A Realm of Shadows by Morgan Rice Read Free Book Online Page B

his back, higher and higher, up in the sky.
    Duncan’s heart
broke as he watched her go, heading north, wondering if he would ever see her
again as she flew somewhere toward the blackness of Marda.
     

CHAPTER TEN
     
     
    Kyra leaned
forward and gripped Theon’s scales as they flew, holding tight as the wind
ripped through her hair. They flew in and out of clouds, her hands shaking from
the moisture, the cold, yet Kyra ignored it all as they raced across Escalon on
the way to Marda. Nothing would stop her now.
    Kyra’s mind swam
with all she’d just been through, still trying to process it all. She recalled her
father, and was happy to think of him safe with his men outside of Andros. She felt a great sense of satisfaction. Time and again she had almost died trying
to reach him, had been warned to stay away at the cost of her life. Yet she had
not given up, sensing deep in her heart that he needed her. She had learned a
valuable lesson: she must always trust her instincts, no matter how many people
warned her away.
    Indeed, as she
reflected on it, she realized now that that was precisely why Alva had warned
her away: it was a test. He had made it clear that she would die if she went
back for her father because he wanted to test her resolve, to test her courage.
He had known all along that she would live. He wanted to see if she would head
into battle, though, if she thought she would die.
    Of course, at
the same time her father had saved her; if he had not arrived when he had,
Theon would still be pinned beneath that rubble and she would surely be dead. Thinking
of her father sacrificing everything for her lifted her heart, too. It brought
tears to her eyes as she thought of his braving the flames, and dragons, and
death, all just for her.
    Kyra smiled as
she thought of her brother Aidan, so happy that he was alive and safe, too. She
thought of her two dead brothers, and as much strife and rivalry as they’d had
between them, it still pained her. She wished she could have been there to
protect them.
    Kyra thought of Andros, the once great capital, now a cauldron of flame, and her heart fell. Would Escalon
ever return to its former glory?
    So much had
happened at once, Kyra could barely process it. It was as if the world were
spinning out of control beneath her, as if the only constant these days was
change.
    Kyra tried to
shake it all from her mind and focus on the journey before her: Marda. Kyra
felt infused with a sense of purpose as she flew, her heart pounding, anxious
to get there, to find the Staff of Truth. She dipped through clouds and looked
down as she flew, looking for markers, trying see how close she was to the
border, the Flames. As she searched the landscape, her heart fell to see what
had become of her homeland: she saw a land torn apart, scarred, burnt by flames.
She saw entire strongholds destroyed, whether by Pandesian soldiers, or marauding
trolls, or enraged dragons, she did not know. She saw a land so ravaged it was unrecognizable
from the place she had once known and loved. It was hard to believe. The Escalon
she knew was no more.
    It all felt
surreal to her, hard to imagine that such change could come so drastically and
so quickly. It made her wonder. What if, on that one snowy night, she had never
encountered the wounded Theos? Would the fate of Escalon have taken a different
course?
    Or had it all
been predestined? Was she the one responsible for all this, for all that she
saw below? Or was she just the vehicle? Would it all have happened some other
way regardless?
    Kyra wanted so
desperately to dive down, to land below, to stay here in Escalon and help wage
war against the Pandesians, the trolls, to help fix whatever she could. Yet,
despite a sense of looming dread, she forced herself to look up, to stay
focused on her mission, to keep flying north, somewhere toward the blackness of
Marda.
    Kyra shivered. It
would be a journey, she knew, to the very essence of darkness. Marda had
always, since