Spin the Dawn (The Blood of Stars, #1)

by Elizabeth Lim

“Don’t work so hard you—” “Become the kite that never flies,” I finished for him. “I know.”

“Be careful. The palace…it will be dangerous.” “I will be careful, Baba. I promise.” “Go, then. Show them what you can do.”

The emperor’s trial will be hard on you, but know that no matter whether you are chosen to stay or must come home, you are already the best tailor in A’landi to me. You’ve seized the wind, as I always knew you would.

I followed mutely, kicking at a pile of dirt when he wasn’t looking. What a confusing, confusing man.

Demon’s breath! How dense could he be?

He smiled, seeing the flowers tucked behind my ear; then he cleared his throat. “You accepted them.” “Was I not supposed to?” “A man who wishes to court a woman brings her flowers.”

“It is an illusion to assume we choose whom we love. I cannot change how I feel about you. I would move the sun and the moon if it meant being with you. As for my oath…I cannot promise to break it, but I would do everything in my power to make you happy, Maia. That I can promise.”

“And what does Edan mean?” He smiled, his lips parting slightly before they covered mine. “It means hawk.”

Day after day and night after night, she spun the dawn and unraveled the dusk.

“And I’ll have you. The sun and moon only see each other one day out of the entire year. Even if it’s an hour or a day—I’d rather be with you for that time than not at all.”

I knew then that we were like two pieces of cloth, sewn together for life. Our stitches couldn’t be undone. I wouldn’t let them.

It was the tale of a boy, too. A boy who could fly but not swim. A boy with the powers of the gods but the shackles of a slave. A boy who loved me. It was a tale still being written.