The Bride of Dragon

Prologue - Once Upon A Time

Wei Wuxian is getting married.

The date has been planned, the clothing tailored. Chrysanthemums, lilies, and orchids, all delicately plucked and fussed over when the servants carefully adorned the palanquin that will carry Wei Wuxian to his groom.

Wei Wuxian will admit to having thought about his marriage as a child. Wondering what sort ofsoul he would live out his life with. Would they be kind? Would they be beautiful? Would theyShare a love as bright as the love his parents once had?

 He had once joked he would marry his adoptive sister, Jiang Yanli when he was nothing more than a scrawny twelve-year-old still learning the meaning of love. She had smiled, as she always did when she saw him, while her brother, Jiang Cheng, had squawked and told him he wasn't nearly worthy enough for her. Her mother, when she heard such words, had frowned—as she always did when she saw him—and scolded him harshly, forcing him to repent silently on his knees. Punishing him for his "careless words" and a grudge he did not build himself.

 A soft shuffling sound in the quiet room Wei Wuxian is preparing in. He opens his eyes as Jiang Yanli soundlessly sits behind him and begins to gently comb through his hair one last time.

Wei Wuxian is getting married.

He does not know his groom. Well, he has not met his groom. He has seen him—from a distance,always—several times and has heard over and over the stories, the villagers whisper. Their voices were a mix of reverence and terror; of loathing and awe. He has no written name, his groom, only the name by which the villagers use to reference him: Hanguang-Jun. The light bearer. The God of the Mountain.

Wei Wuxian knows only three things about him: one, he rarely leaves the mountains the villagershave named his domain; two, that he was first spotted less than two decades ago which, in WeiWuxian's mind is hardly long enough to be named a God; and three, that he is not human. He is a dragon.

Wei Wuxian is getting married.

His husband-to-be is longer than a tree is tall, whiter than freshly fallen snow, and glows brightly

under the vivid moonlight. The mountain he calls home retains a frost even in the hottest summer—a frost that is slowly encroaching on the forest that encircles it—and on the off days he flies low over this sparse forest the villagers use for hunting or foraging, he always brings a dusting of snowflakes, colder than any Yunmeng has ever known before. He reigns over their winters, they say, his displeasure with them being known by the chill coming in sooner, the ice lasting longer.

He is a God, after all. And all Gods demand worship.

Wei Wuxian is getting married .

"You look beautiful," his sister tells Wei Wuxian, dressed in his vivid red silks, and her eyes arered, smile shaky, and voice barely choking back a sob. "As beautiful as I did on my wedding day."

This is a lie. Wei Wuxian knows this because no one could ever even dream of besting his JieJie in beauty on her wedding day. She had been as dazzling as the sun. Even the gods must have noticed. He tells her so, guiding her hand to cup his cheek so he may lean into her warmth. She hiccups over a wet laugh. Wei Wuxian can feel her fingers tightening in his own.

"A-Xian," she whispers. "Oh, A-Xian..." He can give her no more comfort. There is a knock at the door. It is time.

Wei Wuxian is getting married .

He must give his family their goodbyes at the gate of their home. His family is forbidden fromwalking with him to the forest's edge where he'll be dropped down. This is partly due to thevillagers worrying Wei Wuxian will flee his marriage—something he takes great offense to, hewould never sully his adoptive family's name like that—but primarily to do with Jiang Chenghaving thrown himself at his mother's feet, sobbing and begging for her to reconsider when thevillagers had gathered and demanded Wei Wuxian as the "bride".

He had pleaded and pleaded but even if he had a chance at changing his mother's mind, he would have no such luck with the others. In the end, Wei Wuxian had stood, on legs ready to collapse, and offered himself instead.

Today, his legs are oddly steady beneath him, as he hugs his sister, tugs on the hair of his little brother, and formally salutes both Madam Yu and Jiang Fengmian. Little is said. Few know what to say.

"Be well," he tells him with as much of a smile as he can manage, before turning and climbing into the palanquin. He does not face them again, even when he hears his siblings sob.

Wei Wuxian is getting married .

The trip to the mountain base is quick and Wei Wuxian knows they have arrived by the chill thatseeps in and clutches at his bones. The villagers that had carried him lower him swiftly, one evenoffering a muted apology, and their retreating footsteps echo not long after that.

Wei Wuxian takes a deep breath.

Wei Wuxian is getting married.

Wei Wuxian is a sacrifice.

End of the prologue...