Free Aislin of Arianrhod (Land of Alainnshire) by S.L. Jesberger Page B

injured, and his father King Michael of Thorndon came a week later to retrieve his wounded son. He was furiously angry. Aislin remembered standing on the purple carpet in the throne room, head down in supplication, as King Michael berated both her and her brother.
    “I send my son here to court the princess and get him back half dead!” King Michael had roared at them. “This is entirely inappropriate. I want a full accounting of this outrage!”
    He’d saved a special tongue-lashing for Aislin. She’d stood, fighting tears, as he towered over her.
    “Is it too much to ask that you limit yourself to one suitor at a time to prevent such problems as this? This is certainly an unseemly way for a woman of royal breeding to behave!”
    King Michael might as well have called her a whore, as Jariath had done. To add insult to injury, Fionn had barely defended her.
    Word quickly got back to her that Jariath was making threats against the princes of other lands. She was his. He intended to be king of Arianrhod as well as Morrigan, and she was going to be his wife. He’d isolated her just as surely as if he’d carried her back to Morrigan and caged her.
    It was the sickness that saved her from a more aggressive and determined Jariath. She lost her brother during that time, leaving Arianrhod without a king. Since she knew a great deal about the day-to-day management of the kingdom, it was decided that she would be created regent for Fionn’s five-year-old son, Prince Bryce. Jariath seemed content to back off and leave her alone. For awhile, anyway.
    The rambling, threatening notes he sent were disturbing, but he never tried to see her again. She was terrified just the same. She quickly drafted Devin Drake, who had previously been a stonemason, to be her assistant and impromptu bodyguard. The man was built like a bull, and she always felt safe when he was near.
    There had been a long period of silence from Morrigan, and then Brock had shown up at the manor house over three weeks ago.
    I shouldn’t have been so ugly to Brock, but enough is enough. Why can’t this man take no for an answer?
    Aislin sat up and punched the satchel with a surprising amount of force, then flopped over onto her side away from Roderic.
    Jariath’s ego was such that he would never believe she’d evaded him and slipped beyond the borders of the kingdom. He would be patient for a time, waiting for her to give herself up to him.
    She knew how his mind worked though, that prey and predator thinking he was so damned good at. If he thought for one second that she was beyond his grasp, the systematic and total destruction of the land she loved would begin. After nearly eleven years of care and devotion, there would be nothing left for Bryce when he returned to the throne.
    Aislin exhaled sharply. They had to get to Wyndham as quickly as they could.

Chapter Eleven

    A ISLIN AND RODERIC WERE UP early the next morning, packed and on their way as the first misty rays of light began to filter through the canopy above them. Keeping the sun in front wasn’t an easy task due to the height of the trees, but every now and then, they would come to a clearing. Orienting themselves again with blue sky and red sun, they continued on their way. Eventually they found what appeared to be a footpath, smooth and sunken in the forest floor, leading into the cool darkness.
    Aislin had always found walking in the deep woods to be a sensual experience. The very air here seemed to crackle with mystery and an excitement she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Humid, dark, and lusty, the footpath had beckoned to her. Anything could happen here. It was a temptation she couldn’t resist.
    As they walked, they talked about the past. Roderic had been the bane of Aislin’s existence as she was growing up. She often tried to do the dangerous and impossible on a horse, and he usually caught her before she could put her plan into action. He kept Aislin laughing with his stories, pushing