Marie clapped. “I couldn’t have asked for a nicer wedding gift than true love for one of my closest friends.” She paused for a moment and frowned. “It seems a little harsh of the godmother, though. To curse you for your parents’ crimes and then leave you to fight through the curse on your own.”
“But maybe she didn’t.” Cordelia looked excitedly from one to the other. “All this talk of gifts reminds me. My sister sent a golden ball as a gift for you, Marie. She said it came from our godmother, and that it’s meant to help you find true love. I had completely forgotten to give it to you, and it’s been sitting in my room all this time. Except for the day after I arrived when I took it outside and accidentally dropped it in a pond…”
“…And I came and fished it out for you,” said Ferdy, finishing her sentence. He took her back in his arms. “Maybe the godmother was looking out for me after all. And how could I mind that it took her so long? You were worth waiting for.”
Cordelia blushed again and then smiled as he swept her into the air and kissed her, hard, while the others laughed and protested.
Midwinter morning dawned bright and clear. The guard reported that all of the conspirators had been rounded up, so the kingdom was free to enjoy the wedding and the holiday.
Marie looked elegant and queenly in her huge white wedding dress, and Cordelia glowed as she followed her down the aisle, her eyes on Ferdy who stood at the front to support Rafe.
The fear and worry were gone and only joy and love remained. She had never experienced a more wonderful Midwinter.
Epilogue
“Goodness!” Queen Viktoria sounded as surprised as someone of her relaxed nature ever did.
All five of her family members around the table looked up in interest. She held a letter in her hand, but had ceased reading it and was regarding them with all with a look of laid-back astonishment.
“What does Cordelia have to say, Mother?” asked Prince Frederic. The crown prince had inherited his mother’s phlegmatic disposition and sounded more calm than curious.
“She’s probably having the most incredible time.” Princess Celine sighed and pushed her food around on her plate.
Prince Cassian returned to eating but kept his eyes on his mother, patiently waiting for her to share the news. He looked like a younger replica of his father, King Leonardo, who hadn’t stopped eating at all. He knew his wife too well to hold his breath. She would explain herself at her own pace.
Only Princess Celeste remained completely still. Inside she buzzed with questions, but silence and stillness were the safest options when she was around others, and after three years, the posture came instinctively. Her mind raced, however, assessing every possibility.
She’d done her best to warn her sister of the possible danger. Had given her the only tool at her disposal. But still, she’d worried every day since that it might not be enough.
“Apparently there was some sort of plot to dispose of the visiting royals. Poison, if you can believe it.” The plump queen shook her head in comfortable horror. “And it seems our Cordelia was involved in discovering and defeating the conspirators.”
“Cordelia?” Celine’s eyes grew huge. “Uncovering plots?” She moaned. “Somebody tell me why I’m always stuck here in boring Lanover?”
The rest of the family ignored her.
“Good for her,” said Frederic.
“And excellent for our position within the Four Kingdoms,” said the king. “Hopefully they’ll all remember their gratitude next time we need to renegotiate one of our treaties.”
“And that’s not all,” continued the queen, unbothered by the varying reactions of her family. “She’s fallen in love with one of the nobles there. She’s asking for us to send back our consent to their engagement as soon as possible.”
Celeste forgot herself for a moment in her relief and opened her mouth to ask for more information about the attackers and their motivations. Instead she went into a coughing fit. It had been a long time since she had experienced such a bad one, and her eyes watered as she attempted to control the paroxysms.
Desperate to regain her breath, she cast around for something innocuous to say.
“How delightful.” She barely managed to squeeze out the words, but the coughs instantly stopped once she had.
Her family all regarded her in astonishment, so she plastered on her brightest smile. “Another wedding! I do hope you’ll send your approval at once.”
Cassian rolled his eyes and turned away from her to address their mother.
Inside Celeste raged. She would have to wait and hope that someone else in the family asked the right questions. Maybe it would be easier to get her hands on the letter later and read it for herself. Her throat was still raw from the coughing, so she carefully kept the happy smile on her face and devoted her external attention to her meal.
She had honed many skills over the years and would expend any effort to free herself from the endless lie she was forced to live. She would find a way to defeat this curse if it was the last thing she did.
Note from the Author
Read Celeste’s story in The Princess Game: A Reimagining of Sleeping Beauty. Turn the page for a sneak peek!
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Family Tree
Prologue
Prince Frederic frowned down at the report the steward had just handed him. He would need to take the news to his father as soon as possible.
“There you are, Frederic!”
He looked up and forced a smile for his younger sister. There was no point worrying Celeste about it, she wouldn’t understand anyway. “Have you been looking for me?”
She nodded happily. “All over.”
He watched her expectantly, but she just smiled at him. “Did you want something?” He kept his voice gentle. He didn’t want to upset her, but the bad news he’d just received made it hard to concentrate.
