Rotten Rapunzel (Dark Fairy Tale Queen Series Book 3)

by Anita Valle

  Cooper stands by Lunilla with his arm around her. “Look,” he says to Godnutter. “You’re asking too much. The palace was empty, it was up for grabs. Lunilla and I took it for ourselves, fair and square. You can’t just kick us out.”

  “The people won’t like it!” Lunilla shouts. “Nearly everyone in this kingdom has known only ME as their queen. They don’t know about Cinderella’s daughters. If you switch queens on them, they’re going to riot all over again!”

  “And what about the fairies?” I say to Godnutter. “What if they don’t agree with this idea? Snowy says they don’t like you too much.”

  Godnutter shrugs. “They don’t. But they don’t like Loony much either, especially with her habit of killing young, innocent girls. They weren’t able to save them all and that’s rankled. They tolerate the queen but I’m sure a replacement would be welcome. Might even put me back into their good graces! I’m returning the baby I stole.”

  “What about the curse?” I say.

  “I’m getting to that!” Godnutter yanks the pipe out of her mouth and gives me a nasty look. I get the feeling I’m not her favorite. “I’ve been reading my spell books. I found one – and only one - that may help us. There’s an immunity spell for newly-crowned queens that will shield them from curses and even cancel those already cast. I’m working on mixing it up for Beauty but it’ll take me…” she holds up three fingers at Lunilla “…three days. And that’s counting today! So pack your bags, take the baby, and find yourself a cozy cottage. And don’t try anything funny. Because in three days, I’m coming back here and we are crowning Beauty as queen.”

  And she vanishes.

  ~*~ 30 ~*~

  There’s nothing more to say. Lunilla stands beside Cooper, her large chest heaving. I’m near Snowy, who looks like a wilted flower. She lifts her face and her eyes have changed. They’re like black holes, empty and lost. “Cooper, can you take me to my room? My old room? I won’t bother anyone there.”

  “Where is it?” Cooper asks.

  “At the top of one of the towers,” Snowy says. “It’s small.”

  Lunilla flicks out a hand. “Take her, Coop. I’m not sure what I should do with her, I didn’t receive instructions on that one. Just get her out of here.”

  “Will do,” Cooper says.

  “And I’m going to the garden,” Lunilla says, sloshing through hailstones that have mostly melted by now. “And NOBODY better speak to me for a VERY long time!” Clenching her fists, she marches from the throne room.

  Cooper lays a hand on Snowy’s shoulder. “Come on, girl.” Without pushing or hurrying her, he leads her away. There’s no one left but me and Beauty.

  Beauty stands with a hand on her hip, looking generally annoyed. Like she hasn’t just been told she’s going to be queen in three days.

  “So… we’re staying here?” I say.

  “That seems to be the plan.” Beauty flips back her hair. “Would’ve been nice if she asked what we wanted to do. But overall, I guess it’s not bad.”

  “Are we princesses now?”

  “Ugh! I can’t deal with you.” Beauty spreads out her hands in frustration and walks away from me.

  I hurry to catch up with her. “Where are you going?”

  “To have a bath,” Beauty says.

  I look back at my braid, bedraggled and dirty. After that filthy dungeon, it’s not a bad idea.

  We manage to find a servant, who takes us to another servant, who take us to the housekeeper. She’s a stout woman with a frowning mouth but she’s actually pretty nice. Our scene in the throne room, she tells us, was witnessed by a few servants who huddled behind doorways to watch. I guess the sound of an indoor hailstorm would draw a few curious eyes, right?

  The housekeeper leads us to the upper floors of the palace, explaining that although she has not received specific orders from the queen, she can at least make us comfortable.

  “Do you want separate rooms or together?” the housekeeper asks. Beauty and I glance at each other.

  “Separate,” we both say.

  The room she gives me is huge and square, so unlike my tower in every way that for five minutes, I stand there and wonder at it. The walls are blue, with white birds painted on them. The furniture is so shiny I can see my face in it. There are large paintings of forests and animals and strange ladies sitting in chairs. And my bed has its own roof.

  I have absolutely no idea what I should do. But I’m saved by two ladies who appear at the door, introduce themselves as servants, and say they are here to help me. I mumble something about washing my hair. They take me through another door and I discover that I also have a room just for taking baths, with a large copper tub which I’m told to stand in. What follows is pretty much the most embarrassing hour of my life. Those two servant ladies simply yank off my clothes like there’s nothing weird about that and begin to scrub down both me and my hair. They think my hair is funny and laugh over it a lot, making jokes I don’t understand. To be fair, though, they wash it a lot faster than Snowy does.

  Afterwards, I sit in my new room and wait for my cheeks to stop burning. I’m next to an open window and the air that slides over me is… warm. Water drips onto the outer sill from somewhere higher up on the castle. The kingdom is losing its winter. Somehow, that makes me really sad.

