Empire of Dust Read Online Free Page B

her lack of formal riding training, it’s as if Kat has become one with the horse, an unstoppable force of nature in perfect harmony with air and sky, earth and water.
    A part of Kat’s mind slides beneath the tickling mane and smooth, sweat-slick hide, and she inhales the smells of green summer grass and the rich earth of the riverbanks. Soon, it is Kat herself who switches her tail and gallops ahead, stretching her four long legs and pounding the ground hard. If only she could keep going, never return to the palace with its confusing dark-haired boys, its baffling mysteries, and all its dangers. She wants to eat sweet grass and drink cool river water and smell a thousand subtle scents on the wind.
    She’s always known she has a way with animals, that she can communicate with them in a manner that others cannot. It was a gift that Helen—the woman she thought was her mother—warned her to keep hidden. But she assumed her ability to understand animals came from the fact that she paid attention to them, that she took the time to listen to them while most humans didn’t.
    Then she met the great sorceress, Ada of Caria, and everything changed.
    Ada told her of the magic flowing in her veins—Snake Blood, one of the two ancient Blood Magics—and trained her to use her abilities. Kat learned to fall into trances, experiencing what it was like to be a bird soaring through the air, a worm pushing through moist earth, and a fish darting through cold, deep water. But Snake Blood, she learned, is far more than just a connection with the minds of animals—it is a connection to the power of human thought, too.
    In her last trance at Ada’s palace, Kat sank into forgotten memories of her own life, all the way back to her birth. These lost memories are what led her to realize that she is Prince Alexander’s sister, and that Queen Olympias, the coldhearted murderess, is her real mother. Kat can’t shake the details of that memory from her mind.
    Kill the girl , Olympias had said as she held her newborn twins, thrusting baby Kat toward her handmaiden, Helen. But Helen didn’t kill the baby. She started a new life in a little village called Erissa and raised Kat as her own.
    Suddenly, Kokkymo stumbles and Kat’s mind is jolted from the horse’s body as she flies through the air and lands hard on her side. She’s aware of dirt in her mouth and the gilded sword Ada gave her pressing into her leg. When she finally catches her breath, she stands up shakily and sees her mount galloping away, truly free now, whinnying in delight.
    She rubs her arm and notices something glint in the grass: her Flower of Life pendant, a silver lotus blossom on a leather thong she always wears around her neck.
    Kat picks it up and holds it to her heart. This belonged to Helen, whom Kat will always consider her real mother. She ties the thong behind her neck and feels the cool slippery metal just below the base of her throat. She remembers Helen’s smile, her beauty, the sweet scent of her skin as if it were yesterday she last saw her. But it has been ten years since Kat, hiding in the wool box, witnessed Olympias ordering her soldiers to kill Helen.
    Kat never told anyone who killed her mother, not even Jacob’s family, who took her in and promised to care for her until she was of age to marry. But vengeance has long since become the blood that pumps through her heart and the air that fills her lungs. It was the reason she came to Pella with Jacob, hoping for an opportunity to get near the queen. It was also the obstacle to marrying Jacob—a quest she had to accomplish before her heart would be free to love.
    But now she knows that her sworn enemy is in fact her real mother, that she had, unknowingly, plotted for years to kill the very woman who gave her life. And that for some unknown reason, Olympias wants her dead . In the beat of a dragonfly’s wings, Kat has gone from predator to