Sentence Sneak Peek - Seraphina

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

The first sentence from each chapter of Seraphina, it's a mini summary of what you can expect to read.

* Spoilers are highlighted like so :

“Prologue
I remember being born.”

“At the center of the cathedral stood a model of Heaven called the Golden House.”

“Orma had a scholar’s exemption from the bell, so few people ever realized he was a dragon.”

“Orma had saved my life three times.”

“For the next five years Orma was my teacher and my only friend.”

“It was, as always, a relief to retire to my rooms for the evening.”

“Sick and exhausted though I was, I could not put off dealing with Fruit Bat.”

“Between staying up late and rising early for my morning rou-tine, I got far too little sleep.”

“Lady Corongi was a petite woman, old and old fashioned.”

“Of course, I couldn’t run off in search of my people.”

“I strolled to the cathedral, as Orma suggested, having no desire to return to the palace yet.”

“But of course I might say anything, because you are quite far away just now,” said Prince Lucian, who had apparently been speaking to me for some time.”

“I took comfort in the normalcy and routine of my garden that evening.”

“I dared not let my eyes widen in horror or the guards would be on to me; to buy myself some time, I curtsied deeply, to a slow count of three.”

“The next day was the last before Comonot arrived, and Virid-ius planned to rehearse us within an inch of our lives.”

“It was late enough when I reached Castle Orison that I wasn’t sure where I’d find Lucian Kiggs.”

“I returned to my room for a nap, making sure to wake in plenty of time to change into my formal houppelande.”

“The Mirror Hymn went smoothly.”

“I quit the bell very soon thereafter, retreating to the sanctuary of my suite.”

“We pressed on harder after that, ostensibly to make up lost time, an unspoken anxiety hanging over us at how close we might have been.”

“My horse reared, and I was on the ground, flat on my back in the snow, not a whisper of breath left in me.”

“Speculus, for us Goreddis, should be spent in contemplation of one’s sins and shortcomings.”

“By the time I arrived, Kiggs had debriefed the Queen and Comonot and had taken himself off to bed.”

“I’d been up all night; I staggered off to bed.”

“But whom could I tell?”

“To my dumbfoundment, it was Lady Corongi; I’d mistaken the two peaks of her old-fashioned butterfly hennin.”

“The chill wind in the open sledge did little to sober me up.”

“I did the first thing that occurred to me.”

“Or tried to, anyway.”

“The sky was just growing dark when our carriage rolled into Stone Court.”

“Glisselda spotted us at once across the sparkly crush of court-iers; she smiled, but something in our expressions rapidly changed hers to quizzical.”

“No sooner had he left than Dame Okra was upon me.”

“Comonot and I reached his quarters at the same time; Kiggs had arrived well before us with a few guards he’d picked up along the way.”

“Oh, there you are, Lucian!”

“Imlann turned tail and fled, or appeared to.”

“All the palace was in an uproar when we got back, searching for Glisselda; no one but us had known where she’d gone.”

“The meeting adjourned; the Regent and Count Pesavolta couldn’t quit the room fast enough.”

“When I reached the palace, there was a great crush of car-riages at the gates.”