Perilous Princesses - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1944821368 ISBN 13: 9781944821364

Verlag: CBAY BOOKS, 2018

Inhaltsangabe

Ten authors come together to explore what it’s like to defy expectation. Everyone knows a princess in peril—the girl trapped in a tower or guarded by a dragon until someone rides in and saves her from the danger. But what happens when the princess is the danger? What if it’s not the dragon you should be worried about but the princess hiding behind him? What if the girl needs to be in that tower—not for her protection, but for ours? In ten new intriguing tales, various authors introduce us to girls who defy our notion of the perfect princess.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Madeline Smoot is the publisher of CBAY Books. She has edited several anthologies for kids and teens such as Giants and Ogres and Stepmothers and the Big Bad Wolf. She lives in Dallas, Texas.

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Perilous Princesses

By Madeline Smoot

CBAY Books

Copyright © 2018 Madeline Smoot
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-944821-36-4

Contents

1. Burden or Sacrifice by Ameria Lewis, 
2. Daughter of Thorns by Hope Erica Schultz, 
3. Cold Bargain by Jeanne Kramer-Smyth, 
4. A Princess, a Mission, and a Kiss by Lori Bond, 
5. Princess Deneige by Susan Bianculli, 
6. Becoming by Kath Boyd Marsh, 
7. So the Story Goes by Christine Marciniak, 
8. The Princess and the P by Steve DuBois, 
9. Aurora in the Dreaming by Alison Ching, 
10. Redemption by Madeline Smoot, 

CHAPTER 1

Burden or Sacrifice

Ameria Lewis

I listened to the susurration of the ship-wrought waves washing back against the hull, the hiss of metal prow cleaving through the calm waters of the navy blue sea. The sound once calmed me, mesmerized me. Once, I thought life aboard ship was a luxury.

I am wiser now, and my love for the ocean has turned into resentment for the prison it has become. I wander the open water aboard a luxurious ship because I have no home on land. I have no welcome in any kingdom or democracy. On the sea, I am believed powerless. On land? On land, I am a goddess, and I made the mistake of letting my power be known.

What would you have done, faced with what I faced? What would you have done, with your home under attack, all you loved burnt and poisoned? What would you have done, seeing your parents brought to their knees and forced to beg not for their lives, but for yours?

You would have done as I did and raised the earth to bury the intruders. Whipped the winds and brought down lightning to strike at those invaders who had no place being in your homeland. You would have brought the melted rock from deep below to the surface to burn them all to ash.

I saved them all, my parents, my people. For that, I was banished, by treachery, to a life on the ocean — never again to be within sight of land, of green trees, golden beaches. I could still stir the wind and bring down lightning, but to what purpose? Destroy the ship I am on and myself along with it?

"Your Highness, luncheon is prepared."

"I'm not hungry," I said, hearing the sharpness in my voice as the server flinched back. They all feared me. Raising my power to defend my home turned all to strangers, even those who had known me from birth. Even my parents turned on me. They were the betrayers who had managed to get me on board this ship, unsuspecting of their intent.

The server may have flinched, but he was persistent. He knew, as they all did by now, that I would not actually harm them. I need them and am not so foolish to discard those that I need. He waited in silence to lead me to my midday meal. I bit back a sigh and turned away from the view of the endless sea and headed for the dining room where my entourage already waited. None were allowed to eat before I took my first bite. A foolish tradition, established by some long forgotten ancestor who apparently felt the need to force his preeminence down the throat of his subjects. No matter what I said now, I could not get anyone aboard this prison to discontinue that useless tradition.

They said this was a privilege, a luxury, an honor. That I was ambassador to all the kingdoms of the sea. An honored duty, one that a princess had never before been given. Not only was I tasked to represent my father's kingdom, but I was to find these mythical sea-people and forge an alliance with them. A pretty story to tell a confused child of only twelve years. At seventeen, the lie had worn thin. Five years since my foot had touched land. Five years since I had smelled fresh green things, moist dirt, walked through my father's palace. Five years since I had felt my mother's arms around me or heard my father's voice gently tease me.

Five long years to realize that my young instinct to protect my home had led to my banishment.

I entered the dining hall so luncheon could be served.

I woke from sleep with the moon still full and bright outside my window. Something had called me; I don't know what. My sleep was always deep and restful. Small noises never disturbed me, accustomed as I was to movement and voices surrounding me most of the time. I lay still, listening, waiting for whatever had roused me. My room was full of midnight shadow limned in silver. Moonlight reflected off of the mirrors and glass. My balcony doors were open, as usual.

It came again, a soft calling song. I pushed the light blanket off and stood up, pausing a moment to be sure of the call's direction. The balcony. The call came from the balcony. I waited no longer but stepped confidently towards this curious and unknown summons.

She leaned against the rail of my balcony, her back to me and face lifted to the moon above. Her hair was wet, hanging in long strands down her back. I could not determine the color under the moonlight, but it was dark. Her eyes, when she turned her head to look at me, were just as dark — inhuman, with no white to be seen. A complicated, twisting tattoo encircled her throat, the colors shimmering as she moved. Between her eyes, an oval of sea-opal reflected all the many colors of the oceans I had seen in the last five years.

She was not human. I was not afraid.

"Who are you to wake me from my sleep and summon me?" I asked, imbuing my voice with every bit of dignity and hauteur I had.

Her lips turned up as she spread a hand over the glistening ocean. "I am one of those you have been seeking. I am Liyana, of the house of Sidon, heir to the oceans and seas. We have watched you. We find you worthy."

I stepped closer. Worthy? The castoff daughter banished from land and home? Bitterness wanted to color my voice, but I had studied how to rule before my banishment, and one of those studies was on control of face and tone. These were tools to be used. "An honor, I have no doubt. It has been near half a decade that you have been watching. Why reveal yourself to me now?" My lips did not twist with cynicism. "What need do you have of me?"

Liyana laughed, the sound reminiscent of wind chimes: merry and bright. "We have no need of you. We have only a message to pass, one that we believe you have a right to know. We do not approve of what has been done with you. We do not like this land danger passed on to us who dwell within the deeps. You could turn your power to harm on us as easily as you could turn it to your enemies on land. You have not done so. You have done nothing that would lead us to think you would allow your power to run unchecked. So we come with a message: you must go home."

I laughed and lifted my arms. "This is my home. I have no other."

"Not so!" Liyana reached out and lowered my outspread arms. "You are of the land, and to the land you must go. We have long watched your kingdom, and we know of the danger it now faces. The forces that once threatened that home have massed again and are even now crossing our waters to threaten once more. You are needed."

"But not wanted." I turned away, and even all my control did not completely leech the bitterness from those words. Needed, perhaps. Not wanted, no longer. Once, I had been wanted, but not needed. I wished for those days again.

Liyana was silent a moment. "Sister," she said gently, "there is a price that comes with great power. As you are not asked if you wish for that power, you are not asked if you are willing to pay the price. These are not choices you have. The choice you have is whether that price will be a burden or a sacrifice freely...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: CBAY BOOKS
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2018
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1944821368
• ISBN 13: 9781944821364
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 256
• Herausgeber: Smoot Madeline
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar