The Kingdoms of Sky and Shadow Box Set Read online

  The Kingdoms of Sky and Shadow Box Set

  Lidiya Foxglove

  Copyright © 2018, 2019 by Lidiya Foxglove

  Cover art © 2018, 2019 by Cora Graphics

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  The Glass Princess

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  The Shadowed Crown

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  46. One Imperial Rose Troupe and a Baby

  The Crystal Queen

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  48. “The Fairer Hex”

  More Romantic Fantasy from Lidiya!

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Himika

  This is a memory I have forgotten for a long time:

  When I was a little girl, too young to know anything, probably no older than five or six, my father said he had to give me something.

  I wonder if he sounded tense when he said it. If his hand betrayed a tremble when they took my small one in his. That, I don’t remember. I trusted my father completely.

  He led me down into the depths of our palace, into the room where the greatest treasures were kept. I think it was the first time I ever saw this room. It was lined with panels of silk with painted birds, and all the treasures of Gaermon were kept behind glass, or inside of golden chests.

  At the time, I was very excited. I sort of remember jumping around and then telling myself to be ladylike. I think he smiled at me. It must have been a sad smile, though. It was the last time I would have ever jumped around.

  He took out a key, and opened a cabinet, and took out a very tiny box. He held it out like he was going to put it in my hand, so I reached for it, but then he paused.

  “This is something very special, Himika. We’ve been keeping it here for hundreds of years, but it’s especially for you.”

  “What is it?”

  “It’s the tear of the dragon king.”

  “A…tear?” I didn’t understand.

  He opened the box and showed me that inside was a small drop of crystal shaped like a tear. “It turned into a crystal,” he said. “Because the dragon king is a crystal dragon.”

  “What does it do?”

  “It means that someday, you will be a great queen. Very powerful. The prophecy says you will bring peace to this land.” He put a hand on my head and suddenly pulled me into a fierce embrace. “It’s been waiting here for hundreds of years,” he repeated. “And the prophecy says it’s for you. For my only daughter.”

  I ducked out of the embrace, impatient with it. I wanted to know more about the tear. “But what does it do now?”

  “I need you to swallow it.”

  “Ugh, why? I don’t want to swallow it.”

  “It’s very small,” he said. “But you need to swallow it so that its magic will be a part of you, and you can be queen someday. Once it’s done, you can have any dessert you want for dinner tonight.”

  “Ohhh. Can I have lychee ice?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll do it, Papa.” I opened my mouth.

  I’m sure his hand must have trembled now. My father was a kind man; although a skilled swordsman like all Gaermoni kings, to look at him, one would never guess he had ever shed blood. He had gentle brown eyes in a sun-wrinkled face and a smile that came easily, a balding head that we teased him about, a tall, slender frame that my brother inherited. He put the crystal tear on my tongue and then covered my mouth with his palm. “Swallow it down,” he said. His hand covering my mouth scared me.

  It was small, but even small things are uncomfortable to swallow when they’re hard as crystal. I struggled for a minute and then managed to get it down. I felt it sliding all the way down to my stomach. “I don’t like it…”

  “I know, my jewel.” He hugged me tight. “I’m sorry…I’m so sorry.”

  I think, when he pulled away, his eyes had tears in them.

  Suddenly jagged pains
shot through my entire body, and at this point, the memory blurs. The pain must have been intense. My very bones seemed to be on fire, and I remember Papa screaming for the healer.

  I must have passed out. When I woke up, I was in bed and the searing pain was gone, but I ached all over. My brother said I was mostly out for a whole week, barely waking up to be spoon-fed broth.

  This was when my sickness began. Everyone said it was a mystery, what had befallen me. Maybe something in my mother’s line; she was always sickly even before she died?

  I forgot all about the dragon’s tear, because the months that followed came with so much fear and pain as I adjusted to my new life. And Father never mentioned it again, or told me it had caused the sickness. He took that secret to his grave. It was only after he died that I learned the truth.

  From that day forward, my life was defined. There was no cure, no recovery to be gained. There was something wrong with my bones. I suffered from frequent aches and pains, spells of exhaustion, and was told I was so fragile that I was not allowed to run or learn to ride. The truth that only my father and a few close confidantes knew was that the dragon’s tear had eaten away at my bones and turned them into crystal.

  My young mind was eager to experience the world, but my body was no longer a willing partner. I was confined to gentle hobbies. “Wouldn’t you like to learn beadwork, Princess?” I was dressed in demure, elegant dresses that discouraged me from trying to move. When I accidentally jammed a toe into the leg of a chair, it broke immediately although it also healed quickly. Two of my toes were slightly misshapen as a result. But it wasn’t like anyone ever saw my toes.

  I didn’t have many friends. Being the princess could be lonely at times anyway; everyone is beneath you and they never forget it even when you wish they would. But it certainly didn’t help that I was not very much fun.

  I hated being sick. Hated it. My brother Rin got to have all the fun and I was left out of everything. Half the time, I hated him and snapped at him more than he deserved. Looking back, he was eternally patient with me, although of course we were still siblings and bickered all the time. He was my only close companion, growing up.

  Now he was the one responsible for upholding our father’s wish.

  The promise of the dragon’s tear was finally to be fulfilled, and now I knew what it meant.

