Snow's eyes snapped open, changing the way she sensed the world around her. There definitely had been some magic in the way she'd been able to see things before.
Her throat constricted and she coughed violently. Michael stepped backwards before realizing what he'd done and reaching out to place a soothing hand on her back.
Snow covered her mouth with her hand as she coughed uncontrollably. Something slimy hit her hand, and she pulled it away.
A small sliver of apple sat on her palm, mocking her with the promise of what it could have done to her. No matter. Michael had saved her. She didn't have to face the consequences of her step-mother's jealousy any longer.
"My dear queen, how glorious and regal you look today. You truly are the most magnificent woman in all the kingdoms. Might I even say you are the fairest of them all? You look more and more enchanting every day. There is no doubt you are the most beautiful woman in all the land," the mirror said the moment Snow entered the room.
She should get rid of it. The enchanted object was what had caused the problems with her step-mother in the first place. And yet, there was a part of her that wanted to keep it. Just in case it came in useful further down the line.
Michael kissed the top of her head, and she closed her eyes, shutting out the mirror altogether.
"You really are the fairest of them all," he said.
"Please don't call me that." The term filled Snow with a sense of dread unlike anything else she'd ever experienced, including near death.
"It won't bring her back," he promised. "They've sworn she's dead."
"I know." The dwarves had promised they'd seen her step-mother fall to her death, and yet there was still a part of Snow that wasn't completely at ease. Maybe she never would be. She'd thought her wedding would stave off some of the unease. Her coronation even more so. She tried to tell herself that they'd both happened so quickly she still hadn't had time to process what had happened to her properly.
"But if it will make you happy, I won't call you that. Know you're beautiful to me no matter what."
She smiled at him, relieved to have finally found someone so trustworthy in the storm of the world.
"You'd say that even if I looked awful," she pointed out.
He laughed. "That's because you would still be the most beautiful woman in the world to me." He fell to his knees and took her hand in his. "You, and any children we might have, are the most important things in the world to me. You'll be my reason to get up in the morning, and my motivation to do better than the day before."
"Not our kingdom?" she asked.
"Don't you mean yours?"
She shook her head. "We're married now; what's mine is yours."
"I don't need a crown to be happy. Let me support you while you rule Enchantia with the grace and wisdom of your parents before you."
A tear formed in the corner of Snow's eye. When her step-mother had come after her, she'd given up all hope on having what he was describing. But now, her future finally seemed possible. She'd be able to fulfill the role her father had intended.
Words formed on her lips, but before she could say them, a knock sounded at the door, pulling both of their attention to it.
"Are you expecting anyone?" Michael's brow furrowed.
She shook her head. "You're not?" But she knew the answer before she'd even finished the question.
He stepped towards the door.
"Don't," she half-shouted. "Maybe she's back." She knew she was being paranoid, but her step-mother had caused so much damage that she didn't want to take the risk.
"It won't be her," Michael promised. "Just let me answer the door."
Snow's eyes widened, but she nodded her head anyway. She couldn't spend her whole life waiting for something to go wrong, even if that meant taking the risk and finding out who'd come knocking when they least expected it...
Find out what happens next in Queen of Reflections
12
Peter Pan
The girl’s painted face glared, unsettling Captain Hook as he paced the deck of the Jolly Roger. Unwavering, her amber eyes followed him, and if she weren’t bound to the mast, he knew she would have attacked with nothing but her teeth and nails.
“Mr. Smee!” he cried, waving his hook. “Mr. Smee!”
The round man stumbled over from where he had been keeping watch and wrung his hands. “Uh, yes, Captain?”
“Didn’t I say something about blindfolding her?”
Princess Tiger Lily’s eyes narrowed a fraction, and a chill zipped from Hook’s majestic hat to his polished boots. Smee’s head whipped toward the girl. He stumbled over his words. “Ah, yes, well. I-it’s just that no one particularly wants to get near her again?”
Hook glanced skyward, a sound between a groan and a sigh caught in his throat. Perhaps, he was getting too old for this. Pirating, as of late, seemed harder. His ship slower. His schemes duller. Weariness touched his mind, but remembering Peter Pan’s eternal youth snapped him from the daze.
That’s what he was fighting for. Time. Youth. Power. And it would be his. Such a thing didn’t belong in the hands of an insipid child anyway. Hook blustered. “Just blindfold her. Pan has likely already caught word of her absence, and we do want to appear to have things together when he flutters in, don’t we?”
Smee’s bumbling confirmations hardly registered as Hook shook his head.
Today had to be the day. The day things finally went right for him. Years of chasing a child and demanding the secret of eternal life had taken its toll, so today surely it would be Pan...or him.
He tightened his hook and pushed aside any thought of failure just in time, for thereafter a deafening caw of a large crow split the cerulean skies…
Peter and his Lost Boys ran across the field, toward an edge of Skyla, where green met blue and blurred into a distant sea. The lousy pirates had gone too far this time… Tormenting him was one thing, a game even, but kidnapping Tiger Lily?
