Tales of the Celestial Kingdom by Sue Lynn Tan EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Sue Lynn Tan
- Language: English
- Genre: Coming of Age Fantasy
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 21.1 MB
- Price: Free
Light filtered through the gauze screens that covered the windows, the
wooden frames latticed in a pattern of squares. I blinked, trying to adjust to
the dazzling brightness, my mind still sluggish. Slumber had been hard won
— I’d slept with the curtains pulled back from the posts, though it did little
good. While I did not perspire easily, my silk robe clung to me, damp with
sweat. Breathing in, I almost choked on the air, suffused with a brittle heat
unusual in the beginning of spring when the days still bore a remnant of
winter. My body felt heavy, each movement languorous, as I pushed myself
from the bed. I was alone, Houyi’s blanket still neatly folded at the foot of
the bed. Had he not returned during the night?
Walking to the windows, I pushed them apart, quickly—before the wood
seared my fingers. Through the slender opening, I glimpsed a crack of sky,
ablaze with vermilion flame. I dropped my gaze at once to protect my sight.
How long had it been this way, the heat intensifying without relief, day
blending seamlessly into night until I could no longer tell them apart? The
sun never set—if it still existed—like it was a yolk punctured, spilling
across the heavens. It had never been like this, not even in the most
scorching of summers. Tendrils of premonition curled in my stomach,
spiraling unbound like coils of smoke. This strange and terrible
phenomenon did not seem to be of our realm.
If only Houyi were here. He would calm my fears, he would know what
to do, always so steady and decisive. Even the king sought and treasured his
opinion. At times, my husband’s iron assurance and certainty grated on me,
particularly in the moments we disagreed—but now I wished I could lean
on it, to have him close when danger hovered around us. Yet since the skies
had turned to liquid fire, he was often away at the king’s behest. They had
sought the counsel of the wisest elders in the land, of soothsayers and
fortune-tellers, yet none possessed the answers needed.
I did not know how long I waited by the window; time had lost its
meaning with the position of the sun unknown. At last, familiar steps trod
along the stone path outside, firm and quick. Hastily, I tucked in the loose
strands of my hair and discarded my robe for a fresh one, a green silk
embroidered with lotuses.
The wooden door swung open, my pulse leaping as it always did at the
sight of my husband, even when streaked with sweat and dust. His black
hair was coiled into a topknot, held in place with a band of silver, and he
stood as straight as an arrow. His fine gray robe was wrinkled and scuffed at
the hem, fastened with a leather belt studded with jade. Many considered
his face to be strong rather than pleasing, with those sharp cheekbones, that
distinct cleft in his broad chin. Beneath winged eyebrows, his dark eyes
gleamed—his penetrating gaze that struck such terror into an enemy’s heart,
even as it quickened mine.
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