Goddess of Flames
Kingdom of Fairytales book 4
J. A. Armitage
Contents
1. 22nd January
2. 23rd January
3. 24th January
4. 25th January
5. 26th January
6. 27th January
7. 28th January
After the Happily Ever After…
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A note from the authors
The Kingdom of Fairytale Team
About J.A.Armitage
Copyright © 2019 by J A Armitage
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Edited By Rose Lipscomb
Cover by Enchanted Quill Press
Created with Vellum
Kingdom of Fairytales
You all know the fairytales, the stories that always have the happy ending. But what happens after all those storybook characters get what they wanted? Is it really a happily ever after?
In this prequel, you will find out what happens next, be transported back to those lands you fell in love with and be prepared to meet some new characters along the way.
Kingdom of Fairytales is a new way of reading with one chapter a day and one book a week throughout the year beginning January 1st
Lighting-fast reads you won’t be able to put down
Read in real time as each chapter follows a day in the life of a character throughout the entire year, with each bite-sized episode representing a week in the life of our hero.
Each character’s story wrapped up at the end of every season with a brand new character and story featured in each season.
Fantasy has never been so epic!
22nd January
"What were you thinking?" My father asked as he paced back and forth at the bottom of my bed, his face knotted with worry and stress. Stress that once again, I'd caused, although I had good reason.
I'd woken up with a headache and having my father shouting at me for a good ten minutes straight before I'd even thought about coffee, was not doing much to help it. Pain throbbed in my temples and pounded my brain like a carriage rolling over a rocky road.
I blinked a few times waiting for my father to take a pause in his diatribe so I could explain myself. "I told you. Charlotte and Caspian think Mother is stuck in a dream world and can't get out. The only way to release her is to find Derillen or Morpheus. As I don't know where Derillen is, I was on my way to Urbis to track down Morpheus."
My father massaged his temples and stopped his pacing. "Yes, I heard what you said, but you were being carried by a dragon, Azia. A dragon! Haven't you seen the damage they've caused? No wonder Jacob shot you down. He thought you were being abducted. Now I know you have something weird going on with them, but I can't expect everyone to know that. Heck, I don't want anyone to know that. I've told you before to stay away from them. Whatever you think, they are wild creatures. I don't care that they are shifters. They are still animals."
"What about Nyre?" I asked. "Where is she?"
Six beds filled the castle hospital wing altogether. When occupied, green curtains separated them, but now, all the curtains were pulled back, showing me that I was the only patient in the room. Nyre wasn't in any of the beds.
"And what is this nonsense about Morpheus?" my father continued, ignoring my question. "I didn't bring you up to be religious. The gods are made up for people who don't know any better. As a princess, you shouldn't align yourself with any religion. We have to show impartiality in such matters. If we go to a place of worship for one religion, we'd have to go to all of them, and do you know how many gods there are? Hundreds, if not thousands. It seems that everyone has their own personal god these days."
I pulled myself up in the bed as he ranted. "Maybe we are the ones that don't know any better, Father... Where's Nyre?"
"And I don't know how many times I have to tell you that Derillen is dead. I sent my men out to look for spindles because I thought there may be a copycat, but that doesn't mean I believe she is still alive. I may not have seen her body all those years ago, but there is no other reason that the brambles had begun to lose their magic when I broke through to free your mother. If she was still alive, we'd know about it."
I gripped the edge of one of my pillows in frustration. My friend was hurt, and I didn't know where she was. "Father," I emphasized, raising my voice. "Where is Nyre?" She had fallen from the sky when I did. The fall had knocked me out when I hit the ground, but I remembered the flapping of her wings as she valiantly tried to keep us up in the air.
"Who is Nyre?" My father asked with agitation. He stopped pacing and looked at me with a quizzical expression. "The dragon? It flew off when you hit the ground."
She flew off. I sighed with relief. If she could fly away, it meant she wasn't too injured. My fear subsided a little, and the pain that had begun to build up in my chest eased off.
"Was she hurt?" I asked.
"Does it really matter?" My father snapped. "She was able to fly back up the mountain if that answers your question. Jacob tried to get her, but she flew away too quickly."
"Yes, it matters," I shouted at him, a little louder than my aching brain could handle. "It matters because she is my friend, and she was helping me out. She was helping you out too. You've said many times you'd do anything to help mother, and that's exactly what we were doing. No one else can help her. How many doctors have you paraded through here, and not one of them has been able to do so much as to make mother blink? At least, Nyre was willing to help, and she's never even met Mother!"
My father's tone softened a little, but I could still hear the hard edge to it. "I don't want to argue with you, Azia. You have a busy week coming up what with the competition. I need you back to health before that starts. Dr. Augusto looked you over last night, and he said that you have no broken bones. A few bruises, but he said you can get up on your feet whenever you like..." Dr. Augusto and a nurse were the two members of staff that worked in the small hospital wing in the castle. Dr Augusto was one of the first people to check on my mother when she first fell asleep, though he didn't know what was wrong with her any more than any of the so-called experts had.
