Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Author: Elizabeth Lim
- Language: English
- Genre: Teen & Young Adult Asian Geography & Cultures Fiction eBooks
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 3 MB
- Price: Free
The bottom of the lake tasted like mud, salt, and regret. The water was so
thick it was agony keeping my eyes open, but thank the great gods I did.
Otherwise, I would have missed the dragon.
He was smaller than I’d imagined one to be. About the size of a
rowboat, with glittering ruby eyes and scales green as the purest jade. Not at
all like the village-sized beasts the legends claimed dragons to be, large
enough to swallow entire warships.
He swam nearer until his round red eyes were so close they reflected
my own.
He was watching me drown.
Help, I pleaded. I was out of air, and I had barely a second of life left
before my world folded into itself.
The dragon regarded me, lifting a feathery eyebrow. For an instant, I
dared hope he might help. But his tail wrapped around my neck, squeezing
out the last of my breath.
And all went dark.
In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have told my maids I was going to jump
into the Sacred Lake. I only said it because the heat this morning was
insufferable. Even the chrysanthemum bushes outside had wilted, and the
kitebirds soaring above the citrus trees were too parched to sing. Not to
mention, diving into the lake seemed like a perfectly sensible alternative to
attending my betrothal ceremony—or as I liked to call it, the dismal end of
my future.
Unfortunately, my maids believed me, and word traveled faster than
demonfire to Father. Within minutes, he sent one of my brothers—along
with a retinue of stern-faced guards—to fetch me.
So here I was, being shepherded through the palace’s catacomb of
corridors, on the hottest day of the year. To the dismal end of my future.
As I followed my brother down yet another sun-soaked hall, I fidgeted
with my sleeve, pretending to cover a yawn as I peeked inside.
“Stop yawning,” Hasho chided.
I dropped my arm and yawned again. “If I let them all out now, I won’t
have to do it in front of Father.”
“Shiori…”
“You try being woken up at dawn to have your hair brushed a thousand
times,” I countered. “You try walking in a god’s ransom of silk.” I lifted my
arms, but my sleeves were so heavy I could barely keep them raised. “Look
at all these layers.
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