The Enchanted Kingdoms (Haunting Fairytales Series Book 1)

by Becca Alexandra

  Praise for the Haunting Fairytales Series

  Amazon reviews

  One of the best fairytales I have ever read! Page turning suspense! Fairytales gone wild!

  This is the BEST fairytale book with new twists on classic characters I have ever read!

  I absolutely loved this book! If you loved Fairytales as a child, you will love them as an adult. Truly twisted! Definitely a must read!

  Dark and suspenseful, very fast paced and hard to put down. Fairytale and dark fantasy lovers won't want to miss this!

  Its a rollercoaster ride that you'll want to get on over and over again and each time you will feel something different!

  The evil gets better and better and the teams are changing. The story is getting better and better as you go. I couldn't put the book down!

  ***

  Becca has always puts such a unique and dark twist on the classics, but she outdid herself with this one. The way each classic fairytale flows through this book is flawless and original in an unexpected way.

  Bewitched Reader Review Blog

  Enchanting!! I fell in love with this Collection of Fairytales!! Suspenseful,Dramatic and Unexpected!

  Fractured Fairy Tales Book Blog

  The fairytale atmosphere was definitely present here, and though none of the tales were particularly happy, they were written in a manner which created a nice balance between the lighthearted wonder I was familiar with as a child, and the dark roots of the original tales.

  Claire Kavanaugh Blog

  THE ENCHANTED KINGDOMS

  The moral right of the author has been asserted. This is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Second Edition

  © Copyright by Becca Alexandra 2017

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, nor be circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  Cover design © Creative Covers and Author Services

  Editing by Jeni Sims

  All rights reserved

  Second Edition

  2017

  INTRODUCTION

  The world of Cantata has ten enchanted kingdoms.

  Northmanni, Colomorgh, Milborn, Forosh, Sirani, Agrabah, Dolorom, Fainland, Santeria, and Tilan.

  To the east, Santeria was once the largest land. Vikings lived there, and they knew nothing but violence. Santeria, however, turned into Neverland due to an enchanted fountain found deep within the forest.

  The second largest is Dolorom, a rich and powerful country. Bordering Dolorom is its poorer yet greener land, Fainland.

  To the west is Northmanni, a cultured and proud land. Bordering Northmanni is Colomorgh, a poor land, and Milborn, known for its beautiful statues and delicious shellfish.

  At the south of Cantata is Agrabah and Tilan, which have the hottest climates.

  To the north are the two coldest lands; Forosh, named after the delicious fish that swam in its waters, and Sirani.

  Cantata is an enchanted world filled with sorcerers, witchcraft, shapeshifters, mermaids, and fairies. It once had eight founders, who controlled the magic in the world. The only founder left in Cantata now is Merlin. He holds an object called the moral compass, which all sorcerers must use. It prevents them from using their powers to cause harm. However, some sorcerers have found loopholes and manage to use their powers for evil. Those sorcerers were quickly drained of their magic and must find more every few years.

  The only exceptions to Merlin’s rule are Neverland, which is governed by its own power, and witches. Witchcraft is taught and uses the five elements. It doesn’t come from the natural powers that sorcerers have, so they can do whatever they like. Although, it is extremely difficult to master and can age a person greatly.

  Many years ago, Edward, the prince and only heir to the Queen, was cursed by his former lover, Lori. Edward and Lori were both sorcerers. Edward was selfish and vain and broke her heart. Out of anger, Lori cursed him into a frog. With every curse, there must be a loophole.

  Edward must find someone who will kiss him so he can become a man once more. Only one problem with that; the kiss must come from a princess, and we all know that no princess would want to kiss a frog.

  FROG PRINCE

  Edward croaked and looked down at his disgusting slimy feet. Soon, he hoped, he would be a prince again and no longer a frog. He sat on the palace wall in the fine Kingdom of Colomorgh. King Stefan of Colomorgh was widely known for being the most ruthless king of them all and that was possibly why Edward admired him the most.

