The Dragon's Promise (six Crimson Cranes, #2)

The novel opens with a letter from Princess Shiori of Kiata to her betrothed, Bushi'an Takkan. She is leaving for Ai'long, the hidden underwater realm of dragons, to fulfill a promise to her deceased stepmother, Raikama. Raikama left Shiori a dark, broken dragon pearl belonging to a mysterious figure called the Wraith, instructing her to return it to the dragon strong enough to make it whole. Shiori rides the dragon prince Seryu, her friend, into Ai'long, carrying the pearl, a starstroke net capable of exposing a dragon's heart, and a sketchbook from Takkan. Her enchanted paper bird, Kiki, who holds a piece of Shiori's soul, rides in her sleeve.

In Ai'long, a realm of coral and seagrass beneath the Taijin Sea, time passes far faster than on land. At the palace of King Nazayun, the Dragon King, an invisible current tears Shiori away and deposits her in a chamber where kelp shackles bind her. Nazayun demands the pearl, calling it an abomination that will devastate Kiata if it breaks completely. Shiori refuses. She turns the starstroke net against Nazayun, but he is a god of dragons, immune to it. His daughter, Lady Solzaya, tears Seryu's protective pearl fragment from Shiori's neck, causing her to drown. Before Shiori loses consciousness, the pearl emits a burst of protective light.

Shiori awakens a week later in Solzaya's torture chamber, where she meets Gen, an enchanter-in-training who has been mostly turned to stone after being lured to Ai'long to steal Solzaya's mirror of truth. Nazayun decrees an immediate binding ceremony to make Shiori Seryu's companion, requiring her to drink an elixir that erases all memories, transforms the drinker, and traps them in Ai'long forever. Seryu argues that Shiori's permanent absence would protect Kiata: as the bloodsake, a person whose blood can free the demons imprisoned in Kiata's Holy Mountains, her immortality would prevent a new bloodsake from being born. Despite the logic, Shiori cannot abandon Takkan and her family.

Lady Nahma, Seryu's aunt and a former human transformed into a sea maid, secretly helps Shiori through telepathy, revealing that someone at the ceremony will desire the pearl and know where to find the Wraith. At the ceremony, Kiki swallows the elixir to save Shiori. When Nazayun discovers the deception, Elang, the High Lord of the Westerly Seas, crashes through the ceiling with a battalion of turtles. Elang is half dragon and half human, born without a pearl and unable to assume a full dragon form. Seryu helps Shiori escape, taking a lightning strike to protect her, and transforms into his full dragon form for the first time.

With Nahma's aid, Shiori and Seryu bring Gen to Elang's castle. Elang reveals that the Wraith is half demon, which explains the pearl's corruption. Shiori strikes a bargain: she will steal a shard of Solzaya's mirror for Elang in exchange for the Wraith's true name and location. Gen warns that his former teacher became the demon Bandur, and that if Bandur obtains the pearl, he could destroy it and unleash catastrophe. Elang appears to betray Shiori to Solzaya but has secretly equipped Seryu for battle. Shiori proposes a wager to Solzaya: find all seven shards of the mirror hidden among thousands of ordinary pieces, or surrender the pearl. Drawing on memories of Takkan, she casts strands of her soul across the mirror field and wins.

Nazayun attacks with an army, but Seryu, now rivaling his grandfather in size, pins him with the starstroke net. Shiori extracts Nazayun's heart and forces him to swear no dragon will harm her or her kin. On the surface, Elang provides the Wraith's true name, Khramelan, and reveals he dwells on the Forgotten Isles of Lapzur, a realm of ghosts and demons. Seryu and Shiori share an emotional farewell; he acknowledges she loves Takkan and dives into the sea.

Shiori returns to Kiata after six months, her hair streaked silvery white from the pearl's power. She reunites with Takkan at the palace. At a family dinner, Bandur possesses Qinnia, Shiori's brother Andahai's wife, and poisons Shiori. An antidote Raikama left saves her life.

Defying her father, Shiori visits the Holy Mountains with Takkan and Gen, who has come to Kiata under a false identity. Gen explains that Bandur's power is tied to an amulet lodged within the mountains, near a growing breach in the central peak that glows scarlet. Shiori plans to retrieve the amulet, fly to Lapzur, return the pearl to Khramelan, and trap Bandur as Lapzur's new guardian. The enchanted pool called the Tears of Emuri'en shows her a vision of Bandur killing Takkan on Lapzur. She tells Takkan, who refuses to stay behind. At their betrothal ceremony, Bandur possesses Emperor Hanriyu and creates an illusion of slashing Takkan's throat. In private, Shiori and Takkan bind themselves with Raikama's enchanted red thread and share their first kiss.

Shiori uses the pearl to transform her six brothers into cranes. Takkan retrieves Bandur's amulet from the breach, and they depart for Lapzur. The journey takes them through Tambu, Raikama's homeland, where they crash on the island of Sundau. A shaman named Oshli reveals Raikama's history: Born as Channari, Raikama had the face of a snake and was shunned, while her beloved sister Vanna was killed by a demon. The Serpent Queen, Ujal, confirms that Khramelan was that demon, betraying Channari's trust. Shiori buries Raikama's ashes beside Vanna's grave. During the night, Bandur overhears Kiki say Khramelan's name, learning the Wraith's true identity.

Over Lapzur, Khramelan destroys their basket. Takkan leaps into the sea to draw Bandur away. On the ruined island, Bandur captures Shiori over the well of the blood of stars, the source of the greatest mortal magic, and begins extracting her soul. Takkan fires his last arrow at Bandur's amulet, freeing her. She commands the pearl to free Khramelan and bind Bandur. Khramelan defeats the demon army and hurls Bandur into the well, sealing it with demonfire, a supernatural flame. Bandur becomes Lapzur's new guardian.

Back in Kiata, the pearl reunites with Khramelan, transforming him into a magnificent blue-green dragon. Shiori's brothers become human again, though Hasho, one of her brothers, retains a crane's wing on his right arm from Bandur's curse. The captured priestess Janinha casts a dying curse: If Shiori will not enter the fire, Kiata will burn. Demonfire erupts across the forests. Shiori and her family fold a thousand paper birds and animate them as an army. Overwhelmed by the priestesses' forces, Shiori sends tiny paper birds to the Holy Mountains offering the trapped demons freedom in exchange for an oath never to harm any living being in Kiata. She has woven strands of her soul into the birds, sealing the breach around the demons until they agree. The demons swear the oath, magic returns to Kiata, and the breach seals permanently.

Shiori has given away nearly all her soul and lies dying. Lord Sharima'en, the god of death, arrives, but Lady Imurinya, the goddess of the moon, intervenes with a message from Seryu, now heir to the Dragon King. The gods compromise: Shiori will spend half the year on the moon and half on earth. Kiki, transformed into a real crane, joins Imurinya. Raikama's last thread connecting her to Shiori is snipped by a paper bird, and her spirit rests at last. In the epilogue, Shiori descends from the moon on the first day of spring. Takkan waits for her on Rabbit Mountain with a cloak and rice cakes. All six brothers and Emperor Hanriyu have gathered for the reunion. Magic has returned to Kiata, and under the rising moon, Takkan and Shiori walk home together, their fates knotted.