Beyond the Pale: A Thin Veil Novella (The Thin Veil Book 3) Read Online Free PDF

place? We did not choose to come here—we came with our tails between our legs after the Milesians defeated us—defeated the mighty Elders—on Ériu. It is an insult that must be repaid. Now do you understand?”
    “No, I don’t!” Kier said, looking at him as though she was seeing him for the first time. “That was thousands of years ago in human time. Those warriors are all dead. The humans who live now have no quarrel with us, nor have they done anything to provoke our wrath.”
    “Their very existence should provoke our wrath,” he said.
    “You never spoke like this when we were together,” Kier said. “What has happened to you?”
    “We rarely debated these issues, but I assure you, I have felt this way for some time. I did not mention it because your father already disapproved of me enough. But now he is gone, along with all of the faithless Elders.”
    “So you hate the Elders as well?”
    “It was our Elders who were weak, who allowed our land to be taken from us. For all their talk of power and glory, have you seen any of them in battle? Of course not. They prefer to gorge themselves in the feasting halls all day, and then spend their nights listening to the minstrels and pleasing themselves with their women. It is of little surprise that they were defeated. They were passive, as we are now. They let down their guard, allowing a few measly humans to depose them from their rightful home— our rightful home.”
    “Lorcan, this isn’t you talking,” Kier said.
    “This is me, Kier. It’s who I was meant to be.” His face was earnest, as though he was begging her to believe him. “Don’t you see? The Elders have left, retreating even more. But the time has come for us to act. We need to take back our land, the land of Ériu.”
    Kier could not believe what she was hearing. She had to talk sense into him somehow. “But what of the humans? They won the battle, Ériu is rightfully theirs now,” she said.
    Lorcan jerked away from her and climbed out of bed. He began pulling on his trousers. “That, my dear, is the deception that you—and everyone else—has bought into. It is not rightfully theirs because they won a single battle. Our people gave up far too easily. It was a disgrace. Think about it, Kier. Humans are weak, they are easily injured, and they fall prey to illness and death at an alarming rate. They live short, insignificant lives. It would be no challenge to defeat them. We could do it within a day.”
    “Lorcan, wait. I know you dislike the humans, and I know you feel that Ériu is ours…but what is wrong with Tír na nÓg? We have everything we could possibly want here. Why must we go to war? We have no quarrel with the humans now—they do not even believe we exist. What reason would there be to go after them except revenge?”
    “I thought you, of all people, would understand,” he said, disappointment written across his face. “It is more than revenge, although revenge is certainly due. Kier…we could rule together. You and I. We could subdue the humans, who would see us for the gods that we are. It would only be a matter of sending our warriors to Ériu to conquer them. Then the kingdom would be ours—yours and mine. And they would be our subjects.”
    “They would be our subjects only out of fear!”
    “It is their destiny to be ruled by a greater race.”
    “Destiny? A destiny you would force on them, like I was forced into this marriage? You would impose your will upon them?”
    “There is no comparison! They are weak, built for servitude. You are a powerful queen a of noble race.”
    “I don’t see the difference,” Kier said quietly. A new pain was starting to build in the pit of her stomach. This was not the Lorcan she had known and loved. Had she done this to him? Had losing her driven him to this precipice? “If you reveal yourself to them and they choose to follow you, I have no argument. But I highly doubt that would happen.”
    He looked at her as though