Forbidden Fairytales- The Complete Series

by Caroline Peckham

I lifted a hand, grabbing my veil in my fists and the guards turned sharply to face the walls the moment I tugged it off. I sucked in a breath of cooler air, dropping to my knees in front of my father. I had to look him in the eye, he had to see me, see this desperation in me.

  “You can't let them hurt that man,” I demanded.

  He frowned as he surveyed me, but said nothing. I ground my teeth, despising that Gothel had taken him from me, turned him into a cruel ruler who treated his people like dirt. That wasn't him. But why did he let her do this to him?

  I gripped his hands, glaring at Gothel. “Get out, I wish to speak with my father alone.”

  She stared down her nose at me, a pit of rage opening up in her eyes. “We are in the middle of something, Rapunzel. I refuse to leave until my duty is done.”

  “Whatever you wish to say, you can say to us both,” Father added.

  Tears swam in my eyes as I had to accept her presence. “Don't hurt that man. The taxes are far higher than is fair as it is.”

  “You know nothing of politics,” Gothel chimed in.

  I stared her down. “I'm not asking you,” I snarled and she rolled her eyes as if I was just an irritation she had to bear.

  I turned back to my father, squeezing his hands, praying I'd find some ounce of his former self in his eyes. For a moment, his azure gaze shimmered and he reached out to run his thumb across my cheek. “Sweet daughter, how gentle you are. Are you looking forward to the pageant?”

  I shook my head, angry that he was ignoring everything I'd asked of him. “No,” I snapped, losing any self-control I had left. “I don't want to be bought, Father. Surely I deserve the right to choose my own husband?”

  “You may choose,” he said and my heart lifted with so much hope I could have screamed. “Gothel's son, Kahn, has paid a hefty price to fight in the pageant. But if you love him as my beloved assures me you do, I could announce the wedding and disregard the pageant?”

  Anger. Hot, red and everywhere took me hostage.

  I rose to my feet, knowing begging was pointless. He wouldn’t listen to me even if I yelled for days on end. I was a bird in a cage. And my options were to marry Kahn now or wait for him to win the pageant and marry him anyway.

  At least the other suitors will have a chance. At least one of them might be a better option than him. Perhaps he won't be the strongest...

  I have to hope. It's all I've got.

  I stared at my father, my heart fracturing at his cool expression. “Let that man off for his crime. Lower the taxes. Stop punishing the people of our city.”

  Gothel released a tinkling laugh, snaring my attention. “You're quite the philanthropist my dear. What on Earth would happen to the kingdom if you were allowed to rule it? There would be nothing but chaos. Order is created by earning respect, Rapunzel. The crown is respected because punishment is enforced if it is not. If you had your way the people would run amock.”

  I ran my tongue over my teeth, trying to work out what the hell I had to bargain with here. Being the Princess should have meant I had a lot more sway than I actually did. But I was as helpless as most of the people in Osaria. No one listened to me any more than them.

  I lunged forward, snatching a dagger from my father's hip in a maddened act. His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t make a move to rise from his throne.

  “I won't be your pretty little Princess unless you do as I say. I'll go to the Unveiling with cuts all over my face. I'll do it, and then who will want to buy me?”

  I like my face, but I'll do this. I swear I'll do this. Screw beauty. What's it worth? I'd give it up in a heartbeat to gain control over my fate.

  Father stood up and my heart squeezed with hope. His eyes raked over me then he shook his head as if I was a mild irritation to him . “Stop behaving like a child.” He stalked away from the throne, heading across the room and slamming the door behind him.

  My shoulders shuddered and tears threatened to come. But I wouldn’t let them. I wouldn’t be hurt by the fact he’d just walked away from me.

  But I am, it hurts so deeply I can’t bear it.

  I faced Gothel instead and her eyes turned to darkest night.

  “Out,” Gothel commanded the guards and they marched from the room. A resounding boom hit my ears as the door shut behind them.

  My breathing quickened as she hounded closer, a snake in my home. Her eyes flashed with a fierce anger and my heart juddered. I'd never seen such a darkness in her until that moment and it scared the living daylights out of me.