Her face crinkled in confusion. “I suppose I must have…”
After a moment’s awkward silence, which she didn’t seem to find awkward at all, she pointed at the report in his hands. “What’s that? Something lovely, I hope.”
He bit his lip and glanced back down at the report. Once he would have happily gone to his young sister for advice, but that time had long since past. Now he just wanted to shield her from unnecessary worry.
“Oh!” She clapped her hands, not seeming to notice his hesitation. “Is it another wedding?”
He stared at her. “Wedding?”
“Don’t you remember? The last letter for Mother was about Cordelia’s engagement. Silly!” She giggled.
He wanted to roll his eyes at the idea of Celeste calling him silly, but he stopped himself. It wasn’t her fault she’d been cursed, after all. He considered trying to explain to her that the letter about their sister’s engagement hadn’t been the last letter their mother had received, just the last one she had shown Celeste. Or that he held a report, not a letter. But he decided the effort would strain them both far too much.
He couldn’t resist a small joke, however. “Who would be getting married? Cassian, perhaps?” He suppressed a chuckle at the idea of his reserved younger brother in love.
“Cassian? Getting married? Is he, really?” Celeste looked excited at the idea, and he groaned.
“No. I spoke in jest. Who would he be marrying?”
“I don’t know.” She frowned before brightening. “But I didn’t know who Cordelia was marrying before her lett
er either.”
Frederic resisted the urge to massage his aching head. “Yes, but Cordelia has been in Northhelm the entire winter. Cassian lives here, with us.”
With each passing year, it became harder to remember that Celeste had once been the brightest of them all. The memory of what had been stolen from her, from their whole family, brought an unusual moment of rage. Once she had challenged him, now she just exasperated him. And he worried that one day he would forget and lose all patience with her.
“It’s Cassian’s birthday today,” said Celeste, apparently ignoring what was too complicated for her to understand.
Frederic stiffened. Cassian’s birthday celebration. He’d almost forgotten. A good thing Celeste had come to find him, whatever her original reason had been. He could talk to his father about the report while they ate.
“You’re right,” he said, taking Celeste’s elbow and steering her in the right direction. “And we’re going to be late for his birthday meal.”
Chapter 1
“The latest shipment of medical supplies for the palace doctors never arrived.” My brother directed the comment at our father.
I carefully kept my eyes on my plate. So, that had been the news in the report. The one he wouldn’t talk to me about. At least I’d managed to get him to Cassian’s meal on time.
But another missing delivery? That was…what? The third this month?
King Leonardo frowned at his eldest son and heir. “That’s unusual. Does the fault lie on our end or with the merchants?”
I glanced at them both out of the corner of my eye. It wasn’t the first shipment to go missing, but apparently it was the first that the steward had reported to my family.
Even I had attributed the first one to natural causes. But, the first one had been two months ago, and I had been concerned for some time now. It seemed the steward had a less suspicious nature.
I looked over at Cassian, my second oldest brother. He seemed unperturbed at having his birthday meal disturbed by such a conversation. He hadn’t wanted anything extravagant for the day; he never did. Perhaps it still felt strange to him to celebrate without his twin, Clarisse, who had long since married and was living in Rangmere.
“Did the merchants have an excuse?” he asked. “They’re usually reliable.”
They claim to have delivered the supplies to the palace gate, I thought.
“Apparently they’re claiming they made the delivery,” said Frederic. “And they want payment.”
I hadn’t received a report on this particular incident yet, but I didn’t need to. I’d read about four previous ones.
My father sighed. “Lanover may be the wealthiest of the kingdoms, but that doesn’t mean we will let ourselves be cheated.”
I stiffened. Something strange was definitely going on, but I hadn’t been able to trace it to its source yet, and trouble with the merchants was the last thing we needed right now. If my father refused to pay, every travelling merchant caravan in the kingdom might decide to head for the borders as fast as they could go.
I opened my mouth, and then shoved a spoonful of cake in before anyone noticed. I knew better than to try to contribute to the conversation. The curse would never allow it. A splitting headache wouldn’t help anything, and I needed to hear my father’s decision.
“Blatant disrespect!” barked my uncle. Uncle Horace disapproved of irregularity. “Don’t pay them a single coin.”
I forgot myself for a moment and snorted, but the sound twisted in my throat and emerged as a giggle. My uncle glared at me.
I rushed to cover up my lapse. “I don’t think one coin would be enough.” I giggled again, this time intentionally. “The merchants always charge so much for the beautiful material they bring for my dresses.”
Everyone stared at me.
“They might get angry if you only paid them one coin.” I smiled around at them all with an innocent expression, hoping they would understand my hint.
A momentary pause ensued, as everyone tried to think of a response. My youngest sister, Celine, rolled her eyes, and returned her attention to her slice of cake. Frederic shook his head slightly and Cassian looked at me pityingly.