He couldn’t shake the memory of the terror in her mother’s voice or the panic building across her father’s stern face as they told him what had happened. Ever since Hook appeared several years ago, his hands had been full, but the same game got old. And pirates play dirty.
Today, this ended.
Unleashing a vibrant crow, he dove over the edge of Skyla and plummeted toward a bobbing speck of brown. Each Lost Boy mimicked his action following after him, and soon, seven figures streaked toward the pirate ship. It grew closer until Peter could make out each man aboard the deck. His eyes flicked from Tiger Lily, who appeared uncomfortable but unharmed, to Hook. The man’s beady black gaze was already focused, narrowed, and bubbling with hatred.
Covered in the magic of Tinkerbell’s pixie dust, Peter pulled up at the last moment to land softly before the pirate. “Hullo, Hook. Fine weather we’re having, isn’t it?”
Hook’s eyes darted to each boy as they dropped onto the deck in turn, and he sneered, “Pan, will you relinquish your secrets today, or watch as your little princess friend perishes?”
“Bold words for a codfish.” Peter drew his dagger in the same instant Hook pulled his cutlass. Their blades glinted in the brilliant sun; then, they sang against one another.
The song rang out its merry tune, beckoning the others to join in, and soon the melody of blades had turned into a cacophony of battle. Sweat beaded along Peter’s forehead, beneath his sunset hair, but he refused to relax his stance. Hook’s force shoved against his dagger and rattled his bones until only sheer will kept his arm steady. His blasted short arm.
With every nimble attack that would have resulted in victory, his reach came up too short, and he had to pull back before Hook’s cutlass landed true against his throat.
The battle raged, but Hook’s desperation shone in every thrust, and Peter could only match it for so long. A violent blow sent his dagger skidding across the deck, where it teetered near the edge, and cold steel pressed to his neck. He swallowed against it, eyes darting to his boy
s, but they had also succumbed to the sheer number of Hook’s men.
Bolstering his confidence, Peter offered half a grin. “I don’t seem to remember so many in your crew.”
“A miracle how many jump on board at the promise of eternal youth.”
“No one ever said my youth was eternal. Did I ever say that, boys?” Shaking heads and “nopes” chorused until the pirates growled, pressing closer to the defeated circle of children.
Hook’s eyes narrowed, but Peter forced his smile to remain steady. He knew better than to lose faith
“So, see? There you have it. Maybe you’re confused. I’ll just take my boys and our princess and--” The cutlass pressed into Peter’s skin, drawing a line of golden blood from his neck. He felt Hook’s gaze follow it almost as physically as he felt it slip down his throat. He held his breath.
“Bind the children.” The command whispered from Hook’s lips, but his crew obeyed instantly. A cold rush of fear paled Peter’s cheeks, and Hook justified the reaction with a murmured, “Toss the youngest to the sharks.”
“Hey!” Peter’s muscles tightened. “There’s no need for violence. I’m a civil kid. You’re a… Well, I mean--” His eyes strained after his struggling Lost Boy while a pirate dragged Tootles to the edge and hoisted him over the rail. The man’s golden teeth glinted when he smirked, but his jeweled hands didn’t release the child yet.
“Now, Pan, I will give you a chance to save him. In exchange for the secret, you can all go free.” Hook flourished his metal claw at the boys and Tiger Lily in a single swoop.
“The secret...to...my striking good looks?” He puffed his chest. “Maybe it’s genetics. I’m sorry you weren’t so fortunate.”
“My patience is too thin for your games, Pan!”
Peter gulped. He couldn’t very well tell him that he didn’t remember. Certainly, the secret came from an adventure long, long ago, but the many adventures since had pushed it from his mind. Shoveled it out. Discarded it into an ocean, letting it sink to the bottom.
He pried through the torrents in his fragmented memories, reaching for any hint, but the only thing he could salvage escaped his lips before he could process the word. “Never...land.”
“Never?” Hook appeared to have only caught the first bit. And his face reddened. “Very well, maybe watching as your precious little rabble drowns will change your mind!”
The pirate released Tootles, and he dropped out of sight.
A stony moment of silence washed through Peter, boiling in his ears, but no splash followed. No noise broke the quiet lapping of the waves against the stern—until a chime did.
The tinkling noise started soft, like one ringing bell, then it heightened into a wave of all-encompassing magic. Peter’s heart pounded, lifted, then soared. Skipping away from Hook in the pirate’s confusion, he spun into the air and crowed as a mass of gold swarmed from Skyla and blanketed the area. Several pixies darted from the cloud and swooped upon the pirates, freeing Tiger Lily and the Lost Boys as Tootles floated back aboard, escorted by the handful of pixies that had saved him.
Before long, Tinkerbell rushed to meet Peter’s cheek with a hug.
She laughed, chiming, and his eyes widened. “Magic is stronger?”
