Heir of Thorns

by Emma Savant

  “Your father is in Urbis,” the duke said in a measured voice. “He’s left me in charge. You’ll see him again at our wedding.”

  I’d heard enough. I ran toward them, adrenaline and fury silencing the pain in my ankle, and flew at the duke before he knew I was coming.

  My fist cracked across his face with a satisfying thud. I hit him again, landing a blow on his jaw.

  Lilian screamed and backed out of our way, but she didn’t tell me to stop.

  The duke made a feeble attempt to hit me back, but he hadn’t spent his life digging up tree roots and hauling bags of manure. His fist slamming into my face was enough to make me blink but not much more than that. I hit him with a solid punch to the gut.

  Then I was being dragged back, a strong pair of arms around my chest and another pair wrangling my wrists. I fought them, but it did no good; the palace guards who had come to the duke’s rescue were as strong as me, and there were two of them.

  Duke Remington stumbled back, massaging his jaw. His hair was disheveled, and hatred burned in his eyes.

  “Take him to the dungeons.”

  “Don’t you dare,” Lilian said. “I’ll tell the whole kingdom what you are. You might have gotten my father out of the way, but I promise you, you don’t want a rebellion on your hands.”

  They locked eyes. The people loved Lilian. And now, with the nation in crisis and fear of the blight making tempers high, rebellion was a real possibility.

  Finally, the duke turned to the guards.

  “Take him to my office,” he snapped. “Mr. Gilding and I need to have a chat.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “You get one more chance. One. Fail that, and you’ll wish I’d only thrown you in a cage.”

  They dragged me, none too gently, to an elegant room with a desk and a fireplace. I’d seen this room before--I’d seen every room in the palace at some point or other, during Lilian’s and my rambling adventures--but it had been updated since I’d been here last. A shiny new desk sat under a wide window, and a thick red carpet muffled my footsteps as the guards shoved me across the room.

  I didn’t recognize either of these men. They were rougher around the edges than the palace guards I knew. It seemed Duke Remington had acquired more than just a new desk and rug.

  They left me standing in the middle of the room and took up their places guarding the door. We waited in silence for a long time. The duke had been right behind us a few moments ago. I imagined him pacing the hallway outside, killing time just so I would feel the weight of his power. Or perhaps he’d turned his attentions to Lilian and was off somewhere continuing to berate and intimidate her.

  Anger bubbled inside me, hot and roiling like one of the cook’s spicy red pepper stews.

  Finally, when I had started considering the merits of smashing through the window to escape, the duke came in. He closed the door behind himself, his movements slow and intentional. His footsteps sounded on the polished wooden floor, then the carpet. I stared straight ahead, refusing to acknowledge his presence.

  Then he was in front of me, glaring at me with a bright red spot blooming on his cheek.

  I wished I’d aimed for one of his eyes. He’d have looked better with a shiner.

  “Mr. Gilding,” he said.

  I jerked my head at him in the tiniest of nods. This man didn’t deserve a bow of respect.

  “Well,” he said.

  He let the word hang in the air for a long time. I bit back the urge to say, Well, what?, because I knew it was what he was after. After a long silence, he leaned back against his desk.

  “I hope you enjoyed yourself out there,” he said. “It’s the last thing you’ll enjoy on these grounds.”

  I remained silent and continued to stare past him.

  My silence seemed to annoy him, and I clenched my teeth to force back a smile. I wanted to annoy him. I wanted to punch him again, too, but one couldn’t have everything.

  “I’m going to explain to you how the next week is going to work,” he said. “And only the next week, because after that, your life will be none of my business.”

  “I look forward to that.”

  He gazed intently at me, a slight smirk mangling his lips.

  “The wedding has been moved up,” he said.

  My heart sank, but I didn’t have time to process the news before he went on.

  “All things considered, we think it best to have the wedding now, while we still have the luxury of having the queen and flowers at the ceremony.”

  I wanted to scream at the slight smile on his face. Anyone who could smile at the thought of losing our queen, of Lilian losing her mother, had no soul.

  “We’re going to be married in just over a week,” he said. “Directly after the Spring Flower Festival ends. Many of our invited guests will be in the kingdom for the event anyway, and I see no reason to make them travel all the way here twice.” His smile spread as if he actually gave a fig as to whether his guests were inconvenienced or not.

  “Has Lilian agreed to this?”

  His expression sharpened as if my even using her name affronted him.

  “Lilian is a sensible girl,” he said. “I’m sure she and I will come to some sort of agreement.”

  “You mean because you threatened her, right?” I said. “Or blackmailed? Not that I can imagine Lilian would ever do something that would allow you to blackmail her, but you’re clever. I’m sure you’ll come up with something.”

  If only I’d known what he was the first time I’d met him in the gardens. If only Lilian had seen through his polite, shy act before she’d agreed to announcing the engagement. If only--but if only did me no good. I couldn’t change the past.

  I couldn’t even figure out how to change the present.

  “Once Lilian and I are married, you will be fired,” he said. “I’m telling you now as a courtesy. Don’t expect any kind of reference from the palace. A gardener who strikes his betters is unlikely to be the sort of man most people want to hire. Perhaps you should look into mercenary work. Or piracy.”