I made to get out of bed, but my father stopped me.
"...Once you've rested. I want you to stay here this morning, and then after lunch if you feel better, you may get up. I have business to attend to."
He turned on his heels.
"What's happening with the dragons?" I shouted as he walked away, but he left the hospital wing, closing the door behind him and leaving the question unanswered.
I needed to go up the mountain to warn the dragons. I'd thought this was all over, but I didn't trust my father not to go back on his word. Not with the mood he was in. I stood up, the floor cold beneath my bare feet, but a wave of nausea hit me, and my head began to spin.
"What are you doing, silly?"
The nurse, a young woman named Amelia, ran over and helped me back into bed. "I've got strict instructions from your father not to let you leave until you are well enough. You've bruised your right arm and leg, and you've probably got a concussion too. Why not lie back, and I'll bring you some breakfast. What do you fancy?"
"Coffee," I mumbled, needing to clear the wool from my brain.
She nodded, giving me a brief smile and headed to the small room where she made coffee.
An image of Milo hit me with such force, I had to lie back down. I needed him. However much I hated to admit I needed anyone, I needed him right now. I ached for him to pull
me into his arms and kiss the pain away.
"Amelia," I shouted, sending an echo through my mind. She popped her head around the door.
"Everything okay?"
I nodded carefully. Even the slightest of movements sent shockwaves of pain rattling round my head.
"Has anyone been to visit me? Before I woke up, I mean?"
"No," she replied. "I'm sorry. I don't know why that chap of yours hasn't been in. He surely must know you've been hurt. The whole castle knows what happened."
"It's ok," I lied, though I knew exactly why he'd not been to see me. I'd not seen him since he'd thrown the Draconian Sentinel at me with the photo of Caspian and I kissing.
"I'm sure he'll be in later," Amelia mused, minutes later after handing me a cup of coffee. "Your father mentioned that he'd told him. I expect he's held up, that's all."
"My father told Milo?" I couldn't imagine my father speaking to Milo unless he had to. I guess having his daughter almost killed constituted as having to. I took a sip of the coffee, and slowly my brain became less fuzzy.
Amelia gave me a strange look, and then her face brightened. "Here's that chap of yours now. I told you he'd be here soon." She gave me a slight nudge on the arm and a wink before scurrying off to leave me alone with Milo.
My heart leapt until I turned and saw Caspian walking through the door with a huge bunch of flowers. That was who Amelia was talking about when she said my chap. She'd been talking about Caspian, not Milo.
"You are a fool," Caspian said, throwing the flowers down on a bedside cabinet next to me.
"I'm fine, thanks," I threw back in a snarl.
"At least, you've not ruined that pretty face of yours. I'd hate to be standing next to someone resembling a troll on my wedding day."
I glared at him, fury filling my every pore. Not even the threat of me almost dying was enough to elicit any kind of empathy in the jerk. "Please find somewhere else to exist, dirtball. I'm not in the mood."
He grinned at me in the same way he always did, flicking up the corners of his gorgeous mouth lazily, making me want to kiss those delicious lips of his and punch him in them in equal measures.
"I love it when you are angry," he said, pulling up a chair. "You've got that gorgeous death stare down to a tee. It's a sexy look on you."
The infuriating part about his last statement was that it forced me into his trap. I either did what I wanted and glared even harder, or I had to soften my features. I folded my arms, keeping my face as impassive as possible.
"What do you want, Caspian?"
"Actually, I've come to update you on the competition, now that your attempts to run away from it were thwarted."
"I wasn't running from the competition," I spat out.
He cocked his head to one side and considered me. "Do you really take me for a fool?"
"Yes," I replied. "Most of the time, but you know I wasn't running from the competition. I was heading to Urbis to find Morpheus."
"So you say," Caspian said, "but you could have waited until after the competition. Until after our wedding."
"The wedding," I emphasized. "Not our wedding. How many times do I have to tell you I'm not marrying you?"
"Roughly the same amount of times I have to assure you that you are, I expect," he replied with a laugh. "I brought you some flowers. Aren't you going to thank me?"
He picked them up and handed them over. One of the flower heads fell from the stem onto the bed. It reminded me of the poppy Milo had given me a while back. The one that must have cost him a week's wages. These flowers probably cost a month's wages, but money was not something Caspian had to bother about, judging by his flashy clothes. Plus, he was living here rent-free. That must be worth a bunch of flowers or two. I pushed them away, and he put them back on the nightstand.
"Nope," I said.
"Hmm, well then," he sighed. "I'll just tell you about the competition and be on my way. Four judges have been appointed, and a stadium of sorts is being erected on the grounds. At final count, there are nine hundred and eighty-three men competing. The first round will whittle them down to a hundred, the second to ten, and then the last round will choose the winner...me."