  The princess, Rapunzel, was in the palace gardens, playing with a small dog. Her hair reached down to her ankles, and she spun around, throwing a small red ball to the fluffy dog. It jumped into the pond, splashing the princess, who just laughed. Edward groaned and hopped down the groves in the wall until he was among the grass. The dog was called back inside by an old woman. Rapunzel started to walk inside too.

  This was possibly his only chance to get his freedom back; at least, in this decade. Who else would kiss him more easily than a princess with a secret she wanted to keep hidden?

  ‘Wait,’ Edward called out. The princess turned and looked around in confusion. ‘Down here,’ he shouted as he hopped over to her feet.

  The Princess kneeled, blinking repeatedly. ‘You can talk,’ she said, stating the improbable fact. ‘Frogs can’t talk. Yet here you are, talking.’

  If he could roll his eyes, he would. ‘Yes, yes. Look, I have a deal to strike with you. I have been watching you.’

  Her eyebrows shot up. ‘You’ve been doing what?’

  ‘Sorry,’ he mumbled. ‘I had to work out what you would want in exchange for’—he paused and croaked— ‘well, for a kiss.’

  Her big, blue eyes widened. ‘You want me to kiss you? Why?’

  ‘I’m cursed,’ he admitted. ‘I know you don’t want to marry a prince. I saw you with your true love, the one you can’t be with.’

  ‘You saw? You mustn’t tell a soul,’ she gasped. ‘Please, if Father found that I am …’

  ‘I won’t tell,’ he interrupted. ‘I understand, in fact, I think it’s sweet. However, you must marry a prince, yes?’

  She nodded and frowned. ‘Unfortunately, I must. If not, I will never become Queen. Father will choose my cousin, who is just as horrible as him. The kingdom will never know a fair ruler.’

  He nodded. ‘Daddy issues, I get it. So here is what I have to offer,’ he said. ‘If you kiss me, I will turn back into a prince. I am also in love with someone else,’ he lied. ‘So we can have just a mutually beneficial relationship,’ he continued. ‘I must marry a princess to appease my mother and stepfather. We can both be with who we love and remain married to unite our kingdoms. We can talk about the details later. So are you in, princess?’ he asked. ‘Also, Rapunzel,’ he said before she could answer, ‘if you do accept, we should probably provide just one heir,’ he said, trying to sound convincing.

  He had chosen this opportune moment to offer her this deal. Now that her lover had left, he could finally get her at her most naïve.

  Rapunzel leaned forwards and placed her hand on the grass. Edward hopped onto her hand. She brought him up to her fac
e. ‘You’d better be telling me the truth,’ she warned.

  Edward laughed. ‘Why would I lie? Do you not want to see your true love again?’

  She took a deep breath and brought him closer to her lips. ‘I would do anything. Okay, so just one kiss, right?’

  He nodded. ‘Right.’

  Her expression twisted into one of disgust as she felt the slimy feel of his skin against her soft, thin lips. He croaked one final time and jumped off her hand, landing on the grass just in time.

  Green mist swirled in hypnotising patterns as the shape of the frog grew larger, morphing into the shape of a handsome, athletic man.

  As he grew taller, Rapunzel grew smaller. She looked down at her hands and screamed. She had turned into a frog. She looked up at the prince distraught. ‘What have you done?’

  He shrugged. ‘Sorry, love, better you than me. I needed a princess to kiss me, and you were the perfect target. You’ll probably need to find a prince to kiss you now, so yeah, good luck. It took me years to get that kiss.’

  She hopped after him as he turned to walk away. ‘I will tell my parents! They will hunt you down!’ Edward turned and scratched his neat beard.

