The Dragon's Promise by Elizabeth Lim

Author:Elizabeth Lim [Lim, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2022-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

The palace was beautiful at night. Lanterns bobbed from the eaves, and fireflies flickered over the garden ponds. Takkan and I walked side by side, our steps falling into a natural rhythm. It would have been a perfect evening if not for the secrets I held. I sensed Takkan was holding something back as well.

He wasn’t naturally chatty, but usually our silence was comfortable, easy. Not tonight.

“Takkan…” I knelt. “What’s on your mind?”

“The meeting with the ministers this morning,” Takkan confessed. “It didn’t go so well. I think we should leave for Lapzur sooner than we planned. You’re not safe here.”

I almost laughed. Hawar and his nest of bureaucrats were the least of my troubles. “Don’t tell me you’re concerned about the hornets,” I said with a dismissive chuckle. “What a worrywart you are. Father would have them flayed for scowling at me.”

“That might be, but I wouldn’t discount their influence, Shiori. Hawar’s especially. After what happened in the mountains, your father’s promised that you won’t leave the palace again.”

That was news, and I rolled my eyes. “Did he, now? What did that rat Hawar say to him?” I rummaged in my bag for the mirror of truth. “No, don’t tell me, I’ll look for myself. It’s about time I learned to use this, anyway.”

I rubbed the glass clean and held it high. “Mirror, show me what the ministers said.”

The mirror misted, then it dove inside the Hornet’s Nest, showing the ministers sitting along the paneled walls and Father standing in the center, with a mourning sash over his kingly robes.

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