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The Dragon and the Sun Lotus (Three Realms, 2) - Hardcover

Buch 2 von 2: The Three Realms

Zhao, Amélie Wen

 
9780593813881: The Dragon and the Sun Lotus (Three Realms, 2)
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 059381388X ISBN 13: 9780593813881
Verlag: Random House LLC US, 2026

Inhaltsangabe

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The epic sequel to The Scorpion and the Night Blossom, continuing the dark and opulent fantasy saga of demons, dangerous magic, and forbidden love as Àn’yīng fights to save her kingdom from destruction.

The first edition hardcover of The Dragon and the Sun Lotus features stunning ombre stenciled edges and exclusive printed endpapers!

A decade ago, the Kingdom of Night began the war against the Kingdom of Rivers, ravaging the lands and releasing mó—beautiful, ravenous demons—to roam free, drinking the souls of mortals. Now the mó have made it beyond the magical wards of the immortal realm—the Kingdom of Sky—and will not stop until the entire world falls to darkness.

Àn’yīng is determined to banish the mó to their realm and return the mortal realm to peace. But a stunning betrayal has turned the tides of this war: Her handsome rival from the Immortality Trials and the man she was falling in love with, Yù’chén, is now the enemy. Yù’chén is half mó, his mother none other than Sansiran, the Demon Queen of the Kingdom of Night . . . and the monster responsible for killing Àn’yīng’s father.

There is one hope for the future, though. The boy in the jade—Àn’yīng’s lifelong mystery guardian and heir to the last mortal Emperor—Hào’yáng. Àn’yīng and Hào’yáng must join forces to rally an army that stretches across realms, from the Four Seas of the Dragons to the Phoenixes of the Golden Desert. But first, Àn’yīng must awaken to the immortal power slumbering in her own veins.

The thrilling conclusion of The Three Realms duology
THE SCORPION AND THE NIGHT BLOSSOM • THE DRAGON AND THE SUN LOTUS

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Amélie Wen Zhao is the New York Times, Sunday Times, and internationally bestselling author of The Scorpion and the Night Blossom, The Dragon and the Sun Lotus, the Song of the Last Kingdom duology, and the Blood Heir trilogy. She was born in Paris and grew up in Beijing, where she spent her days reenacting tales of legendary heroes, ancient kingdoms, and lost magic at her grandmother’s courtyard house. She attended college in the United States and now resides in New York City, working as a finance professional by day and fantasy author by night. In her spare time, she loves to travel with her family in China, where she’s determined to walk the rivers and lakes of old just like the practitioners in her novels do.

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1

Àn’ying

Xi’lín Village, Central Province, Kingdom of Rivers

My mother always told me the sunrises were the most beautiful part of our realm. A sky on fire in shades of rose and persimmon, clouds streaked with flame, and the breath of a world waking to the light.

I remember Ma’s words as I move through the pine forest on velvet tread. I hold a bow and arrow—­but my crescent blades are tucked in the bodice and sleeves of my black gauze dress, like quiet companions in the predawn silence.

This morning, I am hunting.

Dew from pine needles wets my sleeves as I slip past, a trailing shadow. I hear a slight rustling, and a speckle-­coated hare darts through the brush.

I squint through the foliage, following glimpses of the hare’s coat as it skitters through the browning leaves, unaware of my pursuit. Méi’zi will cry that I’ve killed a rabbit, but Ma needs the nutrients as her body returns to full health.

Autumn has arrived, bringing a crisp bite to the morning air. The flowers are beginning to lose their bloom; soon, winter’s snows will cover everything in white, and my realm will be made anew with the turn of a year. Yet ever since I’ve returned here to the mortal realm, its colors have seemed duller, the landscapes imperfect, compared with the ethereal beauty of the immortal realm.

Real, a voice in the back of my mind whispers. It’s real.

The hare leaps into a small clearing and stops, nose twitching, as though scenting for danger. I, too, stop in my tracks. It’s a long shot from here, but I might make it.

As I raise my bow and arrow and take aim, a sudden gust of wind stirs, shifting the clouds overhead. The clearing fills with the warm glow of dawn, and my mind conjures a dreamlike memory.

He stands in the clearing, turning toward me as though time has slowed.

Hair, billowing like swirls of ink.

Eyes, flashing like golden embers.

The phantom of a smile on his face as his gaze lifts to meet mine—­

I take a swift step back. Blink and the vision’s gone—­there’s only an empty clearing, leaves falling like the wings of dying butter­flies.

The hare starts at my movement and shoots off into the brush again.

