“Look at the moon,” I whispered. “I wish we could dance beneath it.”
“Someday,” he murmured, without looking. He sounded like he was still in a dream. “When the rest of the world turns to dust.”
Chapter Thirty
Rose
Nothing would ever be the same again. The next day the court was whispering over the transgression. Just the king and queen and the Queen’s Favorite in the Lady’s Treat. What could they have been doing? Oh, we know what they were doing.
For once, they might have been right.
No, we shouldn’t have done it, but I couldn’t manage to feel any regret.
Life must continue as normal. Augustus caught my arm as we walked into dinner and said, “Now I must remind you of your place. Do you agree?”
“Be gentle.”
“Gentle? Ah, no, I know it isn’t gentle that you crave.” He held my arm and as we walked, I felt the King’s Vine penetrate my sex, sliding along my bud of pleasure along the way, and pulling open my folds. Augustus bade me to sit on his leg at dinner, my legs straddling his.
Usually under the eye of the court he was more restrained, but today he seemed as if he could hardly take his eyes off me.
Axel watched us even as he made flirtatious conversation with the Countess of Piria. I felt like every word was somehow directed at me.
As a light dish of chicken in dill sauce was served, Augustus reached around and fingered my sex through my skirts. Sitting on his leg made me feel taller and more noticed. I flushed, drinking wine, barely able to eat a bite.
The Lady of Towers looked at us approvingly. “Three years of marriage and I dare say you two seem like newlyweds. Your grandfather was bored of the Queen Who Bowed before the first year was over.”
“Have I ever bored you, my lady?” Augustus asked me.
“No, no.”
“You should eat more. You need your strength.” He tore a piece of fresh bread off a roll, slathered with butter, and put it in my mouth. I’m sure it was delicious; the bread from the royal bakers was so light and vaguely sweet, although these days I always thought about the hungry people I had seen in the city. I barely tasted it. Every bit of feeling within me was drawn downward, to the spot Augustus mercilessly stroked and the King’s Vine wiggled against me on the inside. Gods, he held nothing back today.
If the common folk behind the balustrade, moving through the room, came prepared to be angry at the feast we consumed while children starved, they showed no sign of it. They seemed delighted to have come on such a good day, to see me twitch and flush and Augustus’ arm beneath the table.
I was not as controlled as usual. A part of me didn’t care if they watched. I just wanted to let go of everything I held back.
I clutched Augustus’ jacket, needing his permission.
His lips brushed my ear. “You may come.”
And I did, gods, I did, sucking down wine to try and smother my little moans.
The next few weeks were like one long caught breath. Augustus was more aggressive with me than ever and we were braced for rumors to fly out of the capital about that night in the Lady’s Treat. None came, not more than the usual.
When another month passed, I didn’t bleed.
“Rose…” Augustus knew the calendar of my days just like every other person in the palace. Each month, the moment I bled, servants spread the word far and wide. “You’re…late, aren’t you?”
“I don’t want to hope yet.”
“But…it is unusual.” He put his arms around me from behind. “Maybe the spell worked.”
“I feel like there was something special about that night. But I haven’t felt sick or tired. I wonder if I should.”
The queen has skipped her cycle! The news spread quickly.
I had been hoping for a pregnancy for so long that I squirmed when anyone spoke of it, braced for disappointment. Days passed safely without a cycle. Augustus doted on me and began letting ifs creep into his conversation.
“If it’s a girl, I’ll still teach her archery and riding.” “I wonder what our child should call Axel…” “Would you want to name the child after someone? I’d rather think of something entirely new.”
A letter came from my mother:
I can’t believe you haven’t mentioned it, daughter—tell me if this is true, that you have not bled?
The midwife examined me and asked me many questions about my health, and she felt sure that the blessed event was finally on the horizon.
I’m sorry you didn’t hear it from me, Mother, but I was so afraid it wouldn’t be true. I believe it now. I am very fatigued, but more than that, I am very happy. I’ve heard that “Royal Infant’s Pink” is the new fashionable color in Luminé and it seems as if all the ill will has been forgotten.
Once the Queen Who Bowed became pregnant, within the space of a week, all the rules changed. There was a royal nursery to furnish and baby clothes to order and no expense was to be spared; even stingy Necker said nothing about it. We took a trip to Luminé to officially announce the pregnancy, and we were showed with flowers and adoration just like in the early days of our marriage.
Even as I looked onto the crowd, I couldn’t help but wonder if the Cobblestone Witch was somewhere in the sea of faces.
Chapter Thirty-One
Interlude
“Pregnant? The girl is pregnant? Who is the father?”
Jeanne shrugged as she returned from the fickle crowds who were now cheering on the queen—for now. Well, everyone loves a newborn baby, Jeanne thought, but they’re not cute for long. She put her cloak on the peg. “Does it matter? Who do we want the father to be?”
