Excerpt from THE WILL OF THE EMPRESS
by Tamora Pierce
|
A young man five feet nine inches tall walked through the slums beyond the East Gate, leading a pack-laden donkey. Atop his more usual burdens the donkey carried boxes with an assortment of shakkans, or miniature trees. The young man was a handsome fellow with bronze skin, broad shoulders, and glossy black hair that he wore cropped an inch long. His eyes were gray-green, turning darker green as he returned the admiring glances of the women who passed him by. Those eyes were set over a thin blade of a nose, a sensitive mouth, and a firm chin. He wore a Yanjing-style round-collared coat and leggings in tree green, and rough leather boots with fleece linings. A closer examination revealed what looked like flower tattoos covering his hands, while very close examination showed that the flowers lay under the young man’s skin and nails. They also moved, grew, put out leaves, and blossomed.
From Will of the Empress. Copyright © 2006 by Tamora Pierce.
|
|
