Heiress of Embers Read online

  Heiress of Embers

  Kingdom of Fairytales book 2

  J A Armitage

  Contents

  1. 8th January

  2. 9th January

  3. 10th January

  4. 11th January

  5. 12th January

  6. 13th January

  7. 14th January

  After the Happily Ever After…

  Join us

  A note from the author

  The Kingdom of Fairytales Team

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2019 by J A Armitage

  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.

  Edited By Rose Lipscomb

  Cover by Enchanted Quill Press

  Created with Vellum

  Kingdom of Fairytales

  You all know the fairytales, the stories that always have the happy ending. But what happens after all those storybook characters get what they wanted? Is it really a happily ever after?

  In this prequel, you will find out what happens next, be transported back to those lands you fell in love with and be prepared to meet some new characters along the way.

  Kingdom of Fairytales is a new way of reading with one chapter a day and one book a week throughout the year beginning January 1st

  Lighting-fast reads you won’t be able to put down

  Read in real time as each chapter follows a day in the life of a character throughout the entire year, with each bite-sized episode representing a week in the life of our hero.

  Each character’s story wrapped up at the end of every season with a brand new character and story featured in each season.

  Fantasy has never been so epic!

  8th January

  "Touch it, my dear. Touch the spindle. No need to worry." The beautiful young woman with startling black eyes that shone like dark diamonds with flashes of green urged. And the spindle itself. I'd never seen a piece of machinery so wonderful, so intriguing. So forbidden. It was only a contraption made to spin wool. Not harmful. But it was so tempting. I'd always been the good girl, kept to the straight and narrow, but this was something else. The woman had promised me nothing, and yet, she made me feel that this would be the answer to all my prayers if I only did the unthinkable.

  I reached out, my forefinger extended, every fiber of my being, wanting...no, needing to touch it. The one thing I'd learned my whole life never to touch. Glancing back to the woman, she nodded her head, a smile on her face. A face with high cheekbones and a severity that came with the beauty she had. She mesmerized me with her strange horned headpiece and clear delight. I wanted to please her almost as much as I wanted to touch the spindle for myself.

  A glint of light hit the needle, enticing me further. It was just so beautiful...so perfect.

  "Do it! Do it, Azia."

  I reached forward and touched the needle. A sharp pain shot through my finger, and I screamed out. Everything went black...

  "Ouch!" My eyes shot open as I banged my head on my headboard. My breathing came raggedly as I took in my surroundings. I was in my room. Everything looked normal except for the bump appearing on my head. It was a dream. I'd dreamed about her, the witch that had cursed my mother. I wondered if my mother had been so taken by her when she fell into the spell. It had felt so real.

  I didn't want to believe the doctor that my mother's sleep was a curse any more than my father did, but the fact remained that every doctor my father had brought in to see her had agreed that apart from the fact she was asleep, there was nothing wrong with her. None of them used the word curse, but they didn't need to. This happened to her the first time after she pricked her finger on a spindle. She couldn't have done that this time. Spindles didn't exist in Draconis anymore. They were illegal. Except...except I'd seen one just days before in a shop in Zhore. I'd bought my mittens in the shop. The shopkeeper had been urging me to touch the needle on that one too. Why hadn't I thought of it before? The shock of my dream brought back the memory with startling clarity, except the woman had looked different. I thought back to the woman I'd seen in the shop. She was older than the woman from my dream. My chest tightened as I wondered if I could have stopped all this by telling my father earlier. Jumping out of bed, I pulled my nightgown around me and tripped over my slippers in my rush to see him. Maybe I should have told him earlier, but I couldn't turn back time. I could only tell him what I knew now and hope he wasn't too angry with me.

  I rushed out of my bedroom, smack bang into Milo.

  "Where are you going in such a rush?"

  His hand brushed my arm, and worry showed in his beautiful brown eyes. Jack eyed us curiously from the end of the corridor, causing me to speak in a hushed tone.

  "I remembered something I saw last week that might help my mother," I said, pulling him away from Jack. "I don't know why I didn't think of it yesterday when all those doctors were going in and out."

  Milo pulled me close to him. I guess he didn't care what Jack thought of us. "I'm so sorry about your mother, Azia. I wanted to come to you last night, but I knew you were with your parents, and then I thought you'd need your sleep."

  I nodded. "I wish you had come to my room too. I barely slept, anyway."

  It was an invitation. Who cared if Jack overheard. It didn't matter anymore. My mother was asleep in a curse, and my father was beside himself with stress. My life was falling apart, and nobody cared if I was going to get married or not.

  He pulled me into a hug, holding me tightly, keeping out the world. It was all too brief.

  I kissed him quickly and left him to work. The not having a boyfriend/fake boyfriend/not-so-fake boyfriend was not going well, or it was going too well. Who knew? The whole thing was complicated, but I knew that having Milo around was what I needed right now. The consequences of our new relationship were not something I had the brainpower to worry about at the moment. I found my father where I'd left him the night before, sitting in an armchair beside his own bed. He looked up as I closed the door behind me. His eyes were red as though he'd been crying, and the dark circles that had plagued my mother in her final days awake now rested under my father's eyes.