“We would like a bastard, wouldn’t we? There’s no time to waste, now. Let’s set the plans in motion.”
The witch could taste the end of the Sun Palace. With her beauty and grace and her curse, Rose had won the heart of the king. And with her quick mind, she had been unable to resist destroying it. No restless heart could bear such a prison.
“What are the plans? You never tell me anything!”
“Cold,” the witch murmured. “An early freeze will destroy the harvests just as I spread the word that this is no true heir, but the child of a human and an elf. I can’t do the spell alone. Too strong. I’ll need help to cast it.”
“Won’t even more people starve?” Jeanne asked, slightly disturbed. “I thought that was what we wanted to avoid.”
“We do. Jeanne, for years now I have done everything I could for the people of this city. And yet, they die every day. Countless numbers. I am helpless to ease their pain. The palace has stood for over a century, and its occupants have never known hunger or fear. Just this once, I must be the villain they think me to be. You have grown in skill, my dear…can I depend on your power?”
Jeanne imagined the face of the Osterian girl. The poor girl was just a slave, wasn’t she? Even with a man on the side. Well, people said Augustus chose him too but really it was the witch who chose him all along. Jeanne was free, and learning magic. Jeanne only slept with men she actually chose these days. Marie Rose would never even know what it was to choose.
“Jeanne,” the witch said. “If you could have anything in the world, what would it be?”
“Power,” Jeanne said. “Of course.”
“Of course. You are still young and beautiful. Who will rule when the palace falls? Who will be the first faery queen of this new wild world? Someone bold. Someone with magic, perhaps.”
“I have no royal blood!” Jeanne said.
“Good. I think we need new blood.” The witch held out a hand. “Children are already dying. I have hundreds of locks of their hair. It will be the final ingredient in my spell—their pain and suffering will turn into bitter cold. Once it is over, hundreds will die so that countless others might have a world of equality and freedom.” The witch’s eyes shone into the distance with the prospect of a vision fulfilled. The walls of the palace would be stripped of gilded panels, rooms would be opene
d into gardens that were allowed to grow wild, and all the parquet floors would be roughened by dancing feet.
“I don’t believe you,” Jeanne said. “You wouldn’t let me be queen. I don’t think you even like me.”
“Well, do you see anyone around that I like more?” The witch snorted.
Yes, it would work well. In a hundred years, as Jeanne reached her final days, Marie Rose and her child would wake into a new world.
“Help me do this, and I will help you realize your ambitions, Jeanne. Just promise me there will be nonsense over jewels or gowns or furniture.”
Jeanne held out a hand. “Let’s dance under the full moon and sing spells into the night.”
“Let us bring down a king,” the witch replied.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Rose
Then, not the midwife, but Augustus’ aunt, the Lady of Towers herself sat me down and laid out the rules:
“Your health and the health of the child is imperative,” she said. “This is a faery child; he—or she—must be born into an environment of health and forest magic. Your room will be filled with fresh flowers and tree boughs at all times. You must take baths every day—your midwife has sent the proper instructions to your Mistress of Baths, what essences to put in the water. Augustus must leave you alone during the day now. In bed, you can do what you like, but he should begin the evening by rubbing you with oil of rejuvenation each and every night. This helps your body not to be altered by pregnancy, which—as I’m sure you know—can be devastating on the figure.”
“Oh…” I put a hand to my stomach, my fears about what became of older queens bubbling up anew.
“When you are pregnant, your body belongs to the king’s child. Once you have had the child, you belong to him again, and unfortunately, it is the way of our world. You will be judged on how quickly you can return to your previous state and do your duty for him. You must choose a wet nurse.”
“I can’t feed the child myself?”
“No. That is strictly forbidden. The rules state that your body is for the king’s pleasure.”
For the first time in my entire life, I must have looked as forbidding as my mother. The emotion that shot through me now was not part of any game. “This is my child,” I said, quivering with anger. “I won’t give my baby to anyone else.”
“It isn’t a matter of what you want.”
“Augustus will agree with me.”
“I don’t think it’s a matter of what Augustus wants. The people will want to know that things return to normal. They want everything in its proper place.”
“I don’t care!” I stood up, pacing on restless feet. “I don’t understand why. Was this one of Queen Marianna’s rules? I can’t imagine she would—“
“Well, Queen Marianna…shall we say…was not very interested in having children. She was a warrior queen, but after she married, she directed all her energies into this. She understood in some odd way that powerful women are not welcome. Especially mothers. There is something in it that invites scorn—fear—revulsion. Maybe having a child reminds us that we are animals and we must be born and we must die, and there is no escaping that.” She shrugged. “I’m sorry, Rose. But considering the scorn you have already received for your hunting, your lover, and your friends…I would not attempt to fight this.”
“I don’t care. I will fight it. You can tear my child from my arms. At least, you can try. If I’m an animal I will be a mother bear.”
