Lord of the Beasts

Lord of the Beasts
Susan Krinard

The time has come to face his destiny… Enchanted blood flows through vet Donal Fleming’s veins, but life among mortal kind has left him wary and he secretly hungers for the freedom to live unrestrained by civilised society.Until Cordelia… Cordelia Hardcastle has always played by society’s rules…Until Donal introduces her to a passion she’s never dreamed of and a world she never imagined. But Donal’s attraction to Cordelia has unleashed his most primal instincts and he must face the consequences of an impossible choice – between human love and the powers that, to him, are life itself…

Praise for Susan Krinard

and her books

“A poignant tale of redemption”

—Booklist on To Tame a Wolf

“Its compelling characters and the universal nature of their

underlying conflicts should guarantee an across-the-board

appeal to general fantasy fans and other readers.”

—Library Journal on The Forest Lord

“A master of atmosphere and description”

—Library Journal

“Readers … will be pleasantly surprised at the depth and

breadth of this novel. Character-driven, enhanced by plenty

of adventure, it encompasses a far wider scope than a romance.”

—Romantic Times BOOKclub on Shield of the Sky

“The standard for today’s fantasy romance.”

—Affaire de Coeur on Shield of the Sky

“Krinard is a bestselling, highly regarded writer who is

deservedly carving out a niche in the romance arena.”

—Library Journal

“Susan Krinard was born to write romance”

—New York Times bestselling author Amanda Quick

Also available from Susan Krinard

HALFWAY TO DAWN

BRIDE OF THE WOLF

LUCK OF THE WOLF

CODE OF THE WOLF

Lord of the Beasts

Susan

Krinard

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

To the Animals

‘I think I could turn and live with animals, they

are so placid and self-contain’d,

I stand and look at them long and long.’

—Walt Whitman

Acknowledgement

Thanks to Kathy Flake, who hosted my first trip to the

beautiful Cotswolds. She is a true friend to the animals.

CHAPTER ONE

London, 1847

THE WOMAN WAS BEAUTIFULas no earthly creature could be, flawless in form and carriage, her hair cascading over her shoulders like Fane gold spun by a master weaver. The world of men had names for her kind: Fairy and Daoine Sidhe and Fair Folk among them—but no such description could begin to capture her radiant perfection. Her ivory face shone with a stern radiance that no mortal could gaze upon without recognizing that he was nothing but a low, wretched brute in the presence of divinity.

Donal wasn’t afraid, though Da had left him alone with the Queen of Tir-na-Nog. The man known by humans as Hartley Shaw—the Forest Lord, stag-horned master of the northern forests—had been cast out of the Blessed Land, driven away by his own mother because he would not give up his love for the mortal Eden Fleming. But now Queen Titania gazed down at her grandson and spoke, smothering the little spark of defiance Donal nursed in his six-year-old heart.

“Your father has made his choice,” she said, her voice sweeping over Donal like a blast of cold north wind. “But you are young, and your blood may yet serve your people.”

Donal had heard those same words a hundred times before, and always he gave the same answer. “I want to go home, with Da.”

“Home.” Titania flicked her slender fingers, and silver leaves shook loose from the stately tree beneath which she stood. “The vile sty mortals have made of the good, green earth. That is what you return to, child.”

Though Donal knew there were many bad things in the world, he knew it was not as terrible as his grandmother said. Animals still ran free in the forest beyond the Gate. Ma and Da had seen to that. No matter what happened anywhere else in the land called England, Hartsmere would always be safe.

“But not for you,” Titania said. “Never for you, grandson. You will find no peace at your mother’s hearth. You will always be torn between two worlds, and your father’s choice will haunt you for as long as you live among mortals.” Her lovely face darkened as if a cloud had passed over the ever-shining sun of Tir-na-Nog. “Hear me, and remember. If ever you should love as my son loves … if ever you fall into the snare of a mortal female’s wiles … you will lose the gift that lifts you above the People of Iron. The voices of the beasts will vanish, and you will be alone. You will have nothing … nothing….

DONAL FLEMING WOKE with a start. The voice in his mind faded, and in its place rose the clamor and din of morning at the Covent Garden market.