Forest King

By Nicole Delacour

He is the face of a rebellion he never wanted.

Brennus knew he would be king. His father never hid his true intention to split his empire. Cracks formed along the edges, and with five sons, a rebellion was inevitable. It wasn't even a surprise when that rebellion decided the eldest son - that Brennus - ought to be the new emperor, but unlike his brothers, Brennus is prepared.

A game of spies ensues. Brennus must use every means he has to find out who he and his brother can trust, finding the root of the rebellion, but when the best way forward is to put his hand on the line, Brennus finds himself falling for the last person he expected.

With his heart on the line, Brennus must risk everything to protect his family.

FOREST KING is a historical fantasy romance with friends-to-lovers, courtly intrigue, dangerous plots, and a guaranteed happily ever after!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hidden Helm Press
• Release date: Oct 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215065303

Book preview

Forest King

Nicole Delacour

Forest King by Nicole Delacour

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events and persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used.

Forest King

Copyright © 2023

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher

Content

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

Chapter One

A single attack deserved only to be ignored. If Brennus bothered to acknowledge the rumors on the edge of his brother’s realm, questions would rise. Kathban belonged to Kian. Brennus couldn’t afford to stick his nose into his brother’s affairs. In the end, Kian resolved the struggle, managing to be the first among them to marry, and while his daughter would likely not inherit, the presence of a child — the next generation of the ruling family — marked a heavy occasion.

However, it wasn’t one attack. The assault against Minos came in multiple waves, striking at him personally. No one could deny when the Duchess of Dynasi escaped with a sizable number of followers. Even now that Minos healed, whispers remained that some in his court were empathetic toward the ousted noble. Minos could joke. Hand over a ship and brag on the twins in his wife’s belly, but the fact remained that his courtship had unveiled a disaster in the making. One that Brennus could not afford to leave to his younger brothers.

This isn’t your fault, Tariel assured him.

Late in the evening, while Cadeyrn entertained himself and his new sister-in-law with stories of his exploits, Brennus sat apart. He stared out at the sea, watching the horizon. None of these lands belonged to him. His father had ensured that his brothers surrounded him. Often Brennus wondered if their father thought so little of him that the old man believed he would harm his brothers. Now, he couldn’t help but dread that his father foresaw this disaster, and rather than overt it, he set every roadblock to make it almost impossible for Brennus to assist his brothers without overstepping. This would be their true test.

Bowing his head, Brennus sighed. First Kian — now Minos, if I don’t take responsibility, it could be you next.

Ah, and I’m the only brother you actually like, Tariel teased with a soft smile.

It was entirely true, but they were the good sons. Minos raced around, following temporary pleasures. On the streets, Cadeyrn raised anarchy. Many considered him a demon before their father turned his attention to the navy, opening a world of warfare to the hellion. Even Kian who enjoyed the calm of numbers had his rebellious phase. Tormenting Cadeyrn with suggested military cuts before attacking the nobles on whatever charges he had found to dwindle their coffers.

But being the good sons weighed on them both. Tariel had no interest in ruling. Very little interest in anything outside his forges, but he bent himself as masterfully as he shaped his art, reforging himself to be a blade or a shield or whatever their father needed despite how clearly it exhausted him.

If these rebels are imperialists, then my realm would be their safe haven, Brennus noted, turning the information he had over and over in his head.

Theophania of Dynasi had a formidable mind. Her family had built the main academy for the kidemona. Sympathy in Nisia worried Brennus. Though Nikephoros obviously adored his brother, Brennus struggled to trust her. Even with the large globe of her belly, she was deadlier than most knights.

She won’t harm him. Tariel always seemed to be able to read his mind. They love each other. Not to mention her former mistress threatened her children. They say a mother’s love defies all else.

Though his brothers had scant memories of their lives before being adopted by the Emperor, Brennus had nothing. No names or faces to hold onto. He was little more than a newborn. All he had were stories others told him. His father spoke of hearing his cries and digging with his bare hands. A woman’s body curved around to form a gap to keep her son safe from the landslide. His mother fought against nature itself to save him, and she had won.

However, his tragedy often blended with his father’s. The landslide that destroyed his village also destroyed a cottage higher in the mountains. The rain brought down a mountain, and the love of the Emperor’s life died in the mud. Only Brennus rose from the devastation. Above all else, he and his brothers were survivors.

His father’s voice rang out in his ears, telling him to trust in that. To trust that his brothers were strong enough and wise enough to rule. They had done well in peace, but even months along in his recovery, Minos had a gauntness to his face that had only been there when he first came to the palace as a child. The youngest of them in age but the second to last to be adopted — Brennus remembered the skeletal child bundled and shivering against his father’s chest. Advisors whispered how the islanders — savages, they called them — tried to sacrifice a group of boys to call down the gods on the empire before Emperor Selwyn’s army arrived on their shores. Only Minos survived. Already exposed to the poisons thanks to his birth father, Minos clung to life.

If his father cared enough to make him immune, why don’t you give him back to him? Cadeyrn has suggested petulantly.

Adopted only a few months prior, he hadn’t liked Minos. The sight of him scared Cadeyrn, and the fact that Tariel and the whole of the castle doted upon the weak boy irritated him all the more. They would grow to be friends, but the sharp edge of competitiveness remained.

Before their father could answer, Minos had. Because he’s dead.

How his father had known he would be chosen, no one had figured out. There were no notebooks left behind. Nothing to indicate the man’s thoughts, but he had died for his forethought. Died for defying the will of the island’s nobles. All because they blamed him for Selwyn’s conquest.

Kian — rescued from a plague pit.

Minos — survived sacrificial poisoning.

Cadeyrn — pulled from the wreckage of a northern warship with his mother’s shield the bit of wood that kept him afloat.

Tariel — discovered in the woods with a pack of wolves.

And then there was him. Brennus — unearthed beneath the arch of his mother’s body.

They were all orphans lifted from the unknown. If anyone put effort in, perhaps they’d find Kian a distant son of a concubine of the former sultan who ruled the majority of what was now Kathban. Perhaps Cadeyrn’s father was the former chieftain elected to represent the unified noth, now Seierheim, against the emperor. They had some nobility inside. Minos didn’t, but he remembered his parents better than Kian or Cadeyrn.

Tariel was feral. Adorable, cuddling up to Brennus when he was brought back but always more comfortable in dark corners. Though he had memories of the forest and of the person who left him there, the vague recollection