The Fall of Taridawil. Story Collection (A Knightess of the Realm Novel) - Mangala McNamara

Taridawil fell to the Evil Wizard Henig... leaving 12yo Kefen Saralath orphaned and alone. Or... was he?

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Before Karana won her shield... Before she spent a year alone in the forest...

The Evil Wizard Henig destroyed Taridawil... And the younger child of Duke Randall went - all unwilling - to Tallspire to become a page and earn his shield.

Meet Kefen and Ivan as children. Discover why Ivan fought half their class. Watch how they figure out what friendship means.

And learn what really happened to bond them so closely together in this touching collection of tales filled with friendship, resilience, and caring.

Set in the epic fantasy world of the Knightess of the Realm Saga, this series of not-quite-cozy stories fills in important backstory and elucidates the personalities of characters you've grown to love.

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The small, dark-haired boy

- no, ducal-prince, dammit,

and that was how Kefen was going to keep his chin up -

swallowed hard and began to turn back into the stall for a last measure of privacy before he had to go out there and show the world how a Saralath handled things.

Eleven-years-old or not.

Broken-hearted and alone or not.

He would do it for Father. Because Duke Randall needed every iota of strength on the Royal Council.

A movement to his left caught his eye.

Another boy was standing in the aisle of the stables, watching him silently. The boy was tall and golden-haired, with eyes that were almost too blue to be real. Eyes that were puzzled as he met Kefen's own dark ones.

Kefen waited, but the other boy said nothing. And when Kefen lifted an arm to rub his tears off on his sleeve and it broke their gaze, the other boy turned and began walking away.

Curious, and drawn for reasons he couldn't have explained, Kefen followed him.