow you to discard our child on a whim!” The tiny spark of wild, desperate hope that had flickered in the sparrow girl’s eyes began to die, her tears pooling in the red mud beneath her chin. I looked around the assembly, my voice carrying over the crowd, clear and unwavering. “My cousin speaks the absolute truth. The Wretch is the trueborn daughter of Lucian and myself.” I paused, letting the silence stretch until it was deafening. “Because a hundred years ago, I lay in that bed, wide awake, and watched her switch the eggs with my own eyes.” The sparrow girl’s head jerked up, her hollow eyes blazing with impossible light. Trembling, she leaned toward me, her ruined mouth parting to shape the word “Mother”. Sweat beaded on Lucian’s forehead. “Aurelia… what madness is this? We prayed at the Ancestral Altar for a hundred days to conceive an heir! How could you watch someone steal our daughter and do nothing?!”
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