Realizations — Heather Hobson

Book 2 in the Conrad Chronicles begins with Xavier locked in a thousand cycle Death Duel with Gloria's twin sister Thera. Gloria, Regal, and the other Conrads of the Light struggle to heal the damage Xavier, his Outcasts, and his Carmine army have caused to the planet Karna and her inhabitants. As the Conrads of the Light work at advancing Karna's decimated technology, they come to learn that during Karna's former years, under the reigning High Kings, ships of people left to colonize other planets and head out to learn more while waiting for the Death Duel to end.