  “Fool,” she snarled, raising a palm and grabbing hold of my wrist. She was frighteningly strong as she tugged my hand back and forced me to hold the dagger to my heart instead. Fear reached into my chest with icy fingers, enslaving me.

  “Gosh what a pity it would be if the Princess were to skewer herself on her father's blade,” Gothel mused.

  “Gothel,” I begged, my hand trembling around the knife.

  “You will behave, I am weary of your defiance. Your father is tired of it too. Don’t you see how you drain him?”

  A lump grew in my throat.

  “It's not me, it's you,” I pushed. “I know what you're doing.”

  “And what is that?” she laughed. “Being a devoted wife? Helping your father through his illness?”

  “What illness?” I breathed, deathly quiet, my whole world suddenly hanging in the balance. He had seemed paler than usual...

  “He's in the clutches of death my dear,” Gothel said harshly and a breath snagged in my lungs, refusing to come out. “A cancerous disease is burrowing into his bones. But I've been hunting the twelve kingdoms for a sorcerer who will be able to save him. Shall I stop my quest? Is that what you want?”

  A fat tear slid from my eye and rolled down my cheek. “Of course I don't want that.”

  Father was all I had left of my family. And maybe he was just memories now, and the body that housed him was tainted by Gothel. But his old self had to still be in there. There had to be a chance he could still come back to me.

  “Good, so you will do as he wishes and not upset him in his time of need. You will attend the pageant. You will look your best. You will be unveiled and your suitors will drool at your feet. Then you will marry the victor. And the victor will be my son.”

  My nose wrinkled at her words. I wasn't a bird in a cage at all. I was a rabbit in a hunter's snare. It was worse than being caught, I was going to be devoured. This woman would sink her teeth into me. She'd take every drop of light I had left and chew it up. Eat eat eat.

  “Why not just make me marry Kahn and forget the pageant? That's what you want, isn't it?” I hissed.

  “Rapunzel, I grow tired of your complaints. I gave you everything you ever could have asked for. Kahn is as beautiful as you now. But it wasn't enough. You refused him even then. So I am going to allow the pageant to go ahead. Because do you know what you'll see?” She moved toward me, lowering the blade and wrapping a lock of my hair around her finger.

  “What?” I breathed, fiercely afraid of her in that moment.

  “That there is nothing better waiting for you beyond these walls. No other man will be finer. None of them will catch your eye or steal your heart. I have seen all of the suitors and Kahn is the best one there is. I want you to see that you won't be missing a thing. I want you to choose Kahn.”

  “Why?” I hissed. “What difference does it make to you?”

  Her icy expression broke into a smile. “Despite what you think, I'm not a monster,” she said. “And I want you to realise that no man will offer you more than Kahn anyway. I want you both to be happy. So have your pageant,” she said as if it was me who had decided on the pageant in the first place.

  My face screwed up at her words. “And if I go through with it and Kahn wins, you'll force us to marry even if it makes me eternally miserable?”

  She released my hair, stepping back as her gaze scraped down me from head to toe. “Yes.” She floated away from me. “Women don't get to choose, my
dear. It's the way of the world. Even if you were a commoner, do you think you'd have a chance to marry for love?” she half-choked on the word.

  I stiffened, tears prickling my eyes which I refused to let fall. “What if I don't want a man? Love or not, I don’t want to marry someone because I’m forced to.”

  Her beautiful features softened and a light grew in her eyes. “You're a Princess, that's what Princess's must do. You have a responsibility to birth an heir. That’s just the way it is, my dear.”

  The genie stayed on her knees before me, looking up at me like I was a damn deity or something and I couldn’t help the grin that pulled at my mouth. Her purple hair swayed around her shoulders like she was underwater and I found myself staring at it.

  “So if I just wish for the wealth I need to present myself as a suitor for the Princess then you’ll do the rest?” I asked her.

  “Yes,” she breathed and the way she was looking at me made me feel like she might even love me.

