Chapter One: The Mirror Remembered Him Before the Applause Did

Lin Wu turned, her black skirt cutting a bright arc through the water. In the twelve-meter mirror at the end of the stage, everything moved half a beat late—the lights dimmed late, the audience rose late, and her reflection turned late. Only the reflected Shen Yan was on time. He stood behind another Lin Wu, deathly pale, silently forming three words: Don't let go. The real Shen Yan shoved her away. The music broke at its climax. Lin Wu slid to her knees and looked back. The water beneath Shen Yan no longer reflected the stage. It showed a gilded ballroom where figures in evening coats and gowns spun beneath the surface, their faces veiled in white. A pale hand emerged through the mirror and settled on his shoulder. Lin Wu lunged and caught him.