  "I didn't want to disturb her," he said, by way of explanation, though it explained nothing at all. A horse could ride across the bed, and she wouldn't wake up. Still, my father was in pieces. He needed help, not logic.

  "Why don't you have a shower and nap in one of the guest rooms for a while? I will stay with her until you come back."

  He nodded slowly, pulling himself out of the chair. His clothes were the same clothes he'd been wearing the previous day. He'd not even taken off his boots. The bottom of his un-tucked shirt rested over the line of his belt, and one button had come open. After kissing my mother, he ambled past me, giving me a pat on the shoulder as he passed. I'd never seen him look so defeated.

  My mother lay in peaceful slumber. Once again, she was Sleeping Beauty. I could well imagine how my father had fallen in love with her all those years ago, just by looking at her. I didn't believe in love at first sight. That was the stuff of romance books and fairy tales, but I could see why my parents were attracted to each other. They grew as a couple from there. I Sighed. Going to sleep and waking up with my soul mate would be so much easier than falling for my fake boyfriend and then having to marry someone I detested.

  The only good thing about my mother being cursed was the fact that the fae had kept a low profile. I knew he was in the castle somewhere, but I'd not seen him since the curse took over. Of all the people in the castle, he would be the best one
to speak to about the curse. He was the only person of magic in the castle. Correction. He was the only person of magic in the whole castle apart from me, but seeing as I only just found out I was magic, I was no use when it came to curses.

  I tried to conjure up some magic over my mother's body, but nothing came of it. I felt too dull and depressed to muster up the energy needed, and I didn't want to explode her like I did with an apple only a few days before.

  I sat with my mother only twenty minutes before my father returned. He'd changed clothes and showered, at least, but the pallor on his skin and the deathly tired look in his eyes remained.

  I stood up to let him sit back down.

  "I couldn't sleep," he mumbled, sitting back into his chair and resting his head in his hands. "How can I sleep knowing that your mother is deep in a curse? I don't know what to do, Azia. Last time kissing her was all I needed to do, but now when I try...nothing. Her eyelids don't even flicker."

  I took a deep breath and psyched myself up for my confession. Now was the time to tell him what I'd seen the other day.

  "When we were in Zhore, I went into a wool shop to buy mittens. In the window was a spindle. I didn't tell you sooner because I thought it was just for show. I didn't expect anything like this to happen. I'm sorry, Father."

  My father licked his dry lips and sighed. "I don't think your mother visited Zhore yesterday, so I doubt that has anything to do with the curse, but I'll get someone to look. Thank you for letting me know."

  "The woman behind the counter was strange," I added. "She wanted me to touch the needle. It felt like I was being compelled to do it. I would have, too, if you'd not walked in the shop."

  My father's eyebrows furrowed. "It is a strange coincidence. I'll speak to the castle guards and ask if anyone saw your mother leaving yesterday. If there is a spindle there, it needs to be destroyed, even if it is harmless."

  I jumped at the chance of leaving the castle. "Let me go. I know where the shop is."

  He moved closer to the bed and gazed upon my mother. "There are things you do not know and things I promised her I'd never tell you. I do not wish to revisit the past, and yet it seems the past is revisiting me. I cannot let you go. I'm sorry. I remember the shop you spoke about though I don't recall seeing the spindle. My guards will find it."

  I remembered how real it had all felt. How much I needed to touch the spindle. My dream. "Do you think the curse was meant for me, Father?"

  My father took my mother's hand and looked my way. "I do not know, Azia. We are powerful people, and with power comes enemies. It is possible that someone out there wanted to recreate what happened to your mother all those years ago. You need Caspian keeping you safe now more than ever."

  I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the mention of the fae. "Don't you think it could be the same person who cursed mother before?"

  "No," he said, standing up abruptly. "That woman is long gone. It is impossible."

  "That woman? Who?" I knew whom he was referring to. I just wanted him to acknowledge it.

  "I do not wish to talk about it," he said, striding over to me. "And I do not wish to talk about her."

  I sucked in a breath, heart hammering at the name on my lips. "Is it Derillen?"

  He looked me dead in the eyes. "I do not know where you learned that name. We never mentioned her to the press, but it doesn't matter. She is dead. She has to be. I do not wish to discuss the matter further."

  "Ok, Father," I said quietly, nodding my head. "I'll find a guard and let him know where the wool shop is"

  He nodded. "Thank you....and, Azia?"

  "Yes?"

  "I do not think this is your fault, and I do not want you thinking it is. I would have thought nothing of a spindle either."

