Aisling: Breath of the New Creature by A.E. Jürgens

Author:A.E. Jürgens [Jürgens, A.E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Published: 2022-06-01T07:00:00+00:00

Aisling was grateful for the crackling of the fire, the woodland gale, the whistling of songbirds perched in the canopies. For these sounds masked the grinding of her jaw as she lay at the center of the glade. The rest of the fae knights already dreamed or drank by the stags. All except for Einri, Aedh, Filverel, and Lir. Einri and Aedh paced the clearing’s edge, eyes locked on the realm of greenwood. The Fae King and his advisor, on the other hand, whispered for hours, plotting their revised approach to ensnaring the Unseelie, Aisling assumed.

But Aisling couldn’t sleep. Rage kept her an arm’s length from rest, her blood boiling.

To hear her eldest brother’s name on Filverel’s lips struck Aisling like a blow to the gut. Starn had always been Nemed’s favorite: the only one of all five siblings allowed to escort the mortal king on his weeks-long missions. Favored to fight beside Nemed, to take his place at court when Nemed was too preoccupied. Because Starn was the heir to the kingdom. Starn had always been fierce and cruel and cold, but a king needed to be if they wished to rule. And a king, Starn would one day be.

These fair folk knew nothing of her brother, her father, or the struggles that mankind endured, Nemed’s reasons for burning the forests: Tilren and all of the mortal nations were overpopulating, bursting at their kingdom’s seams and because of the Aos Sí’s monopoly over the wilderness, mankind couldn’t hunt or gather sufficiently to provide for the growing demand. So Nemed burned the feywilds to spread Tilren’s walls. To make room for his multiplying realm.

On the other hand, the Aos Sí carried the opposite dilemmas: their primordial race was dwindling, dancing on the cusp of extinction, Aisling was realizing. A result of the fair folk’s inability to birth enough children to compensate for the casualties of war. They were far outnumbered and crippled by their susceptibility to iron. How much longer could the Aos Sí survive in a world where man demolished the wilderness to carve out their bastions, their roads, their cities, their overeager goals of conquest?

And if rage were not enough to keep the mortal queen from resting, her pity overwhelmed her. Swelling from within like a cold shadow, both sadness and guilt extinguished the irate flames she tried desperately to stoke. She wouldn’t allow herself to feel sympathy for them, Hagre and Rian’s accounts, all the knights’ stories that had yet to be spoken. Not even Galad whose branding was etched into her memory forever. She couldn’t. Wouldn’t. And yet she did.

Without an approaching sound, a figure stretched themselves down beside the mortal queen. Aisling rolled from her position as quickly as she was capable, Iarbonel’s dagger in hand. But her attempts at self-preservation and privacy were futile for Lir caught her wrist easily.

He lay on his side, considering her and she him, the perfume of the wildflowers swirling around them like pink clouds of cologne.

“You’ve been crying,” he said, eyes tracing the saltwater stains around her swollen cheeks.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.