The Dragon’s Promise (Six Crimson Cranes, #2)

by Elizabeth Lim

“A promise is not a kiss in the wind, to be thrown about without care,” I murmured to myself. “It is a piece of yourself that is given away and will not return until your pledge is fulfilled.”

“Yet you act as though he’s the one who gave you a piece of his heart. As if he saved you from drowning in the Sacred Lake.”

“So,” Seryu spoke, more quietly than I’d ever heard him before. “Do you think you could try…to carve a place in your heart for me?”

“I didn’t want mine to be that way,” he confessed. “I was hoping, if it turned out to be you, that you would want to be here. Because you cared for me.” “I do care for you.” It was the truth, and I thought of our summer together, idling by the Sacred Lake and exchanging quips about magic and sorcery. I cared for him then, and I still cared for him now. “Would it be so bad, staying with me?” he said quietly. “I’d make sure you were safe. I could do that for you. I’ve always done that for you. I deserve a fair chance, don’t I?”

“You’d do well to remember this: your heart is your home. Until you understand that, you belong nowhere.”

“Then I’ll have to find you when you’re reborn—before your strands have time to knot with his again.”

After we passed the first footbridge, Takkan asked, rightfully, “Why are we running?”

“Because we can,” I replied between breaths. “Because I’ve been a thousand fathoms beneath the sea for the past week. Because my father told me to act as though nothing has happened, and this is the first thing the old Shiori would have done.”

“We can’t always protect those we love by shutting them out. That was Raikama’s mistake.”

“Surround yourself with those who’ll love you always,” I began, “through your mistakes and your faults. Make a family that will find you more beautiful every day, even when your hair is white with age. Be the light that makes someone’s lantern shine.”

“Your fate is bound to mine now,” I whispered, my lips against his. “Your heart is my own, and where you are is

my home. Whatever we face, we face it together.” “Together,” he echoed firmly. “Always.”

Takkan was the end of my string. No matter how far my kite wandered, it would always find its way back to him. And though the impossible still awaited us, my heart rested...

“You’ll never lose me, Bushi’an Takkan,” I replied. “Be it bright or dark, you are the light that makes my lantern shine.”