  He thought he was making a joke. I thought I’d rather enjoy being a mercenary, assuming he was the person I’d been hired to take out.

  “If you fire me, Floris will never maintain its title at the Festival.” We still might make a decent showing this year. My competition entry would see to that. But next year, when the blight had grown roots deep into this land and nothing was alive but the flowers I grew in the walls of my private garden? I was Floris’s only hope.

  It wasn’t just our reputation at risk. It was our crops, too, and our economy. Our nation was built on the bulbs and seeds we sold to the rest of the world.

  Without whatever mysterious magic lived in me and in my garden, small and untrained though it was, Floris was doomed.

  The duke scoffed. “With all due respect, Mr. Gilding, as little as that may be, I doubt we’ll maintain our title with or without your help.” He gestured out the window, where the once vibrant gardens sulked in shades of gray and faded green. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but our gardens haven’t exactly flourished under your care.”

  “Lilian will never let you get rid of me,” I said. “Neither will her father, or the queen. I’ve been loyal to this family since I was born.”

  “But you haven’t been loyal to me,” the duke said. “Not at all. And soon enough, when Lilian and I are married, and the king has given up his throne entirely to tend to his ailing wife, I will be the head of this family. You see our conundrum.”

  There was no conundrum. There was only a towering pile of human rot, one that put the plague out in the gardens to shame.

  “I know you and my bride think I’m trying to break your hearts or some such nonsense,” he said. “In truth, I’m doing it for Lilian. I love her, and it’s my responsibility to take care of her. That includes getting her away from…” He hesitated, overly delicately. “Polluting influences.”

  He wasn’t thinking about love. He was thinking about power, the kin
d of power only kings could hold. It was all over his face, in the way he raised his chin to look down his nose at me, and in his shoulders, which he held stiff and broad as if taking up space was all it took to take over a kingdom.

  “The gardens will never recover without me,” I said.

  He raised an eyebrow. “And why should I care?” he said. “I’m here for the princess, not some tulips. You’d understand that kind of affection if people of your class were capable of such elevated feelings.”

  I ground my teeth together. I was going to punch him again. I was going to send him flying through that window, down to the putrid ground. I was going to smash my boot into his sneering, slimy face, and then I was--

  “Take him away,” Duke Remington barked.

  The guards’ vice-like hands closed once more around my arms, and I was yanked, struggling, from the room.

  Carry on the adventure in Throne of Enchantment

  After the Happily Ever After…

  There is more to these stories. You want to know what happens next right? Fast forward eighteen years…

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  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

  A NEW FAIRYTALE ANTHOLOGY

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  Fairytales include:

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  Cinderella by Kimbra Swain

  Snow White and Rose Red by Eileen Mueller and A.J. Ponder

  Beauty and the Beast by Beth Hale

  Aladdin by Zara Quentin

  Rumpelstiltskin by Craig Halloran

  Sleeping Beauty by Stacey O'Neale

  Wizard of Oz by Amanda Marin

  Snow White and the Seven Dwarves by Lacy Sheridan

  Red Riding Hood by May Dawson

  Rapunzel by Anne Stryker

  Sinbad the Sailor by Cassidy Taylor

  Robin Hood by Jacque Stevens

  Little Match Girl by Lee Ann Ward

  Twelve Dancing Princesses by Kit Winters

  Mulan by Charlotte Daniels and Charlie Daniels

  The Nightingale by IreAnne Chambers and Rachel McManamay

  The Girl without Hands by Daphne Moore

  Nix of the Mill Pond by Astrid V.J

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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.

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  About Emma Savant

  Emma Savant lives with her husband and cat in a small town in California, where she spends way too much time watching Star Trek and eating nachos. She loves fairy tales and once took an archery class in the hopes of becoming more Narnian.

  Emma is also the author of Glimmers of Scales, Crimson Daggers, Spinning into Gold and Glimmers of Glass.

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  About J.A. Armitage

  J.A lives in a total fantasy world (because reality is boring right?) When she's not writing all the crazy fun in her head, she can be found eating cake, designing pretty pictures and hanging upside down from the tallest climbing frame in the local playground while her children look on in embarrassment. She's travelled the world working as everything from a banana picker in Australia to a Pantomime clown, has climbed to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and the bottom of the Grand Canyon and once gave birth to a surrogate baby for a friend of hers.

  She spends way too much time gossiping on facebook and if you want to be part of her Reading Army, where you'll get lots of freebies, exclusive sneak peeks and super secret sales, join up here

  Somehow she finds time to write.

  The Kingdom of Fairytales Team

  These books would not be written without a great many people. Here is our team:

  Many thanks to th
ose who have made this possible.

  Thank you to Rhi Parkes without whom, this series would never have come about.

  Thanks to all the authors.

  J.A. Armitage, Audrey Rich, B. Kristen Mcmichael, Emma Savant, Jennifer Ellision, Scarlett Kol, R. Castro, Margo Ryerkerk, Zara Quentin, Laura Greenwood and Anne Stryker

  Also thank you to our amazing Beta team

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