Prologue
Alana
The sun rose with all shades of purple and pink to begin this dreadful day. All I could do is cry. One year prior, on the same day, my mother’s murder had taken place.
Kenzie walked into my bedroom first, followed by Rose. They carried a bucket of warm water with rags and brushes. They had feather dusters looped at their belts. They had the habit of cleaning me every morning as I cried almost every night.
If my maids dusted the room, it meant that my father would come visit me. If they cleaned the floors, windows and straightened up the bed, it meant that Lorenzo had announced a last-minute visit. If they simply switched the bedding, then they were planning on Sneaking Ludwig into my room to borrow my bed.
On that day, I wished to be alone in my sorrow.
“Happy birthday, princess.” Rose saw that I renew crying and wiped the tears off my surface.
“And happy solstice.” Kenzie placed towels at my foot, not to drench the floors.
Rose looked at the doors, “Today you are to be carried to the throne room.” She gazed into the eyes I had lost when I had turned into a boulder. “The King has sent far and wide for magicians to undo your curse.”
“Hopefully,” Kenzie added. “One of these charlatans will be a real wizard.” She glanced at the bed, “And hopefully you’ve been asleep this whole time.”
Rose placed a hand on my cheek. “Will you keep our secret?” Then she wet a soft bristle brush and begun to clean the top of me using the little stool they kept under my bed.
I did not mind that they had borrowed my bed. I found it fascinating how they managed to share a man without jealousy. The first time they did those things on my bed, I was angry. Then I witnessed their love. Soon I grew fond of the trio. It was as if I had become their confidante.
It helped me bear the days when Lorenzo visited. He used my bed twenty-five times. He would arrive drunk, dragging along some girl he had paid to fuck in front of me. They all resembled me one way or another. The auburn hair, sometimes the nose with large nostrils or the eyes as well a light green almost blue.
Then there was this count’s daughter from his country. She could have passed for my sister to anyone who didn’t know I was an only child. He had not paid her, and she cried the whole time. After that horrific event, Lorenzo announced her to be his wife.
“The guards will have to undo the doors to get you out.” Kenzie brought me back to the present.
“Don’t worry, we’ll have another room ready for you.” Rose was kind and hopeful. They both were.
It took ten guards, several logs and ropes. I was settled in the middle of the throne room. I watched as the servants prepared for a banquet. I didn’t know most of them. King Leonard had the habit of antagonizing people until they left, just so he didn’t have to pay them. Only those who avoided him stayed. Like Kenzie, Rose, and the nanny I had not seen in a year.
She was marching around the room as if she had the authority to tell everyone what to do. Lizzie was berating one of the kitchen girls who had gotten Ludwig to lift her up, helping he set a wraith on top of me.
“What are you thinking? Putting those filthy things upon this country’s only princess.”
“They’re not dirty, there are flowers.” Ludwig tried to shield the girl from Lizzie’s ire.
“Wouldn’t she want to dress up?” The girl stood her ground.
“Why?” Lizzie’s laugh was full of cruelty. “She’s a rock. She’ll be a rock until the end of times.”
That harpy! If I could, I would have slapped her! She had no right to step on a child’s hopes.
“We know she is awake in there. She cries her mother’s death almost every night.” There was something different about Ludwig since the last time I had seen him. He had grown more hair between his brows and his short beard was bushier where it used to be patchy.
One of my uncles, a duke, whined for them to take this fussing elsewhere. It is once I was left unattended that I saw a man in a hooded cloak sampling the food lying on tables for the coming guests. I could not pin down what colour the fabric was. No one seemed to notice him. He weaved through the people walking around expertly.
I almost lost track of him as the crowd came in. But, there he was, holding a goose leg. Heads of each noble family of the country were waiting for my father’s arrivals. The magicians were not let in yet.
This whole time, the hooded man stuffed his face. To my surprise, when he was done eating the meat he held. He bit the bone. People turned around looking for the source of the loud crunch to no avail.
I laughed. But no one could hear me. Or so I thought until the thief glanced at me. He bit some more bone while we watched each other. His vibrant green eyes looked as if he was smiling.
The main doors opened, stealing all the fun in the room. Mine mostly. Lorenzo arrived, dropping off his wife by the foods. She looked at him with such a hatred that chilled my bones. And he deserves every bit of that hatred she held for him.
He climbed up the few steps to the thrones. “I present to you, King Leonard of Westford.” He gestured to the back doors.
My father came in and sat without a word. He sighed and called out, “Let in the magicians.”
