Inara's Grace (The Darkness Within Saga Book 6)

Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Information Acknowledgments Book 6 PROLOGUE CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELEVEN CHAPTER TWELVE CHAPTER THIRTEEN CHAPTER FOURTEEN CHAPTER FIFTEEN CHAPTER SIXTEEN CHAPTER SEVENTEEN CHAPTER EIGHTEEN CHAPTER NINETEEN CHAPTER TWENTY CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT EPILOGUE BOOK 7: To Fall, To Rise CHAPTER ONE Also Available from JD Franx The Darkness Within Saga Book 6: Inara’sGrace By JD Franx The Darkness Within Saga Book 6: Inara’s Grace Author JD Franx Copyright (c) JD Franx Registered Copyright 2023 Cover Illustration and Design (c) 2023 Dusan Markovic markovicdusan.com https://www.facebook.com/dusanmarkovicartist Editing: NVR Edits Kindle design and formatting by Rachel Bostwick All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by means without the expressed written permission from the author. This novel is a work of fiction: names, places, characters, and all events are products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons. Living or dead, business establishments, or locales is entirely coincidental. Acknowledgments After nearly ten years as an author, I can safely say that this job is nearly impossible to do without the help of some specific groups and individuals. First is my beta readers, who give up hours of their own time in order to help make each story become all that it can be. The second is my proofreaders, who also spend hours pouring every line in their attempt to find every typo and missing word possible. And of course, where would I ever be without the creative genius of my cover artists, who take my written concept and turn it into the gorgeous covers that grace the front of my books. Thank you all for everything you do. The Darkness Within Saga BOOK 6: Inara’s Grace PROLOGUE GAP-TOOTHED FANGS, BLACK CLIFFSTWO WEEKS PRIOR TO MAX LEAVING SOLIKYR The morning sun had yet to rise as Kael Symes held his breath and stood beside the goddess of death. With his eyes closed, he let the full power of the Black Kasym wash over him in undulating waves of energy so intense his body tingled from his toes all the way to the tips of his fingers. More importantly, his wounds from the fighting at Stillwater had finally stopped pounding with agony. Though far from fully healed, he assumed it was merely a result of the excited energy that started racing through him the moment they had arrived at the Kasym. His entire body trembled with a power he’d only ever felt once before—during his time in the afterlife. He could sense Niis eyeing him through his intrinsic sight, her stare as emotionless as ever. “Do you feel it?” He opened his eyes and slowly released his breath. “Feels like my soul is infused with energy, just like when I was in the afterlife.” “Good,” she said looking back down the mountain. “When the blasphemer gods created the afterlife to deal with the seepage from my pocket dimension, they connected Talohna’s energy directly to the lock we created.” “By using the Tree of Life?” he asked. “It starts there, yes. The tree directly powers what your necromancers know as the Void. Being mortal once, the blasphemer gods retained their sense of morality when they ascended and wanted some kind of moral selection process to deal with the souls entering the newly created afterlife. In a strange twist of fate, they chose a method similar to what other Kahge have done in other dimensions. They connected Talohna’s natural magic to the Void. That spark of magic carried by every soul evolves as mortals age, their decisions marking them, and that allows the Void to place the dead where they belong based on their actions in life. That connection to Talohna’s natural magic is also what allowed Vog to push you into my pocket dimension. It let Ember take my place, and it will continue to aid you in ways that you cannot yet see. The so-called new gods’ choices seem to have served their creation well.” Kael understood the how of it easily enough, it was the strength of the magic flowing through him that was puzzling. “But why do I feel it so strongly now, and only here or in the afterlife? Why not everywhere I go?” “A simple answer, really,” Niis replied. “The Cataclysm affected Talohna’s raw energy. What the Kahge would call its Yn was damaged and this… wound in the earth, is in reality, a wound in Talohna’s magic. What you are feeling right now is Talohna’s raw energy bleeding out of the Kasym below us, bleeding from its wound. It will strengthen all of your bonded magic while you are within range of its effects, just like the afterlife fed your cruus linked to death’s realm. This power will reduce the pain from your injuries and I will help as much as I can, but you must still be careful how much magic you access during the fighting while within the Kasym’s effects. Your bonded magic will be greatly enhanced here just as it was in the afterlife, but unlike in the afterlife, you now have a mortal body. Using any magic will tire you eventually.” Tiring seemed an impossibility with the incredible amount of energy surging through his body and the steady throb from his wounds barely registered since they arrived. “It feels like I could take on the entire world right now.” The emotionless stare returned as Niis looked his way again. “All the more reason to be careful. This fissure is a deep wound. It extends all the way to the core of Talohna’s energy. The world has done a remarkable job of working around the raw wound, but it is still very much there. It will make working Talohna’s bonded magic much easier