by Tracy Lauren
The Frog Prince
Cosmic Fairy Tales
Tracy Lauren
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Author’s Note
Epilogue
© 2019 Tracy Lauren
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by U.S. copyright law.
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Chapter 1
Stephanie
I’m trembling. More than anything in the world I want to race into my daughter’s room and scoop her into my arms. Already I’m fighting back sobs of joy. But I don’t want to scare her. My baby’s spent the past six weeks without me. It’s important that after all she’s been through, I don’t make things worse than they’ve already been. Particularly since I have Vazrium at my side.
So that’s how I find myself paused in the dark hallway, my hand mere inches from the doorknob—hesitating over what I’ve fought so hard for. I just can’t believe I’m here. I didn’t even know how long I’d been gone until my sister told me. Each day felt like an eternity. Though I imagine it was the same for my Madison.
Madison, my sweet baby girl. Well, not so much a baby anymore at 12 years old, but still…she’ll always be my baby. For so many years it was just the two of us. And then…I was taken. Abducted by aliens. I woke up on a spaceship thousands of light years away from here. I thought surely I’d die out in space, on another world, that I’d never make it back to my baby. It was terrible. What I felt was beyond devastation—it was a living hell. Not only did I fear I’d never see my child again, but she’d never know what happened to me.
Somehow though, my luck took a turn for the better. Hell, I can’t even call it luck. It was a damned miracle. A big, golden, terrible, and amazing miracle. Vazrium found me. For him it was love at first sight. He looked at me and his whole world changed.
His people—the Teveran—when they meet their soulmate it’s like something within them shifts. This alien at my side, he needs me like he needs air to breathe and water to drink. So, when he saw my slave masters bullying me…whelp, shit hit the fan.
You see, Vazrium is a warrior king…heavy emphasis on the warrior part. I know I should have been turned off by the brutal way he killed my slavers and stole me from them, but it was strange… I wasn’t. Before I even got my translator I knew Vazrium would never harm me. I knew instead he would do everything in his power to help me. I guess in that way it was love at first sight for me too. I’ve never trusted anyone more in my life, never put my full faith in a single person before. But with Vazrium, it was easy.
When I told him I had a daughter, he didn’t even hesitate. The man moved mountains to get me back to her. It was like he cared as much about my lost baby as I did, only he actually had the power to do something about it. He stole ships, he murdered slavers, he nearly started a damn war. But all that mattered to him was getting me to my Madison. It’s hard to not fall in love with a man like that, especially since all my previous relationship experience has been so lackluster. Hell, Madison’s biological father hasn’t even seen her since she was four and that bastard lives in the same fucking town.
Long story short, here we are now, six weeks post-alien abduction, with my hand hovering over the doorknob to my daughter’s bedroom. It’s a moment I longed for, but in my darkest moments…I never thought it would happen. Now I’m here, I’m actually here.
“Hush, my mate,” Vazrium tells me, stilling my trembling hands with his large golden ones. He’s so gentle, despite his thick claws. “Remember, you do not want to frighten her.”
I nod. Vazrium and I have been over this a hundred times—preparing for this moment, obsessing over how we can lessen the trauma Madison has been going through these past few weeks, and the trauma that’s sure to follow once she realizes aliens are real.
“You’re right,” I tell him, bringing a smile to my face and wiping away my tears. “I’m just…so happy.”
“Go to her then, share your joy with Madison,” he urges. I don’t need to be told twice. I can’t spend another second without my baby in my arms. Carefully, I turn the knob and step quietly into her room. I don’t make much sound at all, but Madison sits bolt upright in her bed, roused by the barest of noises. It makes me wonder how many times she’s woken in the night, looking for me when I wasn’t there.
“Mama?” she calls fearfully into the darkness. That does it for me. Any plan I had to play this cool dissolves into nothingness. I race for my daughter.
“I’m here, baby. Mama’s right here,” I tell her, enveloping her in a hug. My daughter’s scent hits my nose and I breathe her in. She smells like the tangle spray we put in her hair after she gets out of the shower and our laundry detergent, mixed with stale gum and 12-year-old girl sweat. It’s pure heaven.
Madison trembles and sobs in my arms, making my fragile heart break one more time. No matter what I’ve been going through, whatever Madison has endured has been a thousand times worse. She struggles to speak through her tears, but all she can manage to say is “Mama” over and over again.
It seems like an hour passes before either of us is composed enough to truly speak and I pull my daughter’s hair back from her face, wiping her tears away. The moonlight streams into her room and as I look at her in the pale light I can’t imagine any sight more precious.
“What happened to you?” she asks. “The police came, Aunt Carol was on the news. Everyone was trying to find you. I…I was scared, Mama.” Her voice wavers, threatening more tears.
