The Hated (Sleeping With Monsters Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

– but something inside my eyes did, so that I knew what they said. And I read, “The History of Queen Airelle,” as clearly as if it were written on a screen.
    “Joshan,” I breathed.
    “Yes, my Queen?”
    “It worked – it worked!” I sat up in excitement, leaned over to kiss him joyfully, and moments after that I fell back to bed to begin to read.
    I was right – it was a book, and I was proud that I had rescued it from the mover. I read through the night and up until dawn as the lilans chimed the passing hours outside.
    It told the story of Airelle, a distant-distant Queen. Yzin had never mentioned her in history lessons – and despite the fact that the book purported to be her history, it was easier to believe that it was a convoluted work of fiction, or even a child’s tale, because so much of the story was impossible to believe. She had magic that flowed out of her like fire – she was allowed to leave the palace – she was allowed to lead an army!
    There had been no war on Aranda for thousands of years, but fighting seemed to be the only thing Airelle did – there were painstakingly drawn maps on multiple pages that explained where they were fighting, and then other pages explaining why, and how – with weapons I’d never heard of, men mounted on creatures I’d never seen in the Living Hall – the sheer imagination of it as a work was overwhelming.
    Each battle was presented without comment, as though it happened every day, all the time. In fact, it seemed like the historian had gone out of his way to make such fascinating subjects dull – which, oddly, made it feel less like fiction as the story unfurled.
    A pearl rolled in as I blinked dry eyes and looked up to see Joshan waiting hopefully. I rolled it back to him directly. “Play freely with one another, but leave me be.”
    He nodded at this, and set off to find Beza. Soon I heard the sound of their pleasure from not far away – it made me ache, but my curiosity to finish the strange story I was reading was stronger.
    The fighting inside the book became more fierce. A distant country – Rix -- joined the war from across the ocean, carrying weapons of metal that no one else could understand. The only thing that seemed to work against them was magic – but magic was in short supply. Airelle couldn’t be on all borders, fighting all battles at once. She was exhausting herself, when her advisors came up with a desperate plan to close Aranda’s borders with a shield from shore to shore. If they could manage that, they thought they would have a chance for their own technology to catch up to match the Rixans.
    I slowed as well. Somehow I could believe that she could call storms from the heavens and fire from the wind – but put a shield over all of Aranda? I knew from my lessons Aranda was massive – it couldn’t be done.
    Her advisors spoke with her commanders – and the historian finally took the opportunity to describe one of them, briefly. I realized with a combination of excitement and horror that the fighters at the front of each of her battles, the creatures powered by smoke and magic and fierce loyalty – one of whom, if I read between the lines, it appeared that Airelle loved – were Zaibann. The shape of their armor -- the way it was buckled – my jaw dropped. I got out of bed, and raced to my Zaibann’s chamber to compare.
    Everything the historian had written was accurate. His hair was back in a knot at his neck and walking around behind him as I had not done since he first arrived, I saw Airelle’s symbol of the sun embossed on the stone armor covering his back.
    Stunned, I raced back to my great chamber and threw myself into a couch, opening the book again.
    “The dream-cradle waits, my Queen,” Joshan said, bringing in a fresh tray of fruit.
    “Not now, Joshan,” I said, waving him off – and then I realized the irony of neglecting my people to read about a Queen who was prepared to give everything for hers. “Soon,