  He pondered as Rapunzel hopped around pathetically, trying to shout for the guards. ‘You’re right,’ he said and swiped his hand through the air. She felt her voice leave her throat and when she tried to talk, nothing came out but croaks. ‘You’ll get your voice back once you turn into a human again, which will probably never happen,’ he admitted, pressing his lips together. ‘Well, I have my kingdom to go back to. I haven’t seen it for so long.’ He looked down at his naked body and conjured up some riding boots, black trousers, a white and gold jacket, and a sword in its scabbard.

  He felt the warmth run back up his arm as the magic faded, and he was dressed as a prince once more. He didn’t have a lot of magic left and would need to be careful with it until he could find a way to get more.

  The annoying thing about being a sorcerer is, unless you’re Merlin, you only have a certain amount of power. Edward didn’t go by the rules, which meant his powers drained fast.

  He stretched out his legs, feeling the wonder of being able to walk again as a man and strutted off, leaving poor Rapunzel hopping desperately after him.

  He lost her as he hurried outside the palace, heading for the nearest inn so he could find some poor soul and con them into helping him get home. Edward decided to sail home instead of using magic to transport himself there so he could save what magic he had left to find more once back in Dolorom.

  ***

  Three days passed as Edward enjoyed his newfound freedom, drinking until late. He had managed to secure a horse and cart to take him down to the docks early in the morning. He was lucky to find a man who would help him, an old merchant called Thomas, who fortunately had his own ship.

  Thomas brought Edward another drink and sat down at the wooden table.

  Everyone in the room was rowdy, sloshing ale down their throats. ‘Thanks,’ Edward said and took the drink. ‘I will give you fifty gold coins when I return to Dolorom.’

  Thomas ran his hand through his thick grey hair and drank some of his ale.

  ‘I do not want gold. However, my daughter is single and lonely. I was hoping you could perhaps find her a good suitor in your fine kingdom?’

  Edward pressed his lips together. ‘Is she attractive?’

  ‘Beautiful,’ Thomas replied.

  Edward smirked and drank the last of his drink. Of course, the old man would say his daughter is beautiful. He examined the man's wrinkled complexion. He wasn’t bad looking for his age, but he wasn’t conventionally handsome either. If she looked like anything like him, then it would be hard for him to find her a husband. In Dolorom, far too many exceedingly attractive or filthy rich women were looking for husbands.

  ‘If,’ Edward pointed out, ‘she is not as beautiful as the ladies in my kingdom, then it is unlikely I would find a wealthy man with a title to wed her. Especially with being the daughter of a merchant with no title too,’ Edward admitted.

  The old man leant forwards. ‘She is called Griselda.’ He showed Edward a picture of his daughter. As he thought, she was average, nothing special.

  ‘I have four daughters, yet I worry about Griselda the most. My other daughters, especially Belle, would have no problem finding a husband. So can you help me? This is the condition in which I help you get back to your kingdom.’

  ’I will find her a husband,’ Edward lied. ‘You have my word.’ He shook the old man’s hand and left to go to bed. It would be a long day tomorrow, and he was excited to return home after all this time.

  Since his former partner, Lori, cursed him, he had wandered the forests trying to find a way to become human once more. Then he found a witch, Gertrude, who tampered with the curse so any kiss could turn him back into a prince after Lori had left him with the ‘only true love's kiss can break the curse’ out of spite.

  After all, he had said he loved her. Lori, Princess of Forosh. He could not see how it was his fault. After all, Lori was beautiful in her own right, but one of her ladies was much more beautiful and that was what mattered. He had wondered all this time how she could stay so angry? Did Lori honestly expect him, the most handsome prince in all the lands, to stay loyal to someone as average as her?

  ***

  The following morning, Edward awoke to a most peculiar yet horrifyingly familiar feeling.

  He was surrounded by darkness and felt strangely cold. He moved and felt the sheet under his slimy webbed hands.

  He had somehow turned back into a frog.

  Cheers erupted from the hallway. ‘The princess has returned,’ one man shouted cheerily. Edward gulped.