  The memories had returned to me. Father gave me the tear, knowing it would destroy my bones, turning them into fragile crystal.

  To uphold an ancient tradition. To fulfill a prophecy.

  Long ago, the king of the dragons often married a human, and these marriages were arranged in childhood. To assure the bride would never give her heart to another before her marriage to the dragon king, she was made to swallow his tear. From that day forward, she would be fragile; too fragile to play with other children, too fragile to take a lover.

  The dragon kings must have been very cruel, to do such a thing: creating a prison for which they held the key. On the wedding night, the dragon’s seed would restore the virgin bride to health.

  What were these marriages like? My future husband had ruined my life and now he was the only one who could save me. If I refused, I would never be able to take a lover. And my brother, now crowned Emperor after the war that led to my father’s death and the fall of the northern empire, needed this alliance badly. The dragon king controlled my life and I had never even met him.

  The more I thought about it, the angrier I was. And I had a lot of time to think about it. The carriage ride to the dragon’s gate from Capamere required many days of travel. I had a small blade in my traveling bag; although meant for cutting food I took it out and slid my fingers over it.

  I couldn’t even imagine stabbing the dragon king’s eyes out, because from what I’d heard, he was blind. Blind! It kept getting worse.

  My brother saw me off. I didn’t even want to look at him. I felt like he’d betrayed me by upholding this marriage.

  “Himika…” He looked anguished. It was a windy, cold day and his hair kept whipping in his eyes. “I hate doing this, but you know how important this alliance is. He really didn’t seem like a bad sort of guy when I met him, overall.”

  “Mm.” I crossed my arms. “Goodbye, Rin.”

  “What do you want me to say? We might not see each other again for a year or more.”

  “Please! Don’t say that.” A lump rose to my throat. I forced myself to hug him. It didn’t help my anger, but I was probably more upset with our late father than my brother.

  This alliance was new and fragile. The underground dragon kingdom had been cut off from the world above. Just a few months ago, the southern gate was opened for the first time in the centuries. My brother, along with the new priestess of the gate and her guardians, had been one of the first people to make contact with them and their strange world of underground waterways and crystal caves. They had been seeking aid in overthrowing the power-hungry emperor who had conquered my kingdom.

  The dragons helped us, but now we had to return the favor. The dragons needed our help as much as we needed theirs.

  One race of dragons, the mist dragons, had instigated a civil war with the other races. My new husband had spent his entire life dealing with danger and conflict. It seemed all too possible that I was plunging right back into war.

  I could be kidnapped again. Or killed.

  Rin knew that. I saw smothered grief in his eyes.

  A year or more?

  We might never see each other again.

  There was no other choice. My people needed the alliance, and I needed the dragon’s seed to heal me.

  I hugged him again, more earnestly, but then I quickly climbed into the carriage and looked away.

  When my carriage departed, for the first hour or so, I could only wipe tears from my eyes. I was dressed in a rich red gown embroidered with gold and trimmed with white fur, which kept me warm despite the winter’s cold and unheated carriage. All this finery and the king wouldn’t even see me. Then again, he didn’t deserve to.

  Maybe he would be weak and easy to fool.

  “My lady!” Oszin’s voice called from outside. I wiped away the last of my tears and opened the curtains and then cranked open the window, letting in a burst of frigid air and the welcome sight of the captain of my personal guard.

  “Are you warm enough?” he asked.

  “I won’t be if I have to keep opening the window to talk to you,” I teased, feeling a tiny bit better just to see his face.

  “I’m sorry there isn’t more I can do to warm you up…,” he said.

  “Me too.” I looked for the dragon king’s champion, Seron, in the sea of soldiers surrounding us, to make sure he wasn’t taking note of this little bit of flirtation. But there was no sight of him. He was probably in the front. I only saw Gaermoni men.

  Oszin rode closer, and I saw his concern. “How are you holding up, Moth?”

  He knew he shouldn’t call me by a nickname. I knew better too. But neither of us even paused over it.

  “I’m…I’m as well as can be expected, I guess.”

  “I expect that’s not very well, then.”

  “No.”

  “When we stop for lunch, I wonder if I could eat in your presence and inquire after your welfare.”

  “You may.”

  He looked at me, and I bit my lip and shut the windows and curtains again.

  A tingle passed over my whole body. I hadn’t seen Oszin in months now, but time had only sharpened my attraction to him. I was fifteen when he was appointed the head of my guard, replacing a much older man. At first I was, in fact, a little worried whether a young man could handle the role. Besides that, he was Kamiri—descended from island folk we had once enslaved. My father was the first Gaermoni king to allow them in the guard. My great grandfather was the one to abolish slavery, so it had only just slipped out of living memory. The Kamiri stereotype was a man who would throw down his weapons or tools and lay back eating fruit at the first opportunity
. I didn’t believe it, but I still paused.

  “He’s young but you’ll hardly find a better warrior spirit,” Father assured me.

  And even back then, Rin gushed over him. “I was hoping he would be your guard. He was the best in his group of trainees by a mile and he’s been in the palace guard for two years—you haven’t noticed him? Where are your eyeballs sometimes? He helped take out those bandits last year. Killed one personally.”