Saga of Shadows 1: The Dark Between the Stars Read Online Free Page A

’s unprecedented mission traveled simultaneously through all of them.
    When she opened her eyes, Nira realized that Gale’nh had been speaking to her. “Thank you, Mother, for accepting me and for being proud of me.” He understood that she didn’t love his father, that she had been impregnated by force as part of the sinister Ildiran breeding program to produce a telepath.
    That was long ago, in a time buried in crises. She had survived the ordeal and accepted all five of her halfbreed children now: Gale’nh, Tamo’l, Muree’n—even Rod’h, whose father had been the Dobro Designate himself, head of the enforced breeding program and Nira’s worst tormentor. And of course there was dear Osira’h, her daughter by Jora’h, whose telepathy was so powerful she could command the hydrogues and the faeros. No, Nira could not hate her children for the acts of their fathers or the misguided requirements of the breeding program.
    “You give me great joy, my son, and I love you as I love each of my children. You have no need to make me proud, Gale’nh—go and make all Ildiran people proud.”
    After the Mage-Imperator blessed the departure of the exploration ship, the rest of the audience moved outside for the next part of the spectacle. Adar Zan’nh and Tal Gale’nh marched out of the Prism Palace, shoulder to shoulder, while Jora’h took Nira’s hand and led her up to their observation balcony. From there, they would watch the grand pageant.
    When they stepped out into the bright sunlight, Nira smiled at Jora’h. The Mage-Imperator’s hair had grown longer over the years, and many of the fine golden tendrils twitched and waved of their own volition. His eyes were a smoky topaz with an unusual starflare. Nira thought he was beautiful.
    Beneath the balcony in front of the Prism Palace, the tiny figure of Tal Gale’nh met up with subcommanders who led groups of Solar Navy specialists of different kiths dressed in appropriate uniforms, their shoulders spangled with small mirror chips that sparkled in the sunlight.
    The crew marched in an orchestrated parade, a clockwork movement that reminded Nira of the shifting patterns in a kaleidoscope. Overhead, a maniple of warliners cruised across the sky with their solar-sail fins extended, trailing silvery ribbons behind them in a spectacular skyparade. The crew flowed aboard forty-nine cutters that took off like a flock of metal birds into the sky to the orbiting exploration ship.
    Nira touched a decorative treeling on the balcony and used telink to send her impressions throughout the green priest network, spreading the word that the Kolpraxa would soon depart for the fringe of the Spiral Arm. . . .
    As she and Jora’h reentered the Prism Palace, they encountered Rod’h standing there, impatient. He was a strong and hard young man, proud of who he was—the second most telepathically skilled of her halfbreed children, after Osira’h. Had it not been for Osira’h’s success, the Ildirans would have relied on him to save them from the hydrogues. But he had never been given the chance.
    Because Rod’h so closely resembled the ruthless Dobro Designate, seeing him sometimes gave her an involuntary shudder. Though Nira tried to love all of her children equally, regardless of what their fathers had done to her, she could not help but sense that he resented her.
    Rod’h bowed with respect to the Mage-Imperator, but gave his mother only a curt greeting. “Liege, I request permission to bring a team of rememberers to Dobro. For historical accuracy, we should record the true facts of the breeding program. My father should no longer be vilified or, worse, ignored. We must not forget what he accomplished.”
    Nira stiffened. Despite making peace with her past, there were still nights she wrestled with nightmares of how the Dobro Designate had forced himself upon her in the breeding chambers . . . and he had only been one of the many breeders from various kiths assigned to