  Another man spoke outside Edward’s room. ‘She’s telling everyone that she was turned into a frog. Can you believe it? Wherever she disappeared to clearly made her loopy.’

  Edward hopped off the bed. If anyone did believe Rapunzel’s unlikely story, then there would be a hunt for him.

  Not caring for his magic supply, which would be useless if he were dead, he made himself vanish just as Thomas opened the door to take Edward down to the docks.

  Edward reappeared outside of Gertrude’s candy cottage and hopped onto the gingerbread windowsill. The haggard woman he had dealt with before was sat in front of a pile of small bones and a roaring fire.

  ‘Come in,’ she said, noticing his presence. He hopped through the open window.

  ‘I need your help,’ he admitted.

  She smirked. ‘After all this time, you still can’t find anyone to kiss you?’

  ‘I did,’ he said. ‘A princess. It didn’t work. You promised it would work!’

  She scraped the rest of the meat from one of the small bones and stood up. ‘You obviously didn’t do it properly.’

  ‘How can anyone get a kiss wrong?’ he asked, feeling frustrated. ‘We had a deal. I led those kids to you,’ he said, feeling a little sick to his stomach. ‘Killing isn’t beneath me, but they were just children.’

  She cackled. ‘They were delicious. Thank you.’

  He hopped onto her oak table. ‘Make this right!’

  She rolled her eyes, grabbed her cane, and made her way over to the bubbling cauldron.

  ‘Fine, I will. I may have left out some important ingredients. I will try something new,’ she said, hunching over the cauldron.

  Edward laid out on the table, stretching his legs and basking in the warm glow of the sun that shined through the window.

  He could hear clanking from the kitchen followed by a smash. ‘Clumsy fool!’ Gertrude said to the closed door. Edward figured it must a servant and laid back down.

  Green and orange smoke swirled up from the cauldron where she worked. Gertrude wiped the sweat from her forehead with her tattered sleeve. ‘It is done,’ she exclaimed, filling a tiny vial with orange liquid. She handed the vial to the Edward who gulped it down in one.

  Gertrude grinned. ‘The next time you kis
s a princess, you will turn back into a man permanently.’

  He looked up at her annoyed. ‘I’ve heard that before.’

  She slammed her fist down on the table. ‘It will work,’ she promised. ‘I always fulfil my deals.’

  ‘You’d better,’ he warned. ‘I will be leaving then. I have another princess to find and trick, which will take me another year at the least. Thanks a lot.’

  Gertrude huffed and walked toward the kitchen. ‘Wait here. I have someone who can help you.’ When she returned, she was accompanied by a handsome man with a wide jaw and small brown eyes.

  ‘This is Henry,’ she said. ‘He is my servant, and now, he is yours.’ She looked at Henry. ‘Henry, the talking frog is called Edward. He is a prince. You will help him to find a princess to kiss. You are free from my charm binding you here.’

  Henry arched his tangled eyebrow and looked at Edward. ‘You don’t eat kids too, do you?’

  Edward glanced at Gertrude with disgust then looked back at Henry. ‘No, I’m not that sick.’

  ‘Thank God,’ Henry breathed.

  Edward hopped onto the windowsill and turned to Gertrude. ‘How do I know he will help me?’

  She cackled. ‘I’d hoped you’d ask that.’ She took a dusty vial from one of the rickety shelves and handed it to Henry. ‘Be a dear and take this. If you wish to be free from me, that is.’

  Henry begrudgingly took the potion and clutched at his chest as if he were having a heart attack. ‘Now,’ Gertrude said, ‘he has a sadness coiled around his heart for you. It will only break once your curse is permanently broken. I have been waiting to use that potion for a long time.’

  ‘Interesting potion,’ Edward said.

  She grinned, loving the acknowledgment of how powerful she is. ‘It takes a lot of skill to make one, but it was easy for me.’

  Henry walked over to the door and grabbed Edward from the windowsill, setting him on his hand. ‘Let’s go,’ Edward said.