Nodding, she zipped to his dagger where it lay forgotten on the deck and returned it to his hand. In response to her balled fists and war cry, he gripped his blade and peered down at Hook.
The pirate swatted at every pixie that dared pull on the feather in his hat, and Peter didn’t bother holding back a grin. One after one, large splashes signaled Captain Hook’s bailing crew, so when Peter set foot back on the deck, only his boys, Tiger Lily, and the captain himself remained.
“A miracle how many jump overboard at the first sign of real danger. Loyalty can’t be bought, I suppose.” Peter chuckled.
Hook lunged.
Blade to blade, they parried against each other, dancing across the ship. Cheers rallied Peter’s pride until he succeeded in a blow that knocked Hook’s sword from his hand and his hat from his head. The cutlass skittered off the plank into the ocean. The hat swayed into Tinkerbell’s grasp.
“What are you, Pan?” Hook sputtered, nearing the end of the plank. “No one lives forever. No one commands pixies.”
Peter took slow steps forward, dagger poised. “I’m the captain of the Lost Boys. I’m the friend of the pixies. And I’m the kid who defeated James Hook.” Hook’s boot slipped on the edge of the plank, and Peter kicked him off. When a splash followed, the boy lifted a hand to the cut on his neck, drawing a golden droplet away, and murmured, “Who can really tell what else I am…if even I don’t know...”
Before his thoughts could run away with him, Tinkerbell dropped Hook’s hat on his head and chimed something in his ear. He brightened, whirling. “At the ready men!” His gaze shifted. “And Tiger Lily.” Raising his dagger, he drifted into the air. “We sail home!”
The fairies covered every inch of the ship in dust until it shimmered gold and lifted off the waves, toward Skyla. Peter glanced at the water only once to find Hook frantically swimming away from a crocodile. Whether the creature caught him or not, Peter wouldn’t worry. A pirate was nothing without his ship.
Peter tipped his hat back, took his place at the wheel, and steered his new-found vessel home.
Days turned into weeks and weeks into months, so much time passing that Peter would have forgotten Captain Hook if the man’s ship didn’t rest on one of Skyla’s smaller islands as a constant reminder. Nearly a year after their battle, Peter paused playing his flute and turned in his fur-covered seat toward the entrance of his secret forest lair.
His Lost Boys quieted, and he quirked a brow. “Do any of you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Nibs asked.
Peter’s eyes narrowed, the sound growing louder. “A baby’s cry.”
Though very few should have known the location of the underground base, mere moments passed, and there was a knock against the trunk...
Find out what happens next in Queen of Skies
13
After the Happily Ever After…
There is more to these stories. You want to know what happens next right? Fast forward eighteen years…
Pick up book one now
* * *
PREQUEL
* * *
SLEEPING BEAUTY
1. Queen of Dragons
2. Heiress of Embers
3. Throne of Fury
4. Goddess of Flames
* * *
LITTLE MERMAID
5. Queen of Mermaids
6. Heiress of the Sea
7. Throne of Change
8. Goddess of Water
* * *
RED RIDING HOOD
9. King of Wolves
10. Heir of the Curse
11. Throne of Night
12. God of Shifters
* * *
RAPUNZEL
13. King of Devotion
14. Heir of Thorns
15. Throne of Enchantment
16. God of Loyalty
* * *
RUMPELSTILTSKIN
17. Queen of Unicorns
18. Heiress of Gold
19. Throne of Sacrifice
20. Goddess of Loss
* * *
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
21. King of Beasts
22. Heir of Beauty
23. Throne of Betrayal
24. God of Illusion
* * *
ALADDIN
25. Queen of the Sun
26. Heiress of Shadows
27. Throne of the Phoenix
28. Goddess of Fire
* * *
CINDERELLA
29. Queen of Song
30. Heiress of Melody
31. Throne of Symphony
32. Goddess of Harmony
* * *
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
33. Queen of Clockwork
34. Heiress of Delusion
> 35. Throne of Cards
36. Goddess of Hearts
* * *
WIZARD OF OZ
37. King of Traitors
38. Heir of Fugitives
39. Throne of Emeralds
40. God of Storms
* * *
SNOW WHITE
41. Queen of Reflections
42. Heiress of Mirrors
43. Throne of Wands
44. Goddess of Magic
* * *
PETER PAN
45. Queen of Skies
46. Heiress of Stars
47. Throne of Feathers
48. Goddess of Air
* * *
URBIS - Coming soon
49. Kingdom of Royalty
50. Kingdom of Power
51. Kingdom of Fairytales
52. Kingdom of Ever After
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A note from the author
The Kingdom of Fairytales authors hope you enjoyed this new way of reading. We don’t think that a series has ever been set with one chapter a day thought a whole year before and we hope we did it justice.
With this in mind, please leave a review, but when you do, remember that these books were always meant to be short breaks in your day and the blurb reflects that.
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Kingdom of Fairytales: After ever after - a Kingdom of Fairytales Prequel Page 7