“You have nearly eight months,” she said. “Maybe you will change your mind. Think of Marianna. She was always powerful, even if no one knew it, because she had a king who adored her and listened to her every word, just as you do. Don’t throw it away for the sake of breaking the rules.”
She rose and left the room. The day was cloudy. I stood in the dim surroundings of chairs and tables, my hand on my belly.
I could not imagine giving up my child for anyone, handing them over to some stranger. Certainly not for the people who had slandered me over and over. I was so tired of living to their demands. I simply didn’t care anymore. I would bow for the men I loved, because they would bow for me.
But I would not give up this son or daughter I had fought for.
I found Augustus in his office, and I stormed in. It was the first time I had ever entered his presence without a curtsey, or waiting for permission to approach. I walked up to his desk and when he saw me coming, he stood. Axel was at the door, standing guard.
“What is it, Rose?” Augustus asked. “Is everything all right?”
“No… I can’t play this part anymore. In this regard, I can’t be the Queen Who Bowed; I can’t even emulate Queen Marianna. I won’t hand my child to be nursed and raised by strangers.”
“Of course not.” He tried to soothe me with a touch.
“That isn’t what the Lady of Towers said. She must have seen how your father was raised, how you were raised… You don’t realize? She said I must give the baby up because I belong to you and I must please you and I must keep my figure and—“
“I will not ask this of you,” he said. “I never would. I think you are more beautiful than ever now. You have a glow that is captivating. I have no fear of losing my desire for you after you’ve given me a child; in fact I imagine that feeling will only grow. I don’t want to give my child a youth as lonely as mine. You know all this, don’t you? You know I would never—“
“I thought so, but…you told me you wanted me more than any child.”
“I don’t just want you, I want your happiness.” He seemed offended. “We’ve broken other rules. I don’t think we would have this child if we had not broken the rules. Our child will not suffer this way. He or she will be ours.” He frowned before he smoothed his hands over my hair. “I will have some expectations for you, of course. There are spells that will heal you quickly after giving birth, because we wouldn’t want to cause you pain.”
The ‘we’ quickened my pulse. I was so happy at how naturally he included Axel in our family. “Well, good. Because I have expectations of you as well. I expect that you will desire me always, and that Axel will still be at our side even if I can’t give him a child. I expect that nothing that brings us joy will change at all. But there are so many hours in the day and I want many of them to be spent teaching my little one how to walk and talk and pick flowers and someday, much more.”
“I agree. Why should our child know a nurse better than its own parents?”
“But…your aunt said it doesn’t matter what you want. That we must not squander our good will. The people already have learned to hate us.”
“The harvests have been looking much better this year,” Axel said. “That will afford you more room to break the rules. And you know you have my protection no matter what. You are both much loved in my country now, thanks to your generous aid. If you should ever need to seek a safe place until things calm down…”
“It would never come to that,” Augustus said. “We wouldn’t leave Ellurine. The people will have to accept this.”
Axel joined us, his arm slipping around my back, forming a circle of affection. “I can’t speak for your people, but when I think of how you seemed when I met you, and how you have changed… I can only hope I’ve played a part. You’ve grown stronger and bolder together. You’re no longer a frightened girl. You’re a woman who knows her own power, and I must say, it’s very fetching. I’m sure the old king and queen you’re always mentioning would be proud.”
“We might just undo all their work," Augustus said. “I suppose we'll see if any ghosts come to complain.”
In their arms, I felt so safe and loved. The thought of bringing a child into the little private world we had created made me glow with joy.
Even so, I wondered to what degree we were flirting with disaster. I wondered what the witch expected, when she gave me that spell.
I’m so glad you’ve struck with me this far! I am eternally grateful to my fans who stick with me not just through B
eauty and the Beast retellings and stories about hot dragons, but also “erotic mashup of the French Revolution with fairy tales” because yeah, that’s not as much of an easy sell. Sometimes you have to follow your weird muse. (My muse generally looks like David Bowie wearing eyeshadow and ridiculous boots and so I’m a lost cause as far as sticking to the formula.)
Prisoner of Dreams, the last book, is out now! And if you haven’t read my Fairy Tale Heat series yet, I hope you’ll give it a try. Prisoner of Silk takes place in the same universe although the main series is more interconnected within the standalone books. I imagine this one takes place in a different time. The kingdom of Ellurine and the Queen Who Bowed are mentioned in Tasting Gretel. I’m including the first chapter of Tasting Gretel but I hope you’ll give them all a try. Everyone seems to have a different favorite!
Book Three: Prisoner of Dreams
Copyright © 2019 by Lidiya Foxglove
Cover Art by chisami
Typography by Natasha Snow Designs
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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The Surrender of Sleeping Beauty
The Complete Series
Lidiya Foxglove
Contents
Book One: Prisoner of Silk
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
The Surrender of Sleeping Beauty Page 29