I rolled my eyes. At least with so many men competing, the chances of him winning were slim. Slimmer than he thought.
"As I'm a competitor," he carried on, "I will stay in a tent behind the arena. From Friday, I, along with the other competitors, will sleep and eat in there. The judges will not allow me to talk to you during the competition."
"At least something good has come of all this then," I quipped. "I might get a break from you." The morning was shaping up better than I expected. Caspian only had a one in nearly one thousand chance of winning the competition, and I wouldn't have to speak to him for three days. Marvelous.
"Quite," he said lazily. "Your father has chosen the judges, and before you get all pissy, no, I didn't have a hand in choosing any of them. I don't even know them. The head judge is one of your father's guards. Jacob Hawkins."
"What?" I sat up straighter, and the headache that I'd managed to make subside thanks to the coffee now threatened to come back with a vengeance. "He's the man that shot me down. He's an asshole! He wants my father to go and kill all the dragons. Dragon balls, the man is more of a creep than you are."
"Never the less," Caspian continued, obviously not bothered about the dragons, or my derogatory term for him. Not that Caspian was ever bothered by anything that didn't affect him directly. "He's taken over the administration of the competition and made himself head judge. Your father signed off on it, so there is nothing you can do. The second is a member of staff at the local newspaper, Harry Parkes, third, some woman named Gina who is the headmistress at a local school, and fourth is some actor guy who I'm assured is famous here, though I've never heard of him. They were picked because of their backgrounds and impartiality, so don't get your panties in a bunch over it."
I sipped at my coffee and tried to keep my composure. I didn't care about the three other judges, but I hated Jacob with a passion.
"Have you seen Milo at all?" I asked, changing the subject. Asking Caspian about Milo was another thing I hated, but who else could I ask? Amelia didn't even know him.
Caspian sat back in his chair and folded his arms, a sly grin creeping over his face. "So he's not been to visit you then? Well, I didn't think much to the guy. Why have burger when you can have steak? That's what I say."
"Don't you have somewhere to be?" I asked, suddenly tired. "What about Charlotte? Why not go and bother her?"
"I've just seen her. We dined together. Why do you want me to see Charlotte?"
How was the man so utterly blind? "You know you keep telling me how you can read bodies, that you can understand body language? Well, how can you be so good at that and so confoundingly stupid at the same time? The girl is completely besotted with you. She'd walk to the ends of the kingdom on glass in bare feet if you asked her to."
"She has a little crush on me," he said, waving his hand airily.
"A little crush?" I huffed. "She spent every penny she had getting the Urbis Express here just because you asked her to. She didn't come to see the Draconis castle, and she certainly didn't come to see me."
"Pft! Nothing that will stop our wedding. You don't need to worry about her."
I opened my mouth to tell him he had a better chance of a skunk wanting to marry him than me when the door behind him opened.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come." My heart almost exploded with joy as I saw Milo over Caspian's shoulder.
"You should have come," I said, pulling the covers off myself. "Caspian was just leaving. Isn't that right?" I gave Caspian a pointed look.
He ignored it and sat further back in his chair. "Actually Mikey, Azia and I were just talking about our wedding. It's shaping up to be a marvelous affair. Maybe you can be my best man...oh no, you can't. I'm the best man here."
Milo nodded and then closed the door behind him as he left the small w
ard.
"I really hate you, you know that?" I said, climbing out of bed and accidentally on purpose, spilling what was left of my coffee over his groin. It served him right. I only wished it was hotter.
I was dressed in only my nightgown, but that didn't stop me from chasing Milo down the corridor.
"Stop."
He stopped and turned. "I'm sorry for interrupting you. I guess you and your boyfriend were enjoying some quality time together."
"Don't do this," I begged, grateful that there was no one else in the corridor. I didn't need anyone else witnessing the painful exchange.
"Do what?" he asked. His face showed no emotion, but I could see in his eyes how difficult this was for him. He was hurting as much as I was.
"You know. Caspian isn't my boyfriend. You know he only goads you to make himself feel important. What does that say about him?"
Milo sighed. "I don't know what that says about him, and I don't care. It doesn't matter. I only came to see if you were alright, and now that I can see you are, I'll be on my way."
"Please, don't," I whispered as he turned to walk away from me. I couldn't bear it. In a few days, I was going to be engaged, whether or not I liked it, and I wanted to spend my remaining time with Milo.
"You kissed him, Azia!" he shouted. "All this time, you've been telling me how much you despised the guy, and then you kissed him behind my back. How many times did it happen? Was it going on all that time we were together? I mean, you told me enough times that you didn't want to marry me. I guess I know why now, huh?"
"It wasn't like that," I said, tears streaming down my face. "He kissed me."
He breathed in deeply, his teeth gritted together. Only the slight tremble in his lip gave him away.
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