“I know, baby, I know how scary it was. But I’m here now and I promise, we’ll never be separated again.”
“I don’t understand. Where’d you go?” she asks. I shoot my gaze back to where Vazrium waits in the shadows.
Taking a deep breath, I steady myself before I start my story. “I was taken, stolen by bad men. Now I know that sounds scary, but I promise you, this story has a happy ending. Of course it does, otherwise I wouldn’t be here with you right now, would I?” Madison stares at me with concerned eyes, desperate for answers to all the questions she surely has.
“I was taken very far away from here and every day since I’ve been trying to make my way back to you. But it was hard and like I said, I was very far away. Luckily…I found someone to help me—”
“A police officer?” Madison asks.
“No, baby, something else.” This is the hard part. I take another breath and press on. “I found a hero. His name is Vazrium and pretty soon you’re going to be meeting him, but I
have to tell you a little about Vaz first. Now, he’s going to look pretty scary, maybe even a little bit like a monster. But that’s a good thing, because what I needed was a monster—a beast willing to move mountains to bring me back to your side.”
“I don’t…understand…” Madison says, trailing off, sounding unsure of herself—unsure of me.
“I know, hun, it’ll take time. But I promise you, everything is about to get a lot clearer. And hey, I saved the best part about Vaz for last. Want to know something extra special about him? He’s a king. An honest-to-goodness, lives-in-a-castle king.”
“Mama…you aren’t making any sense,” Madison starts, her expression marked with confusion. I rake my hand over my face.
“You’re right, baby. I’m sorry. I’m afraid it’s all just going to sound crazy until you see for yourself. All you need to know right now is that we’re together and nothing will ever tear us apart again.”
“I will make sure of that,” Vazrium says, his deep voice sounding like a growl as he takes a tentative step into the room. He’s so nervous. It warms my heart to see the fierce warrior, who risked everything to bring me here, reduced to wringing his hands at the prospect of meeting Madison. You see to Vaz, I’m his mate, and that makes Madison his daughter—the soon-to-be-crowned princess of Tevera.
Ceremoniously, he kneels before her—a warrior’s signal of undying devotion. Hanging his head, Vazrium’s thick, golden mane falls forward, obscuring his chiseled face and vicious-looking fangs.
“Madison, Princess of Tevera, I pledge myself to you and your mother. In this life and the next, I am yours—my fists, my blood, and my kingdom. In all my battles, I’ve known no greater honor than to call you family.”
“Mama?” Madison looks at me, a question in her eyes. Her hand grips mine a little tighter.
“Madison, honey, we’ve got a lot to tell you, but not a lot of time. Vazrium isn’t from around here, but after all he’s done for me—for us—I’ve fallen in love with him. I know this all must seem like a whirlwind to you, but Vaz and I are going to get married, and you and I are going to go live with him in his castle on Tevera. You’re going to get to be a princess baby.”
Madison’s hand still clings to mine and the confusion hasn’t cleared from her face. “But…we’ll get to be together?” she asks, sounding unsure.
“Yes! Of course, baby, nothing will ever come between us again.”
Madison frowns, looking over at the still-kneeling Vaz. “Okay,” she agrees quietly before burying her face against my neck. “As long as we’re together.”
I smile right down to my soul, savoring our reunion. But time keeps pressing onward and we really do need to get Vaz’s ship out of here before the sun rises. God forbid a nosy neighbor peers into the backyard and sees a certified UFO.
Hastily, we pack all of Madison’s belongings. Not that she’ll need any of it on Tevera, but I know from my time in space that even the littlest of things can hold so much sentimental value. So we bring everything, right down to the Justin Bieber posters she keeps on her walls.
There’s one last heartfelt goodbye to my shell-shocked sister. Then, with Madison’s hand still in mine, we board Vazrium’s ship and rocket into the stars…straight toward our happily ever after.
Chapter 2
Madison
Nine years later
I shake the bars to my cage, angrily trying to find a weak point in its construction. The movement causes my small prison to wobble and the bottom edges of the cage skim the black pond I’m suspended over. Murky water sneaks inside, wetting the hem of my golden ball gown. I wince unhappily.
Even if I somehow manage to deactivate the locking mechanism to this cage, I’m still stuck in the middle of this nasty pond. I’ll have to swim for it. I get chills at the thought. Who knows what’s in that water? I mean, there could be some kind of alien beast just waiting to swallow me whole.
Woefully, I rest my head against the bars. “I hate it here,” I say quietly to no one in particular.
I wish my mom would have never brought me to Tevera. Now, I’m kidnapped, locked in a stone dungeon, and suspended over a sinister-looking pond.
