Page 99 of The Forever Queen

“The anticipation of being caught was almost as satisfying as the hunt itself,” she said, gathering the loose chains and bundling them in her arms.

Between the mist, Aisling saw Starn’s silhouette. He paused at the sound of her voice, cocking his head to the side to gauge its direction. The phantom blade following suit.

“Did you always know?” Starn asked. “Did you always know you’d meet this fate? Did you always anticipate betraying your túath? Your blood?”

Aisling perked up, ensuring she’d heard correctly.

“Betray my túath?” she repeated.

Starn cut more quickly between the mist, slicing through another Unseelie that blocked his path.

“To think Iadmiredyou the day you wed yourself in sacrifice to the fae,” Starn spat, drawing closer to her. “The way you embraced your duty to mankind despite yourself.”

Aisling’s heart twisted.

Admired.

How many years had she longed to be recognized by her clann? How many years had she thirsted for that very word to spill from her clann’s lips? How desperately she’d craved their validation, the recognition she wasn’t as inept as she’d felt all her life.

“Be honest with yourself, brother,” Aisling said, her voice stronger and more leveled than she anticipated. “You were not glad of my sacrifice. You were glad to be rid of me.”

Aisling unfurled from where she crouched behind the barrels and darted toward the opposite side of the ship. And with her chains tangled in her arms, her progress was much quieter.

“I loved you,” Starn said, his voice different. Aisling searched for him through the mist, knocked to the ground by four or so mortal crewmen fleeing from the Unseelie. They’d seemingly materialized out of nowhere, knocking her off her feet and leading the Unseelie right toward her with the crash of her chains on the floorboards.

The creature loomed over her, sniffing her like a hound.

Aisling resisted the urge to scream lest she led Starn right to her. The mist cackled, studying Aisling more closely. The sorceress couldn’t wield herdraiochtwith her hands cuffed in iron and bore no blade to defend herself. The mist opened its mouth—or what appeared like a mouth—twinkling with a collection of sharp fangs. It inhaled, moaning to itself before chomping down on Aisling. Yet, the timbre of the creature’s voice sounded…familiar.

Danu.

The empress of the dryads was searching for her and…and…Aisling couldn’t remember who else the empress searched for alongside Aisling––a gap in her mind that grew the more she tried to remember. Aisling knew Danu was eager to dethrone the Sidhe king of the greenwood, Lir, and lead the Unseelie herself. Perhaps it was his name that evaded her.

Aisling shook her head, gritted her teeth as the mist leaned in closer, tangling itself between the knots in her matted tresses. Aisling could smell itsdraiocht, more so than most Unseelie. This was an emissary. A messenger on behalf of the empress.

Danu had aligned herself with the Lady in some capacity, their shared hatred of Aisling, binding their cause.

Aisling clenched her jaw and slowly grabbed the chains once more. The ship jolted to the right, Nemed throwing the ship to its side to avoid the edge of the city.

The mist twitched, too distracted by Aisling’s perfume to notice her iron fists clumsily collecting the chains once more.

“Aisling,” Starn called.

Aisling leaped to her feet, swinging the chains attached to her iron fists. The chains launched forward, their iron cutting through the mist that’d cornered her. The Unseelie screeched, bleeding black before it evaporated entirely.

Aisling enjoyed a single breath of victory before Starn appeared between the sheets of white.

“I loved Aisling,” Starn said, expression void of emotion as the fog brushed his cheeks. “And you destroyed her.” Starn held Aisling’s eyes. “Nevertheless, justice prevails. I’ll savor your death the way you savored my sister’s.”

Starn’s phantom blade winked at Aisling beside him. The crown prince nodded his head once and the blade shot toward Aisling.

Aisling staggered back, raising her iron fists to block the strike.

Yet, the blow never came.

Aisling opened her eyes the same moment two blades crashed against one another. They rang out, piercing her ears and sparking.

Starn’s phantom blade whacked into the side of the hull, followed by another: an axe, warped by the woodland.

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