“Where…” Rose tried. The king’s head came up, and he searched her face. Rose swallowed, fighting to keep her lips from trembling.
“Where is Nikolas?” she whispered.
The king didn’t answer. Instead, he just smiled quietly…
Turned, and looked over his shoulder to the height of the dais. Rose followed his glance…
And her heart nearly stopped.
Prince Nikolas stood on the top stair, clad all in gold—designs of swirling dragons embroidered upon his coat and trousers. A blazing amber jewel flashed upon his neckerchief, and a vast cape arched from his shoulders and spread out far behind him, each folded and rippling surface of it flickering and glimmering like living flame. His face was ruddy, all the light in the room filling his sapphire eyes, and crowning his golden curls like a halo. His solemn gaze met Rose—and both of them froze.
Slowly, the king drew his hand out of hers, and stepped aside. Rose could hear her heart thundering in her head, but she still could not speak.
Carefully, Nikolas started down the stairs. The long length of his cape tumbled like a golden waterfall over each step, and sunlight flashed across his shoulders.
Rose pressed both hands to her chest, fearing that her heart was about to burst from her body…
He drew up in front of her, and gazed down at her. She could do nothing but look back up at him.
And then—
She saw it.
Both blue eyes, whole and pure.
The silver piece was gone.
“Nikolas…!” she breathed.
A slow, deliberate smile bloomed across his face.
“Hello, Rose.”
Thrills shot through her whole frame, and her face heated.
“I…I cannot believe any of this,” she gasped. “Where is Iskyla?”
“She is dead,” Nikolas replied frankly.
Rose felt the others behind her jump.
“When the appointed day came, she tried to ride back across our borders,” Nikolas explained. “But as soon as she did, she burst into flames and shattered into a thousand pieces. The folk of her court instantly retreated to Iss—we haven’t heard of them since, have we?” He glanced over at the ageless king—his father—and gave him a unique smile. The king laughed, and shook his head.
“Nor shall we ever again, I hope.”
Nikolas turned back to Rose, his smile fading as he watched her.
“Then…Then what…What is the invitation for?” Rose managed. “We were invited to a wedding! And you are not…You are not marrying her?”
Nikolas’ smile fell away entirely, and his gaze opened up so Rose could see right into him. It took her breath away.
“No,” he whispered. “I would rather marry you.”
Rose blinked.
“You—” she started—
Nikolas stepped in, slid his hands around her neck, and kissed her.
Kissed her so fiercely, so deeply, that she lost her balance, and caught at his coat. The warmth in his hands and lips pulsed against her throat and burned across her mouth—and her breath filled with delicious cinnamon.
Her hands floundered a moment, then found his shoulders. She instantly wrapped her arms around his neck, threading her hand through his soft golden curls. In response, Nikolas folded her up in his arms, tying her to his chest, and lifting her feet off the ground. Their mouths moved together in delighted, wordless conversation—giving and accepting and tasting and assuring—as the question he had almost asked was answered without the need to voice it. They forgot where they stood, they forgot the other servants and courtiers that had gathered to gape at them; forgot the Curse-Breakers, and even the king. The only thing that registered to Rose, when her mouth broke for an instant from Nikolas’, was Daisy letting loose a crowing laugh, and shouting:
“I knew it!” straight up to the stained-glass ceilings.
And then Rose laughed too, and kissed her smiling prince again.
The End
“Love is patient,
Love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast,
It is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking,
It is not easily angered,
It keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects,
Always trusts,
Always hopes,
Always perseveres.
Love never fails.”
-1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Other Books by Alydia Rackham
The Beowulf Seeker
The Riddle Walker
The Last Constantin
The Campbell River
The Paradox Initiative
Lady Rackham
Christmas Parcel: Sequel to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
The Mute of Pendywick Place and the Torn Page
The Mute of Pendywick Place and the Scarlet Gown
The Mute of Pendywick Place and the River Thames
The Mute of Pendywick Place and the Irish Gamble
The Mute of Pendywick Place and the Ghost of Robin Hood’s Bay
Christmas at Pendywick Place
Dear David: The Private Diary of Basil Atticus Collingwood
Scales: A Fresh Telling of Beauty and the Beast
Glass: Retelling the Snow Queen
TIDE: Retelling the Little Mermaid
Bauldr’s Tears: A Retelling of Loki’s Fate
Alydia Rackham’s Fairytales
Amatus
Galatea: A Novella of Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins
Linnet and the Prince
The Web of Tenebrae
The Rooks of Misselthwaite Book I
The Oxford Street Detectives
The Last Scene
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Camelot stifles under the tyrannical thumb of Mordred, and the en
tire land has been swallowed in shadow. Now, a ragtag band of knights and peasants must attempt to seize the castle and retake the sword of the true king, led only by an obscure young man who pulled a sword out of a stone, and a wizard who has been sleeping in the depths of the earth for three hundred years.
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About the Author
Alydia Rackham graduated from McPherson College with a bachelor's degree in English. She has published 75 fanfiction stories and 27 original novels.
In addition, she is a singer (winning superior ratings at state competitions in both high school and college), an artist, an avid traveler, and has performed in 21 theatrical productions, 6 short films and one feature-length film to date (winning a Jester Award in high school for the role of Mrs. Higgins in My Fair Lady, and a gala award for Best Female Performer in a Musical for her role as Mary Poppins in Salina Community Theatre's Production of Mary Poppins.)
She wrote the screenplay for the feature-film Inkfinger, which was featured in four film festivals, including the Hollywood Dreamz International Film Festival and Writers Celebration in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it was nominated for Best Cinematography. It also won the Award of Merit at the IndieFest Film Awards in La Jolla, California.
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