  I snorted a laugh at the turn of events.

  “Why don’t I just wish to be emperor then?” I asked. “Cut out the middle ground?”

  “Well I could make you emperor of your own kingdom but I couldn’t give you anyone to rule over...” she said hesitantly.

  “She told you she can’t affect other people,” Cassian muttered and I got the feeling this was pissing him off a bit. He’d come so close to claiming the lamp for himself and now he had to watch me wielding its power instead.

  Sucks to be you right now I guess.

  “Okay so can I wish to win this tournament thing?” I asked.

  “I can’t make you beat someone else because-”

  “That would affect them. Got it.” I sighed. These wishes were starting to seem too restricted to me.

  Kyra’s face dropped as she seemed to realise I was disappointed and I frowned. She was a little too bothered about my opinion of her. I was all for people adoring me but I wasn’t sure I was so keen on my moods dictating someone else’s like that.

  “Do you wanna maybe stop grovelling at my feet?” I asked, beckoning for her to stand.

  She shot upright and smiled at me like she could only be happy if I allowed it. “Are you ready to make your first wish then, Master?”

  I don’t hate being called Master though.

  I glanced at Cassian and he nodded his encouragement.

  “What the hell then. I wish to be a suitor for the Princess of Osaria.”

  Kyra’s green eyes flared with magic and a warm breeze swept around us. I shifted uncomfortably as invisible, grasping fingers brushed at my skin and the clothes on my body were reformed. Instead of practical cotton, I found myself dressed in finest silk. My trousers were a deep blue, inlaid with sapphires around my waist and an ice white shirt fell over my chest, brushing softly against my skin like feather-light kisses.

  I felt her magic removing every trace of dirt from my flesh and hair and I ran a hand through my dark locks, marvelling in the softness of them.

  “You look like a prince,” she breathed appreciatively as her magic fell from me and she bit her yellow lip as she gazed at me with real warmth in her eyes.

  “You look like a peasant in a nice shirt,” Cassian contradicted.

  “Jealous much?” I teased.

  “Hardly. But you don’t move like a noble. Or talk like one. They’ll see you for what you are from a mile off. And just like the way I fight gave me away to The Forty, the way you fight in the tournament will give you away too.”

  “So? I thought the rules said any man rich enough to pay the Emperor a dowry could put themselves forward for her hand. Why does it matter if I’m low-born?”

  “Technically it doesn’t. But they’ll wonder where a peasant got all that money. And then rumours of it will travel to the city and Egos will hear tales of a handsome commoner who turned up out of nowhere with a fortune in tow just at the same time as you disappeared.”

  “Point taken,” I said with a sigh. “So you’ll have to teach me how to fake being a noble. I could do with a guard anyway if I’m supposed to be rich.”

  “People know me in the palace. I can’t just wander back in there-”

  “Kyra, can you disguise him for me?” I asked, wondering if that would count as affecting someone else.

  “If he agrees to it I can,” she said. “That’s the only way I can affect anyone but you directly.”

  “And maybe you could disguise yourself too? As human? You could be my maid or something?”

  Her eyes sparked with joy at the idea. “And then I could stay out of the lamp?” she asked breathlessly. “The whole time?”

  “Sure. Two disguises. No lamp. What do you say?”

  She nodded eagerly and I grinned.

  “It’ll take a hell of a lot to train you to be a noble,” Cassian muttered. “You don’t even stand properly. Your legs are too wide apart.”

  “That’s because my balls are so big,” I joked and Kyra laughed. The sound was almost musical and I couldn’t help but smile at the sound of it.

  “Nobles don’t tend to talk about their balls quite so much either,” Cassian added though I could tell he was amused too.

  “Come now, if there’s one thing about me that screams noble it’s gotta be my arrogance,” I contradicted. “No one’s so full of themselves as a man with power. And money buys you power.”

  “You have a point there,” he conceded.

  “Speaking of money,” I added. “Where is it?” It was all well and good having nice fancy clothes but they wouldn’t buy my way into the palace.

