The Little Fairleaf

By Jeremy Forsyth

The Fairleafs are a humble family on the rise, and its senior members showcase their ambition by formulating a daring plan to get the attention of Alepion's royalty.

Trone and Eldrian Fairleaf are two young brothers who play at war but who are suddenly thrust into their parents' game of high stakes and fatal mistakes; theirs is the task of befriending the two Daughters of Alepion.

But while the brothers pursue the young sisters, other plots have hatched in the night, and the Old Way are crafty, and won't let the Fairleaf children come between them and getting their hands on the Daughters of Alepion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jeremy Forsyth
• Release date: Oct 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005749781

Jeremy Forsyth

Jeremy Forsyth is the author of The Sun, Moon, Sand, and Star series, which include The Evening Tide, The Broken Rose, The Missing, The Raven Heiress, and The Little Fairleaf.To get his books cheaper than you would on Amazon, simply visit www.jeremyforsyth.co.za now!But if you want the books but don't want to spend, check out Jeremy Forsyth's current promotions and giveaways:The Sun, Moon, Sand, and Star Giveaway:https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1126895-the-sun-moon-sand-and-star-series-giveawayOtherwise, you can find him on social media:Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Jeremy-Forsyth-103933844788832Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/jays_andrew/?hl=en

Book preview

The Little Fairleaf

By

Jeremy Forsyth

Copyright © 2020 Jeremy Forsyth

All rights reserved.

Distributed by Smashwords

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Contents

Dedication

By the author

Map

Cast

Epigraph

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Epilogue

To Raelle

By the author

~

The Sun, Moon, Sand, and Star

The Evening Tide

The Broken Rose

The Missing

The Raven Heiress

The Little Fairleaf

~

A Symphony of Shadow and Darkness

Upon the Sands

Cast

Tree Fairleaf

Donas Fairleaf

Asandla Fairleaf, his united-one

- Mellia Fairleaf, their daughter

- Trone Fairleaf, their eldest son

- Eldrian Fairleaf, their youngest son

Asuras Fairleaf, Donas’s brother.

Rennalla Fairleaf, Asuras’s united-one.

Tree Flaramoon.

Tarranice Lowvilla Flaramoon, Crowned Son of Alepion.

Salune Flaramoon, Crowned Daughter of Alepion, his united-one.

- Alanda Lowvilla Flaramoon, Daughter of Alepion, their eldest daughter.

- Mendis Raven Flaramoon, Daughter of Alepion, their youngest daughter.

14Hope and joy live in the world of a child. 15But with knowledge comes sorrow and from sorrow, the loss of all things that made us childlike.

——

The Salin

The Book of Proverbs;

6:14-15

Prologue

One of the household servants found Asandla Fairleaf seated inside her study and immediately alerted her that her united-one had passed through the gate of their Hadenmoon villa. Asandla launched herself out of her seat, flew into a room across the hallway, and came to a window overlooking the outside garden. She said to the servant who followed her,

Gather the children, Sathara. Tell them that their father has returned.

Behind her, Asandla could hear the elvess’s hurried steps as she went to see to her orders, could still hear the elvess descending the stairs even as she watched her united-one emerge from his carriage, his brother following after him.

The two brothers had been gone for more than a fortnight, were partners in the family service. They'd left in order to attend one of their warehouses that had caught fire in the nearby glade. And though Asandla was able to appreciate the severity of why her united-one had had to leave in the first place, it hadn’t stopped her from missing him.

Presently, she watched her united-one push back the hood that had covered his head, his light-brown hair soaking up the sun, making it appear golden as he looked up towards the window that Asandla was peering out of.

Asandla swirled, reached the end of the room in seconds, and came to the stairway that led down into the foyer. There, amidst the pandemonium of servants running franticly at the arrival of their master, Asandla beheld her love.

She slowly made her way down the stairs despite all instinct that urged her to run, her eyes fixed to the brown eyes that watched her from below. When she reached the bottom, heat rose to her cheeks, and her poorly concealed grin broadened when Donas Fairleaf, Asandla’s united-one, walked up to her and pulled her into his arms.

Flustered, aware of the eyes that watched them, including those that belonged to Donas’s brother, Asuras Fairleaf, Asandla tried pushing herself away from Donas’s affectionate greeting. When finally she was able to get a word in, it was to answer his question of,

Where are the children?

I would assume Sathara is rallying them to your private study.

Donas smiled behind a brown beard that fell over his chest, taking on the same dark color of his hair.

And yet, he remains a hard-looking elf, Asandla reflected, stern sometimes, even towards his children.

But behind the no-nonsense facade, there was an abundance of love and loyalty, of fierce protectiveness, and unwavering diligence where his obligation towards his family was concerned.

Once she’d greeted her good-brother, an exceedingly reticent elf, Asandla looped her arm through her united-one’s. With Asuras following behind them, Asandla and Donas went to find the rendezvous point where Asandla expected the rest of her family awaited. But when they arrived, they found the study empty.

Donas, content to wait, seated himself on the edge of his desk. He faced the entrance while his brother poured himself a drink, retiring afterward to a secluded spot by the window, leaving Asandla to remain close to Donas.

When the door swung open, Asandla and Donas lifted themselves off the edge of the desk, and came to their feet, watched Sathara withdrew from the study in order to make way for the eldest of the Fairleaf children, Asandla and Donas’s dearest daughter, Mellia.

She was an eleven-year-old with a slender figure and who had her father’s coloring. She insisted on maintaining a stout dignity in pose and motion, her speech calm but formal, with the tendency to invoke the stern modulations of her father.

Following close behind her was Asandla and Donas's eldest son, a spitting image of his father, both in physical attributes and in personality. Trone Fairleaf was just eight years old but already as tall as Mellia, was smarter than most younglings his age too, and in possession of an assertiveness most adults had never obtained in their entire life.

While Asandla took in her eldest son, her thoughts went to Donas and how deeply he loved his children. But when it came to Trone, she’d often suspected that Trone was Donas’s secret favorite.

Then came their youngest, one who Donas had actually named in the privacy of his and Asandla’s private quarters, Asandla’s favorite.

Eldrian Fairleaf bounced into the room like a child privy to a tune none but he could hear, his cheeks flushed, his face smeared by the dirt he could not resist outside in the gardens. He entered the study heedless of the formality in which his siblings diligently observed. But just like them, he became immediately stilled after his eyes caught his father.

Asandla observed Eldrian fondly, for he was the only one of her three children who took after her in coloring, having her dark colored hair, her hazel eyes, her slim nose, and fuller mouth. He was just five years of age and feisty, prone to day-dreaming, emotional outbursts, and challenging every order given to him: a proclivity his father and Sathara both found most infuriating. But his mother was able to take it in her stride, finding it endearing: for, despite his trying tendencies, Eldrian was the sweetest of Asandla’s children.

Donas began concentrating on the three younglings standing before him; his eyes narrowed in an intent inspection of each one. Finally, he said softly, but very formally,

Hello, children.

Nothing significant happened, and all three just watched their father without uttering a sound, without moving. But to the trained eye, each child leaned forward ever so slightly, as if they anticipated something in which was about to release them from where they stood. Suddenly,