Shay's mother has disappeared. 

Her father has become withdrawn following her mother's disappearance and there is little Shay can do to help. 

Then, one night, Shay saves her father from a strange assailant in his study and is carried to another world with her father where the truth about her mother is revealed. 

Discovering that her mother is apparently not the person Shay has admired all her life, leads Shay to question her own values which she has so proudly built on the image of the perfect marriage which her parents displayed to her as a child. As Shay comes to terms with her parent’s betrayal, she herself betrays the one person who has trusted her most in this strange kingdom. 

While she loathes her new behavior she seems unable to stop, since betraying one person means protecting another. While Shay struggles with her own question of values, Shay's life and the world itself begin to collapse around her. 

But life continues and the evil that rises seeks the greatest treasure of all. A power to rule all worlds. For evil does not mourn. And evil has no conscience. And Shay holds a key to access another world which the evil desperately desires.....

WordRealm

As they rode in silence, Shay and Fiere both thought of their fathers. 


Shay regretted her anger at her father for not telling her about what had happened with her mother’s disappearance. She thought of how distant he had become back on earth and wished she had done more, tried to do more to help him. 


He had no doubt been dealing with the guilt of lying to Shay while he searched to find Rhian. And as he had closed himself off, she had done nothing but accept it eventually. She could have tried harder to pull him out of his self-imposed isolation. But she hadn’t. She had been too busy with her own life and her concern initially and then anger and confusion at why her mother had left. 


Chapter 30