Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 136009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
“Cleora,” she said down that thread. “I need you. It’s urgent.”
Nothing happened.
Kerrigan concentrated harder. “I was noisy on the spirit plane, and it irritated you enough to come search for me. If you could come talk to me now, that would be most helpful.”
Silence.
Kerrigan huffed. She could almost sense Cleora on the other end. She didn’t know if that meant she was busy or if something was blocking it.
She tried again, reaching out through the spirit plane as she had done so many times recently in Alandria. She convinced herself it wasn’t that different to do it to Domara as well. Or at least she hoped so.
Kerrigan sat back into the sand with a sigh. “I don’t know if I can do it.”
Zina shrugged. “Yeah. Sounds right.”
“You agree?”
“I didn’t think you could talk to someone in Domara or walk through portals to the land of the gods either, but here we are. So if you say this is where things become impossible, then I believe you.”
Kerrigan narrowed her eyes. “Are you saying that because you believe it, or do you want me to try again?”
Zina winked at her. “What do you think?”
Classic Zina.
Kerrigan closed her eyes again to try contacting Cleora, frustration already settling in. Then she felt a sort of pop on the plane. Her eyes flew open, and a person stood before her. Not Cleora.
“Danae!”
The girl rushed to her, wrapping her arms around her. “Cleora sent me. She said she could hear you. I don’t even know how that’s possible.”
“New tricks. Is she busy? We really need her.”
“She said to give her a few minutes and she would get out of her lesson to meet you,” Danae said. Her eyes flickered to Zina. “Who is your friend?”
Zina came to her feet and smiled at Danae. “I’m Zahina. You can call me Zina. Everyone does. I was Kerrigan’s first mentor, and you’re the truthteller.”
Danae’s mouth popped open. “Uh…yep. That’s me.”
“What an interesting talent. How does it work?”
“A secret hidden talent that could get her killed,” Kerrigan reminded her. She’d told Zina as much as she could about their time in Domara to explain all that she knew of the place. “I told you that part too.”
“Killed where she’s from, but not wherever we are,” Zina said. “Have you been practicing? How exactly does it work?”
“Don’t mind her,” Kerrigan told Danae. “Zina is too curious for her own good.”
“It’s okay. I’m not used to people knowing. None of my classmates do or my teachers, except Cleora. And there’s a new problem,” Danae said, a flash of anger crossing her face.
“New problem?”
Danae met her gaze. “A Doma heir enrolled at the academy.”
Kerrigan let the weight of that assessment linger. “Gods.”
“Yeah. If he finds out what I am…” Danae shivered. “I’ll be enslaved like the rest of my people.”
Zina frowned. “Maybe kill him.”
Danae burst into laughter. “That’s your solution?”
“Might work.”
“Or it might bring more powerful Doma to the academy to investigate,” Kerrigan said. “Be careful.”
Danae nodded. “What was it you needed from Cleora?”
“Have you heard of a metal crown in relation to He Who Reigns?”
“Of course,” Danae said with a laugh. “Who hasn’t?”
Zina and Kerrigan exchanged a look before Kerrigan said, “Me?”
“Oh, I forget that you’re not from here. This is like basic information delivered to littlings,” Danae said. “Even in Andine, I’d heard the story. So it goes like this. He Who Reigns had a brother, Fairgate.”
“What was his name?” Zina asked.
“The brother?” Danae asked.
“No, the reigning guy.”
Danae shrugged. “It’s been lost. No one knows it any longer.”
“Okay,” Zina said, dragging out the end of the word. “And this person is a god?”
“He’s the god,” Danae said. “Well, of the Doma religion. Not of the Andines, which is where I was born.”
Zina waved her hand. “Sorry. Continue the tale.”
“Anyway, He Who Reigns had a brother. They were fighting for supremacy of the land. Their father had been eaten by the giant snake of time, and their mother was imprisoned. Fairgate suggested they rule jointly to offer a fair union for their subjects, but He Who Reigns sought power above all else. He killed his brother with a white crystal blade. The blade drank his brother’s blood, and with the blood and power, He Who Reigns forged a metal crown that ate light itself.”
Kerrigan could barely breathe. That was the crown. It had to be. But how the hell had it gotten to Alandria?
“Fairgate’s wrath rumbled through the underworld, and with the strength of the Bridge of Passing, he returned to the earthly plane to challenge his brother once more. He stole the crown and threw it to the ends of the earth, where it was buried at the base of a mountain. He Who Reigns took up his crystal blade against Fairgate for what he’d done, sending him back to the underworld, where he has ruled ever since.”