My heart is in my throat. I have the strangest feeling that I’m dreaming and that I’ve had this dream before. The setting changes: Sometimes it’s a bamboo forest, sometimes a field of flowering cherry trees, other times a vast mountaintop . . . but the person I’m chasing is always the same.

The clearing before me blurs.

I hate him.

I miss him.

I hate myself for missing him.

Yù’chén is the son of the Kingdom of Night’s demon queen, Sansiran—­and the mortal emperor, as I found out a few days past. Half mó and half mortal, he tricked the wards of the immortal realm, sneaking in to compete in the Immortality Trials in the guise of a mortal . . . and enabling the Kingdom of Night’s demonic army to cross into the previously impenetrable Kingdom of Sky.

He is also the man who saved my life more times than I can count.

And the man I thought myself in love with.

No. I release an arrow into the brush where the hare disappeared, imagining it to be Yù’chén’s heart instead. “I hate him,” I mutter, as though speaking the words aloud will render them true. “And I’ll kill him.”

“Admirable attitude, but your bow-­handling skills leave much to be desired.”

I whirl around. Hào’yáng strides toward me between the pines. He’s shed the golden armor that once marked him a captain of the guard of the Kingdom of Sky, but light still wraps around him, teasing out the gold-­stitched patterns on his pale shift. It catches on the silver hilt at his waist—­the longsword named Azure Tide, gifted to his lineage by the dragons in a time long past.

Hào’yáng, my boy in the jade. Rightful heir to our realm, the Kingdom of Rivers.

And now, my betrothed.

He studies me as he approaches. “Nock your arrow and take aim again,” he says coolly, and I obey, pivoting to face the clearing. My pulse is still racing, but in moments I feel a warm hand at my elbow.

“Lift it to be level with your chin.” Hào’yáng’s voice is low by my ear, and as his other hand comes to meet mine, steady and firm, the tumult of my memories dissolves. My mind clears, sharpens like a blade. “Draw . . . and release.”

Swoosh. My arrow whizzes through the clearing, lodging firmly in the trunk of a pine.

Hào’yáng makes a satisfied hum. “Whoever your prior instructor was did not do you justice.”

I turn to him and find his eyes narrowed, the corner of his mouth ghosting into a smile that I’ve seen only a handful of times. “It isn’t the instructor who’s at fault but the student who is lacking,” I reply.

His gaze dances with light as it meets mine. “I find that difficult to believe,” he says as he steps away, his hands coming to rest behind his back.

“You humor me.”

It’s been only two days since we arrived back at my village, Xi’lín—­and less than a week since we escaped the battle between the demonic army and the immortals in the Kingdom of Sky that interrupted the Immortality Trials. Though the Kingdom of Night began its war against the Kingdom of Sky nearly ten years ago, the mortal realm is less safe than it’s ever been.

Yet now, with Hào’yáng’s return, we have a plan to take it back from the demons.

Before the Immortality Trials ended, I learned my true heritage. I am the daughter of Lady Shi’ya—­one of the legendary Eight Immortals—­and as her sole surviving heir, I have the right to call upon an army of immortals pledged to her name.

Hào’yáng needs this army to defeat the Kingdom of Night and take back the Kingdom of Rivers from their clutches. And so we agreed to an alliance.

A marriage alliance. Political in nature.

I touch the broken jade pendant resting against my chest. My father gave me its other half when our kingdom fell to the demon realm, telling me there was a guardian at the other end of it; all I had to do was ask for their help. In the years after he died, my guardian in the jade was the person I turned to as war ravaged our land. Whether it was to treat my sick mother—­who was slowly dying after an attack by a mó—­or learning to care for and feed my baby sister, the guardian in the jade always had an answer.

I lost mine, but just weeks ago, I found the owner of its other half that I now wear: my guardian in the jade, Hào’yáng.

We have had little chance to be together in the past few days—­me, focused on nursing my mother back to health; Hào’yáng, on strengthening the wards of our village with talismans.

Even so, we both know it’s only a matter of time until Sansiran will realize that the heir to the Kingdom of Rivers is missing from the Kingdom of Sky, and she’ll come searching—­right into my village, I’m sure of it.

I glance up. Gold-­tipped clouds are scattered across coral-­hued skies—­yet beyond them, storm clouds linger. The weather has been tempestuous since our return; there are whispers in my village that the gods are angry.

Only a handful of us know the truth: that war has arrived at the immortal realm...

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Verlag
Random House LLC US
Erscheinungsdatum
2026
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
059381388X
ISBN 13 
9780593813881
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Auflage
1
Anzahl der Seiten
400
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Van Ditmar Boeken, VDB Sales
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