The Fae Princess
The Pacific Princesses: Book 2
Ektaa Bali
Blue Moon Rising Publishing
Copyright © 2021 by Ektaa Bali
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Print ISBN: 9780648983057
E-book ISBN: 9780648983040
The author acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land where this novel was written and based. We acknowledge their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
Books in The Pacific Princess Series
The Unicorn Princess
The Fae Princess
The Mermaid Princess
The Tale of the three Princesses
For Vidya, the sweetest, most caring little girl I know.
&
For my Nani, Subbhya Wati, for teaching me that when you speak, you should always speak with love.
Contents
Untitled
Prologue
1. The First day of Spring
2. Trouble Comes in Threes
3. The Devil's Fingers
4. The King's Warning
5. The Unicorn Princess
6. Old Enemies
7. The Bunyip King
8. Into the Forest
9. Under the Sea
10. The Fae Queen
11. Plans
12. The King of Trees
13. Yara-ma-yha-who
14. Fire Flowers
15. The Leaf Master
16. Saving the Flower
17. A Dark Day
18. War
19. The Final Stand
20. Reunion
Afterword
Acknowledgments
About the Author
When the world was new, it slept in the shadow womb of the universe. Then fire came and made things move. Then, water cooled the earth. As time passed, the earth arose from the sea, and the Flower of Awakening saw the light and finally, her song could be heard through the crisp air. The Fae awoke and sprung from the wet earth, with hearts that were whole and pure. When they spoke the language of the earth, and sung its song, the trees and flowers listened and grew tall. The Fae and land were one, and until the end of time, they would sing their songs and watch over the earth and keep it safe. For where there is magic and power, there is a fine and precious balance that must be kept.
—The Book of the Fae, Queen Mab the First, 3333 B.C.
Prologue
King Farrion of the Eastern Bushland Fae strode through the ancient forest. He had travelled for seven days and seven nights through thunder and rain, fire and dangerous caverns to get to this place. A place not visited by any living soul except he and the Fae Kings and Queens before him.
Access to the Valley of Old was granted only to deserving Fae royalty. There was too much power here and too much to be lost to allow anyone but the most worthy to walk through. King Farrion had only been here twice before. It was only to be used in times of greatest need where wisest of council was required.
For two weeks now, King Farrion had felt something growing within him. A feeling of dread so awful it made him break out into a cold sweat in the middle of the night. He had never felt anything like it. Sinister and unrelenting, it had made him think of decaying plants, rotten fruit, and sick animals. And to the Fae, beings of fertility and health, this was the worst possible thing he could imagine. He could not understand where it was coming from, or why. All he knew was that feeling was growing. It had started within and it was now all around him. Throughout his sky palace and all through the Fae forest. Something was very, very wrong, and he needed advice. Advice from those who knew All. If anyone could help him, these beings would.
Everything in this forest was unspeakably huge. King Farrion was a large Fae, made of heavy muscle, but he felt like a tiny insect walking through this ancient place, and he felt its magic in his soul. This is how he knew he was in the right place. It was always different, getting to the Valley of Old. The magic that made this place was rooted in the heart of secret magic of the Fae so deeply that it was a secret folded within other secrets.
King Farrion walked amongst the gigantic gum trees, including the eucalypts, and felt his own heart sing. As guardian of the eucalyptus trees, they called out to him so lovingly that despite his haste to keep moving, he let himself run his hands against their trunks as he passed.
It would take a full minute to walk around the base of these trees, he marvelled. They had been brought here from another place and time, in an era remembered by none. None, that is, except for those who lived here.
This was the home of the Old Ones.
Farrion saw the clearing through the trees. This was it. The sacred meeting point for the Fae and the Old Ones. He paused in the line of trees bordering the clearing and took a deep breath, reaching for the vial he had kept safe on a cord around his neck.
He stepped out into the clearing in front of a small flat rock and cleared his throat. Clutching the glass vial, he spoke the words his forefathers had handed down to him.
“Old ones,” he called. “King Farrion of the Eastern Bushland Fae humbly requests your aid and counsel. Please heed my call.”
It began as a rumble in the distance. Farrion felt the land beneath him vibrate.
Trying to still his pounding heart, he listened to the deep boom of many heavy footsteps getting closer and closer.
The trees surrounding the clearing rustled, and all at once—the Old Ones took their spots, forming a large semi-circle before him.
There were seven of them, and they were huge.
Towering above him, Farrion craned his head upward to peer respectfully at them all as they looked down at him with