I’ll have to wait for my stepdad, King Vazrium, to show up and save the day. Won’t Mom just love that? He’ll be the hero and I’ll be the ingrate. Vazrium has given you everything you could have ever asked for. Right…too bad I don’t recall asking to be taken from Earth, torn from my friends and the only world I ever knew, just to become some alien novelty on a planet a million light years from the place I used to call home.
Tears prick my eyes and I wonder where I’d be right now if Mom had never been abducted in the first place…or…if she had never made it back to me. But that thought leaves me feeling worse than ever. It’s mutinous. Still, I can’t help it. Mom might be living her happily ever after, but I’m not living mine. I don’t belong on this world. I belong on Earth—finishing up college, drinking iced lattes, eating Cinnabon to my heart’s content, and listening to Justin Bieber’s latest hit album. Oh Justin…where are you when I need you?
Not for the first time since my arrival on Tevera, I imagine Justin Bieber storming in, clutching a smoking plasma blaster, and declaring that he’s come to take me back to Earth. I’ll make you my princess, Madison.
But not even that image can assuage the despair that resides throughout the whole of my being. My shoulders shake as I sob. It’s a stupid fantasy. I know it is. But still, I cling to my thinning memories of happier times. Tears overtake me and my heart rages.
“I DON’T BELONG HERE!” I scream out into the deathly quiet of the dungeon. My voice echoes off the stone walls, but there’s no one’s around to hear it.
Chapter 3
Kethian
“Greetings, Chancellor Prett!” The hard and angled face of my family’s harshest critic appears on my view screen. The fact that Prett can hardly hold back his scowl only makes my grin grow wider.
“If it isn’t the prince of Atana. To what do I owe this fortuitous pleasure?” the dignitary asks. And though his tone is dry and disinterested, there’s a spark in his eyes exposing the depths of his malice toward me.
If only I could tell him that I’m on to his games. How I’d love to see his expression change and to hear his false and scathing denial. But instead I opt to let him think he’s outsmarted me. It’ll make it that much easier when I break into his castle later.
“Please, call me Kethian! The way I see it, we’re practically family! After all, you’ve known my brothers and me since my father sat in the throne. Remind me, Prett, how many years have you been loyal to the Indera dynasty? Fifteen? Twenty?”
“Was there a reason for this comm, your majesty? I hate to rush you, of course, but I’m on tour of the newly colonized moons of Nerin.”
“Oh? I was unaware you weren’t on Atana.” I feign disappointment. “That’s too bad for me, I suppose. Here I am in a talking mood, but I imagine you’d like to wrap this comm up quickly—seeing as you’re working and all.”
“I am quite busy,” Prett agrees, managing a tight smile.
“Well, that certainly is unfortunate. This was meant to be a social call.”
“Was it, Your Majesty?”
“It was. I’m actually going to be near your estate later this evening and my heart was set on spending time with one of my father’s old friends—” Old friend indeed…
“Well, it’s a shame I’m not home to host you.”
“Isn’t it though?”
While Prett might call it a shame, I’d call it something else entirely. Convenient is the word that comes to mind.
You see, for weeks now, I’ve been surveilling the Chancellor—my sentinel drones hidden about the historical castle where he resides. They run nonstop, keeping me abreast of all his comings and goings. I’ve known for days that Prett wasn’t on Atana. Yet only a few short hours ago, sensors indicated abnormal activity on the grounds of his estate.
A large shipping contain
er arrived, flanked by Prett’s heavily armed private guards. Whatever was inside, they proceeded to bring it to the dungeon beneath the castle.
It might be exactly what I’ve been looking for—dirt on the crooked politician. Something about this situation has my instincts prickling. Why was such a simple shipping container so heavily guarded? Why deliver anything of such consequence while Prett is away?
My guess is that the Chancellor is attempting to build an alibi for himself while he sneaks illicit contraband into the catacombs beneath his home. If he is, I’m going to be the one to uncover his game.
Prett’s most plastered smile works its way onto his face. “I’m quite proud of the work I’m doing here in Atana’s outer systems, Your Majesty. Be sure to tune into the news tonight, you might catch me on this evening’s report—I’m to have dinner with the missionaries on Nerin.”
I lean back in my seat, laughing heartily at that bit of information. “And here I thought you were on a diplomatic mission! This sounds more like political strategy to me,” I tease. “When have you ever been one to dine with missionaries, Prett?”
“Consider it a new approach to an old problem,” Prett explains, his dark eyes shining.
“Well, I’ll leave you to your political strategizing then,” I say, inclining my head toward the view screen. “It’s a true disappointment that I missed you this evening, but I have a feeling we’re going to be crossing paths in the near future.”