{"id":85,"date":"2013-09-03T18:24:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-03T18:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bestfantasynovel.com\/2013\/09\/03\/excerpt-graceling-by-kristin-cashore\/"},"modified":"2013-09-03T18:24:00","modified_gmt":"2013-09-03T18:24:00","slug":"excerpt-graceling-by-kristin-cashore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/2013\/09\/03\/excerpt-graceling-by-kristin-cashore\/","title":{"rendered":"Excerpt: Graceling by Kristin Cashore"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Graceling<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
by Kristin Cashore<\/a><\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
She caught the fall of every leaf in the garden, the rustle of every branch. And so she was astonished when a man stepped out of the darkness and grabbed her from behind. He wrapped his arm around her chest and held a knife to her throat. He started to speak, but in an instant she had deadened his arm, wrenched the knife from his hand, and thrown the blade to the ground. She flung him forward, over her shoulders.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
He landed on his feet.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Her mind raced. He was Graced, a fighter. That much was clear. And unless he had no feeling in the hand that had raked her chest, he knew she was a woman.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
He turned to face her. They eyed each other, warily, each no more than a shadow of the other. He spoke.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve heard a lady with this particular Grace.\u201d His voice was gravelly and deep. There was lilt to his words; it was not an accent she knew. She must learn who he was, so that she could know what to do with him.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t think what that lady would be doing so far from home, running around the courtyard of King Murgon at midnight,\u201d he said. He shifted slightly, placed himself between her and wall. He was taller than she was, and smooth in his movements, like a cat. Deceptively calm, ready to spring. A torch on the path nearby caught the glimmer of a small gold hoops in his ears. And his face was unbearded, like a Lienid.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
She shifted and swayed, her body ready, like his. She didn\u2019t have much time to decide. He knew who was she was. But if he was a Lienid, she didn\u2019t want to kill him.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t you have anything, Lady? Surely you don\u2019t think I\u2019ll let you pass without an explanation?\u201d There was something playful in his voice. She watched him, quietly. He stretched his arms in one flid motion, and her eyes unraveled the bands of gold that gleamed on his fingers.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re a Lienid,\u201d she said.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cYou have good eyesight,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cNot good enough to see the color of your eyes.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
He laughed. \u201cI think I know the color of yours.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Common sense told her to kill him. \u201cYou\u2019re one to speak of being far from home,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat\u2019s a Lienid doing in the court of King Murgon?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll tell you my reasons if you\u2019ll tell me yours.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll tell you nothing, and you must let me pass.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cMust I?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t, I\u2019ll have to force you.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cDo you think you can?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
She faked to her right, and he swung away, easily. She did it again, faster. Again, he escaped her easily. He was very good. But she was Katsa. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Also, please visit today’s Mystery Sponsor<\/a> (don’t lose your head over it or anything)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Graceling by Kristin Cashore She caught the fall of every leaf in the garden, the rustle of every branch. And so she was astonished when a man stepped out of the darkness and grabbed her from behind. He wrapped his arm around her chest and held a knife to her throat. He started to speak, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[161,162,177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-excerpt","category-excerpts","category-fantasy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}