Entwined

by Heather Dixon

“Well done, Ivy,” said Azalea. “Perfect form! Jess—hold hands. We’ll go slow so Lily can manage, now that she’s walking. Marvelous, Delphi. All set? Wonderful! Wait—”

  Their circle was incomplete.

  Azalea turned to the King, who stood several paces outside the circle, his arms folded and a bemused smile on his face. Azalea offered her hand to him.

  “Dance with us?” she said.

  A frown tugged at the corners of the King’s mouth.

  “Certainly not,” he said. “You know how well I dance.”

  Azalea did not care. She, and the girls running after, took his hands tightly in theirs. They pulled him into the circle with them and danced slowly, so he could follow their steps. Even so, Azalea felt a warmth flicker within her. It was the best dance they had ever done.

  The End

  Acknowledgments

  Special thanks to:

  Martha Mihalick

  Edward Necarsulmer IV

  Christa Heschke

  Dean Hughes

  Ann Dee Ellis

  BYU Animation & English departments

  Helen Dixon

  The Mellings

  Room 5446

  Dipped in Bronze

  The fam

  About the Author

  HEATHER DIXON grew up in a large family with four brothers and six sisters. She is a storyboard artist as well as a writer, and lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Viennese waltz is her dance of choice.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive updates about your favorite author.

  Credits

  Jacket art © 2011 Lara Jade Photography and iStock

  Jacket design by Becky Terhune

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used to advance the fictional narrative. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.

  ENTWINED. Copyright © 2011 by Heather Dixon. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Dixon, Heather, (date).

  Entwined / by Heather Dixon.

  p. cm.

  “Greenwillow Books.”

  Summary: Confined to their dreary castle while mourning their mother’s death, Princess Azalea and her eleven sisters join the Keeper, who is trapped in a magic passageway, in a nightly dance that soon becomes nightmarish.

  ISBN 978-0-06-200103-0 (trade bdg.)

  [1. Princesses—Fiction. 2. Dancing—Fiction. 3. Magic—Fiction. 4. Kings, queens, rulers, etc.—Fiction. 5. Fathers and daughters—Fiction. 6. Death—Fiction. 7. Fantasy.] I. Title.

  PZ7.D64433Ent 2011 [Fic]—dc22 2010011686

  FIRST EDITION

  EPub Edition © FEBRUARY 2011 ISBN: 978-0-06-207703-5

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