  I left him there, my mind swirling with everything he'd told me. Long ago, I'd thought my parents had been honest with me about my birth and adoption, and because I was happy, I'd never thought to question it. I was very young when they told me I was adopted, and they'd always assured me that, adopted or not, I was still the heir to the Draconis throne and just as important to them as Remy, Ash, and Hollis. By rights, the throne should have gone to Remy as the real blood-born son of the king and queen, but my parents had decided to treat me as they would as if I was born to them. I wanted to believe I wasn't part of this, but the weird compulsion to touch the spindle had been playing with my thoughts. Whatever my father said, I knew that this was something to do with me, and my mother had somehow gotten caught in the crossfire. I needed to find out who I was and where I'd come from, and my father would not tell me. It was also certain that I would go against my father's wishes. I'd never done it before, but there was no way I would mope around the castle like him. The problem of the dragons was nowhere nearer to being solved, no one knew what was wrong with my mother, and now we had a spindle to destroy. At the moment, my father was not capable of dealing with any of it, which left it to me. And I knew which guard to ask to come with me...

  "Your father asked for me to come into Zhore with you?" Milo cocked an eyebrow.

  "Not exactly," I hedged. "I made an executive decision, but seeing as he's in with my mother and everyone is too scared to bother him over trivialities, I figured it may as well be you as anyone else."

  "Great!" he said, his eyes shining.

  "I have a job for Milo," I shouted over to Jack, who watched us with curiosity. He frowned, knowing he'd be guarding the corridor alone, but there was nothing he could say or do about it.

  As soon as we were in the stables and away from the prying eyes of the castle staff, I took Milo's hand in mine. Illicit, and yet it felt so right. My engagement with the fae had still not happened and hopefully never would. Maybe when this mess was all over, we could go back to how everything used to be, and I could decide whether or not I wanted a boyfriend.

  "Don't you think it's weird?" Milo asked as he heaved himself up upon one of the castle horses.

  "What?"

  He waited until I'd mounted my horse to continue. "So many things going on at once. I've heard the phrase 'I've not seen anything like this in eighteen years' so many times this past week, mostly from Jack, but I've heard it from others too. The townsfolk are gossiping, and it isn't good. They say that things are going back to how they used to be, and it scares them. I'm sorry to say this, Azia, but they need a leader, and your father isn't up to the job at the moment. Not that I'd expect him to be in his situation, but..."

  I sighed as we headed out into the cold. He was right. I'd been so caught up in everything going on in the castle that I'd not thought about the townspeople or the state of the kingdom. It stood to reason that everyone was scared. Giant dragons were invading every other day, and the queen was back under her curse. I hurried a glance up into the sky, but clouds obscured the peak of the mountains, and I couldn't see the dragons.

  "I've been thinking of the flip side to that," I said, trotting along the path that would lead us to Zhore. "Everyone is talking about things going back to how they used to be, but no one has mentioned why things changed for the better all those years ago. One minute everything was horrible, and then overnight, everything became rosy."

  Milo pulled to the side of the road to skirt around a muddy patch where the snow had thawed. "You know, I'd not thought about it like that before, but you are right. The change back then must have been as startling as it is now. Your father broke your mother's curse. Maybe that had something to do with it."

  "He did," I said, following him around the muddy patch, "but he told me that the curse was already weakening. He was able to get through the brambles much easier than anyone else. Why? My father was no one special before then."

  "He was your mother's true love," Milo pointed out.

  I rolled my eyes. "Oh, please! He'd never even met her before that day. He only knew of her beauty through legends. No one was alive that remembered her. And have you seen my mother? Every man who meets her falls in love with her instantly. At best, he kissed her with
out permission. It was practically abuse."

  Milo laughed as I caught back up to him. "Your parent's story is the most romantic story ever told, and you've turned it into a felony. I think it's sweet. Maybe they really were made for each other, and it was love at first sight. Have you thought of that?"

  "Love at first sight is a fallacy," I huffed. "It doesn't exist."

  "Doesn't it?" He turned his brown eyes to me and gave me a meaningful look that made my stomach flutter.

  Zhore town square looked so much different from the last time I'd seen it. The decorations from New Year's Eve had long been cleared away, and now it was perfectly clean. Clean and empty with a light dusting of snow. In a marked difference to a few days ago when my father had given a speech, there wasn't a soul to be seen. The shops were all closed, many of them shuttered up.

  "What's going on?" I asked nervously.

  "I told you people are scared. No one dares open their shops. No one dares go outside. Those that aren't frightened of the dragons are scared of the curse. Last time the whole castle was cursed, but people wonder if this time it will hit the town too, or even the whole kingdom. Everywhere is closed but the Dragon Roost Inn. It's making a roaring trade. People are drinking to forget."

  I swallowed back a small laugh. At least someone was having some good luck amidst all of this.

  I walked the horse over to the dark alley at the back of the square and dismounted. The shop with the spindle was still there, and in the window, the spindle stood where it had before.

  "This is it," I exclaimed, my pulse running faster at the sight of it.

  Dismounting, I tied the horse up and wandered over to the window. As I had felt before, a strange feeling came over me. This time I recognized it for what it was. Magic. Cautiously I beckoned Milo over.