  “Well I thought it might be a little hard to carry. We could really do with a few camels,” Kyra murmured. “But I can't create a living thing. Maybe I could create enough money to buy some camels and then-”

  “We’ve got camels already,” Cassian interrupted with a smile. “It looks like we’ll be using them to carry treasure out of here after all.”

  “Well let’s just hope that Egos didn’t have anyone following us. Because if he finds those bodies and ours aren’t amongst them he will hunt us for the rest of our days.”

  “I could make stones look like your bodies?” Kyra suggested.

  I smiled widely at her in response. “I could kiss you, Genie.”

  “Okay,” she breathed and I raised an eyebrow at her. “I mean, okay I’ll do it. The stones thing. Not the kissing thing. Unless you want to...”

  Cassian caught my eye and I shrugged. She certainly looked a bit human but the weird colours and constantly changing features of her face made it impossible for me to say whether or not she was attractive. And she’d grown a penis ten minutes ago which definitely wasn’t a plus for me personally, though I could think of a few guys in the den who would have liked that feature in a woman. Especially if she managed to make it a little bigger next time. Either way, I had a Princess waiting for me who was supposed to be the most beautiful woman ever born. And though I doubted she was anything quite as spectacular as that, I was willing to wait and find out before I had a go at mounting a genie.

  “Well, let’s get back to those camels. I want to see that treasure,” I said, turning away from her as she started pursing her lips in a weird way that made me think she was trying to figure out how a kiss should go.

  No. I definitely wasn’t going to be attempting that any time soon. I’d take my women a little less purple, as usual.

  “I don’t think he noticed,” she muttered to herself as she started following me. “It’s not weird. It’s normal... well if I don’t reply then how can we have a conversation? No they haven’t noticed, I-”

  I turned to look at her and a blush lined her cheeks as she fell silent.

  “You’re very pretty,” she breathed as she looked into my dark eyes.

  I nodded. “I know.”

  “I’m not sure it’s a compliment from her,” Cassian teased and I smiled in response.

  “Jealousy doesn’t suit you, mate.”

  “Oh wait,” she said sl
owly. “I meant ugly. I keep confusing the two.”

  I frowned at her as she passed me by.

  “No, you were right the first time,” I corrected her but she laughed like I was the one who was wrong. I caught Cassian chuckling at me and rolled my eyes. “She’s confused, she doesn’t think I’m ugly. No one thinks I’m ugly.”

  He shook his head as we crossed through the cursed forest and I surveyed the bodies of the thieves I’d brought with us uneasily. Jadar was laying across the path just before the waterfall, his arms full of jewels he’d taken from the trees moments before the curse on them had killed him.

  “Why the hell were you hiding in a place like this anyway?” I asked Kyra as she paused to make two large stones look like the bodies of Cassian and myself.

  “The sorcerer who cursed me decided to put me here so that no one would ever find me again,” she murmured.

  “Cursed you?” Cassian asked. “So you weren’t always a genie?”

  “No... I was human once,” she sighed. “At least I think I was.”

  “Why were you cursed?” I asked, eyeing the rock she’d glamoured to look like me with distaste. I wasn’t nearly attractive enough in death.

  “Because I killed an Emperor,” she said with a shrug before turning away from us and heading through the waterfall.

  Cassian’s face dropped at her words and he caught my arm before we could follow.

  “Maybe this is a bad idea,” he breathed. “What if she wants to make killing emperors a habit?”

  I folded my arms as I thought about it. “I don’t think she has any power at all without my say so,” I replied, tilting my arm to inspect the swirling K on my skin. “She can’t even stay out of that lamp unless I allow it. So if she does anything we don’t like, I’ll just send her back in. Problem solved.”

  Cassian nodded but he didn’t seem convinced. “Fine. But I just hope we aren’t making a terrible mistake.”

  We made camp a mile from the falls. The night was humid and the air stifling. I preferred the dry gusts of the desert to this thick heat any day. But after travelling through the Lyrian, neither Aladdin or I were prepared to take on that journey again before a night's rest.