First Light (Call of the Forest Realm, #1) by Beryl Kelland

Author:Beryl Kelland [Kelland, Beryl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Beryl Kelland Books
Published: 2021-02-07T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Cirro woke her up sometime much later, drawing the bedroll from beneath her as she stood. She stretched her arms high above her head, holding her borrowed cloak as it fell. It was impossible to tell what time of day it was from the pitch-black sky above them, damp and dark. The forest seemed forever lit by incandescent moss that grew from the trunks of the towering trees.

Briony felt as if she were finally grounded and awake, though the part of her that longed for who she was and stayed buried in the warm dream she’d had, missed the sunshine and the daylight, and a substantial part of her longed for her loved ones. She wondered if they were looking for her or if they were even thinking of her at all. Cirro had said that they wouldn’t remember anything, but did that mean their memories of her as well? It hit her after a moment, that she might be royalty, a princess. This had to be some kind of fever dream or a hallucination brought on by Ava’s takeout food. Though Cirro seemed real enough and the forest around her was definitely real and remarkably familiar.

“Let’s go,” Cirro called over his shoulder behind him, looking disgruntled and winsome as he walked past her. “Before the wood nymphs begin their singing.”

“Because that’s...bad?” Briony asked him confusedly, remembering the bright, happy wood nymphs from her grade-school mythology books with their flower crowns and bright leaf bikinis.

“Their toneless singing is only for the moss and the trees,” Cirro told her grouchily. She found it easier than before to keep pace with him, as if she were slowly becoming part of the forest herself.

“How many creatures live in the Forest Realm?” Briony asked, looking around her and taking in the dark, gloomy atmosphere and the dim-lit trees.

“Too many to count, though the fae hold dominion for now.”

“For now?”

“The crown changes hands every millennium or so. If the king has no offspring, no real heirs, a new king must step up and claim the crown. Any creature of any species may lay claim to the throne, including the gremlins,” Cirro said, looking back at her steadily. “It’s why they appear so ruthlessly desperate to end the king’s line.”

Briony nodded, thinking it over in her head. She imagined what her life would have been like if she had grown up in the Forest Realm, as their princess. She knew nothing of the fae court, save for what she had read in useless books. She found that she really couldn’t imagine a world without her gran in it and where she had no idea who Ava was.

Cirro walked quickly, looking behind him every so often. Then there was a soft whisper of beating wings and Cirro reached over to pull her behind him protectively. Briony found that she wasn’t afraid, and she leaned forward, looking around his lithe shoulder and bumping into him with her nose as she did so. He smelled of rainstorms and spices.

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.