Daughter of the Red Dawn (The Lost Kingdom of Fallada) by Alicia Michaels Page A

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    “Yeah, um, so I’m gonna go and see the view from the other side of the deck,” she said with a not-so-covert wink at Selena.
    “You do that,” Selena said with a sigh. She watched Zoe circle around the ship’s large engine until she disappeared from sight. She turned her back to the sky and leaned back. Titus tensed , as if he felt her eyes on him , but didn’t look her way when he spoke.
    “You’re going to get yourself killed,” he said. “This is my battle, Selena, and I won’t drag you into it. You should get your grandmother well and go home.”
    “You don’t think I should go to Damu and lead the army like everyone else seems to want me to?”
    He looked at her then, his eyes shadowed and turbulent. “ Do you know how long it could take them to find the others? There are seven of you and in your world it ha s been almost seventeen years. Anything could have happened to those girls since then. All seven of you are needed and the odds of Queen Adrah tracking them all down and bringing them to Fallada are slim. It is a fool’s errand.”
    “Thank you.”
    He frowned. “For what?”
    “For being on my side,” she replied. “Even Zoe thinks I should give this princess thing a shot. I’m sure she’s thinking of all the nice clothes, castle, and handsome prince in my future.”
    Selena distinctly heard the sound of a low growl ripping through Titus’ chest. He lowered his head and took a deep breath.
    “Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “The animal side of me is extremely jealous at the mention of princes. Your father will more than likely arrange a marriage for you once the prophecy is fulfilled.”
    Rebellion surged, hot in her veins , as Selena vowed not to let anyone control her. She had her own goals and did not intend to get suckered into a full stay in Goldun, Damu, or any other place in Fallada.
    “No need for jealousy. I don’t intend to stay long enough to get hitched.”
    Titus grew silent again, and ju st as Selena was about to fill the silence, her vision was overcome with a brilliant burst of light. She hadn’t realized that they had approached the constellation, and now the glimmer of the formation’s brightest star was enveloping the ship. Selena closed her eyes against the brilliant flash, gripping Titus’ hand tightly as swirls of color and light contorted and flickered behind her eyelids. His fingers closed around hers as a deep, vibrating hum echoed through her.
    The ship accelerated and Selena felt pressure on her body from all sides. The culmination of something filled her and the breath was sucked from her lungs . Just when she felt as if she would collapse from lack of oxygen, the pressure loosened its hold and air filled her starved lungs. She inhaled on a sharp gasp, opening her eyes just as the flash of white light faded. Selena’s eyes widened and her grip tightened on Titus’ hand as Fallada filled her vision. She gasped an d exhaled, her voice coming out in a bark of laughter tainted with disbelief.
    Selena faintly heard Zoe’s voice from the other side of the ship.
    “Holy crap!”
    Selena giggled. Holy crap was right. Titus had been , too.
    She had never seen anything more beautiful in her life.
     
    ~*~

 
    Chapter Six
    It was as if someone had gone over the world with a paintbrush and replaced all of the usual colors with explosively bright hues. Beneath their soaring ship, blades of emerald green grass sparkled in the sunlight, bending beneath the gentle call of the wind. The sky was an intense shade of blue dotted with frothy clouds that sparkled like white diamonds. Trees rose up out of the ground so tall that some of the foliage scraped the bottom of the ship. Flowers dotted gently sloping hills in shades of fuchsia , teal, and violet, leaving Selena open mouthed and stunned. Behind the ship, the wall the Grimm brothers had told her about stretched on for miles in either direction. It glowed with a stu nning mix of iridescent colors, pale blue