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Chapter Sixteen

Part Two

“Andrew!” Lydia sat bolt upright in her bed and looked around in a panic. Her heart was pounding so hard she could hear her blood whooshing in her ears. Disjointed images of a sky shot through with impossible cracks and a sense that her brother was in danger haunted her mind, but she couldn’t ring enough coherence from the fragments of the damned dream to work out why. Read the rest of this entry »

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Side Story 2

Hiding Place

Part 2

Matthias was surprised to find himself in the attic of his family’s lake district holiday home. He’d homed in on Sonia via their bond, but he hadn’t expected her to have managed to jump so far. She might manage it on her own when she was well, but he could sense her pain – and she’d brought the kids along as well. Read the rest of this entry »

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Chapter Sixteen

Part One

Valeria woke up in the middle of the night to a rattling sound from the balcony. She tried to ignore it but it came again, louder. She considered covering her head with her pillow but she doubted that would help. She rose with a sigh, pulled on a robe and opened the shutter slightly. Dariad was standing there fully dressed, if slightly dishevelled – he must have climbed down the tree rather than using the ramps. He probably wanted to talk with her in private. She wasn’t really surprised; he’d looked very stressed and pensive when the discussions had broken up that night. At a guess, he was still worrying about Alaryia. She would probably be worrying as well if her mother’s presence inside her head hadn’t been so serene about the matter. Read the rest of this entry »

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Chapter Fifteen

Part Eleven

After Ema finished her discussions with Estara, the dragon had sent Virian to escort her to the border. Kyle and Darya remained to continue their planning with Estara and so were with her when the glowing imp entered the room and flew to her. Kyle stared at it in borderline awe.

“Is that-”

“From my sister?” she asked, “Yes, it is. It must be important.” She held out her hand to it. “Ah! We’d better hurry up our discussions.”

“Hmm?” Kyle asked.

“It seems that Gerian is definitely planning an imminent attack on Waldhafen. I’ll send out extra scouts to watch for them.” Her purple eyes glowed for a moment as she spoke. “It also seems that he’s got some dissent in his ranks.” She saw the anxious look on Darya’s face and smiled reassuringly. “They’re moving your cousin to Taloa, right now. But they’re going to try and make him think she’s still there.” Read the rest of this entry »

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This story takes place 14 years before the main story and contains spoilers.

I’ll be getting to the ones from the poll after this one.

Side Story 2

Hiding Place

Marian Laverne was waiting for him when Matthias stormed into her office. She looked as coldly elegant as always with her dark hair coiled atop her her head, clear blue eyes, perfect make up,  grey  silk business suit and crisp white blouse. Sometimes it was hard to remember that the woman was ten years his junior, but she’d been barely out of her teens when she’d been forced to take charge of her family after her parents died – two years ago. The aura of calm competence and cold determination was  certainly atypical for most twenty-two year olds. Read the rest of this entry »

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Chapter Fifteen

Part Ten

“Please do,” Halia sat back on her heels and waited patiently, her eyes still swirling with the silver dots that indicated her mother’s presence.

Valeria glanced at her then reached out and absorbed the Imp. She let out an involuntary squeak at how upset her little one was. As she sorted through the impressions– which wasn’t easy because Salia had not been thinking very coherently – her mouth went dry and she swallowed.

“Val? What’s wrong?” Matthias asked. Read the rest of this entry »

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Chapter Fifteen

Part Nine

Salia closed her eyes and began forming the imp she was going to send to her mother that evening. She tried to avoid thinking about what she’d seen that afternoon since Lyrrekka was so insistent, but she was sure some of it leaked through.

I know, it’s hard not to think about things, Lyrrekka said inside her head. Don’t worry about it. It’s him finding out what we saw that I’m worried about. Read the rest of this entry »

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As with the previous part – eight years earlier than main story and spoilers.

Side Story One

Family Holiday

Epilogue

Once they got home it was nearly three days before Sonia felt well enough to get out of bed. Even then the headache was still there, just reduced to the dull ache she’d learned to cope with over the years. While she recovered, Matt kept the kids distracted from the fright and the truncated holiday with day trips to the zoo and similar. Read the rest of this entry »

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Chapter Fifteen

Part Eight

Lydia stared at her mother in confusion. The stunned babble from the rest of the room told Lydia that the announcement was important, but part of it was bothering her.

“Er? You, me and who? I have no idea what you’re talking about, Mum.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Chapter Fifteen

Part Seven

“That was freaky,” Lydia said after Karen had gone. “Something like that’s going to happen to the rest of us?”

“Yes,” Matthias said. “It hurts a bit, especially if you’re forcing youself to hold on, but it’s not as bad as it looks. Karen will be fine and so will you.” Read the rest of this entry »