After an extended silence, my brothers turned back to my father. I maintained my artless smile, although my teeth clenched behind it. I had clearly been dismissed, the foolish child interrupting the conversation of the adults. The three of them were about to let Uncle Horace’s pride precipitate them into a kingdom-wide crisis and, thanks to my curse, I was powerless to stop it.
I knew more about what was going on than any of them, and yet they had all looked embarrassed for me. The poor Sleeping Princess. Foolish Celeste, thinking she could contribute something to the conversation.
I knew it wasn’t their fault. I knew it was only because of the curse but, for a moment, anger and frustration overwhelmed my good sense. I opened my mouth to speak and was instantly seized by a coughing fit.
Once again I had the attention of everyone at the table, with the exception of Celine who seemed far too focussed on her plate. I suspected she was plotting something, but I struggled to bring my thoughts into line while the coughs still wracked my body.
I held up my fork, and the curse loosened its grip, allowing me enough air to speak. “A crumb.” I smiled weakly, my eyes still watering from the attack.
My father sighed and recommended I have some water. I meekly obeyed, my eye catching on one of the footmen, who had come to clear away the empty dishes. I recognised him immediately. He didn’t usually wait on our family meals, but then we didn’t usually eat the midday meal together at all. Extra servants had been brought in for the special birthday occasion.
He was one of my agents and a good one too. If I hadn’t known to watch him closely, even I wouldn’t have noticed him slip the note into the loose crack of the sideboard, the hiding place where we regularly exchanged messages. My fingers itched to retrieve it, but the curse kept me in my chair. I had already forgotten myself once tonight, and I didn’t look forward to the consequences if I slipped up again.
Surely the note held information about the latest missing shipment. Perhaps it even included some new clue. It might contain some piece of evidence that would convince my father not to make a rash move. But it remained hidden away, impossibly out of reach.
Of course, my agent had no idea his spymaster sat so close to him. He believed, like my own family, that I was nothing more than the Sleeping Princess. All thanks to my aunt.
A wave of icy cold crept down from my scalp, although my face remained calm. I had long ago subjugated my external reactions. Stillness and a smile were always the safest postures when a wrong look or word could produce a coughing fit or crippling pain. I assumed the pose instinctively now whenever my mind or emotions threatened to break free of the lie I was forced to live.
And nothing threatened my calm façade like the thought of my absent aunt. Which is why I generally tried to avoid thinking of her. I needed a clear head, not one clouded by hatred.
Unfortunately, it’s hard not to hate someone who tried to serve you a death sentence when you were only a few days old.
I took a deep breath. I usually kept my emotions under better control. I had to, since I was only truly safe from the curse when I was alone. In public, the more I played along, the more license the curse seemed to give me. These days, I usually uttered foolish statements and gave empty smiles without even thinking about it.
“I suppose we’ll have to pay first while we investigate what happened to the supplies,” said my father, pulling my attention back to the table. “It’s best not to upset the merchants over something that may turn out to be a misunderstanding.”
I let out a silent breath of relief as everyone began to get up from the table. Perhaps I didn’t give my father enough credit.
Celine rushed over and grabbed my arm. “Come on. I want to show you something.”
I let her pull me awkwardly towards the door, giving me the opportunity
to bump against the sideboard. With a quick, subtle movement, I retrieved the hidden note and tucked it into my dress. I wanted to slip away alone, so I could read it, but Celine had a firm grip on my arm and whispered that it was about a dress. So I could hardly refuse–everyone knew Princess Celeste loved nothing so much as gowns and fashion.
Read on in The Princess Game: A Reimagining of Sleeping Beauty
Acknowledgments
A Midwinter’s Wedding tells the story of a girl from a warm climate who gets to experience a holiday season in the cold north. It’s an experience I can relate to since, as an Australian, I’m used to a hot holiday season and no snow at all in most of the country. But I did grow up in the USA and used to love spending our New Year vacation in the snow. I still think fondly of curling up in the warmth with a hot chocolate after spending hours in snowy adventures.
But those years are a long time behind me now, so a big thank you to my northern hemisphere beta reader, Katie, for keeping a special eye on the holiday touches. I had a lot of fun remembering my winter experiences in the US and Europe and imagining what it would be like from Cordelia’s perspective.
And, of course, as always, I appreciate all my beta readers more than I can say: Rachel, Priya and Greg you guys are stand outs, and I am so grateful for your dedication, interest and insight!
Thank you to my cover artist Karri for creating a winter wonderland cover, and to my editors, M.M. Chabot and Dad. I hate to think what this story would look like without your expertise!
And to my family, who walk with me through every difficulty, I’m more grateful than I can say for your support. Don’t ever stop being awesome!
And to God, thank you for bringing inspiration in odd moments when I need it the most.
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