  “Zelly?”

  I turn my head, but carefully. The two servant ladies put three chairs behind me and sort of bridged my hair across them to help it dry. Kay leans in at the doorway to my room, holding up a silver goblet. “I brought you some water,” he says.

  “I thought a prince didn’t fetch water.”

  Kay grins. “Just this once… again.” He steps across the room and hands me the goblet. I take a sip and then lower the cup to my lap.

  “May I sit?” Kay points at a bench along the wall by my window. I nod.

  “I like your dress,” Kay says. The two servant ladies took away my warm blue dress for washing and brought me a smooth gown of deep russet red. It’s a little big – the sleeves almost cover my hands – but I like it.

  “Thanks,” I say.

  Kay sniffs and rubs his nose. His eyes have a slight puffiness to them and I wonder if he’s been crying. He glances at my hair trailing over the chairs behind me. “Hey, I like your hair like that. All loose.”

  “I can’t braid it until it’s dry,” I say. “The two servant ladies said they’d come back and do it for me.” I cup my hands around the goblet in my lap. “Do I, um, have to keep them?”

  Kay gives a laugh. “You’re a princess now. Servants are a necessary nuisance.”

  “Do you have them?”

  “Just one, really, who waits on me. He’s been with me since I was ten, he’s like a friend now.”

  “Servants can be friends?” I didn’t know that. I was too nervous with the servant ladies to talk to them. They weren’t much older than me, I think. Maybe I should try. When they come back, I will ask them their names.

  Kay sighs. “Zelly, I owe you an apology. I never should’ve left you alone with the queen. I didn’t know she was going to throw you in prison but I should’ve guessed she had bad intentions. I didn’t believe her at all when she said you got sick and went home.”

  “The dungeon stank,” I say.

  “You should never have gone there. You know, I’m actually glad Aunt Lunilla is getting replaced. She was never a good queen, it’s time we had a new one.”

  I smirk. “Especially if it’s Beauty.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “You don’t have to.” I give him a stern look. “Did you really conspire with the wicked fairy to trick me out of my tower?”

  Kay lowers his head. “It wasn’t my idea. It was your music that led me to you, that wasn’t a lie. Then the old fairy appeared to me in The Wood. All she wanted was that I bring you to the palace by persuasion and not by force. She thought it would be nicer that way. We did want to stop the Ice Witch and I couldn’t tell you that but it wasn’t a
n evil scheme. I’m not a bad person.”

  I snort. Funny how people say that when they do something wrong. It doesn’t excuse what he did to Snowy. Or me. I trace my thumb over the rim of my goblet and chew on my next words before saying them.

  “We’re… we’re not really friends, are we Kay?”

  “What? Sure we are! Of course, we are!”

  I shake my head. “I heard that friends are always there for you. But you’re not. You’re always going to leave me and run back to Beauty.”

  “If – if she would just… accept me!” Kay says, opening his hands. “Then we’d be fine – you and I, I mean. I just can’t focus on anything else, right now. I know I sound crazy but I really do love her, Zelly.”

  “Why?”

  Kay rakes back his hair. “She’s just so….”

  I wait a few seconds. “Beautiful?”

  “Not just that,” Kay says.

  “No, I think it is just that.” And it feels wrong. In my books, the pretty girls were always nice. But Beauty isn’t. I think niceness should be more important.

  “You know it was… a real shocker, finding out you two are sisters,” Kay says. “And when I look at you now, I can see it. You both blink the same and have the same teeth. I’m glad you found each other, I think it’s great.”

  Ugh. I don’t.

  Kay shifts closer to me. “But since you are sisters, do you think… do you think you could talk to her about me? She might listen to you-”

  “What?” I try to stand but the weight of my wet hair tugs me down. I hit the chair hard and slosh water onto my dress.

  “Get out of here!” I shout.

  “Why?” he cries.

  “Just GET OUT!” I point my whole arm at the door and leave it there until Kay shuffles out of the room.

  I hunch over my lap and cry. He’s not my friend. He’s never going to be my friend. All because of stupid Beauty. Tears spill off my cheeks and into my lap. A few of them drop into my goblet of water. It doesn’t matter. Snowy can’t freeze them or sell them anymore. She can’t do anything.

  It’s all a waste.

  ~*~ 31 ~*~

  I want to see Snowy, I have stuff to talk about. But I don’t know where her room is. And I can’t move from this chair for at least another two hours. My hair is really annoying me right now. It was fine in the tower but in a huge palace like this… it might not work.

  I stare out the window while the sun is setting and watch the fire-gold clouds slowly cool into purple evening. The snow on the ground is sparkly, a sure sign it’s melting. The two servant ladies come back and talk in happy tones about the change in weather. They split my hair into five sections and start weaving from the top of my head. I end up with the fanciest braid I ever had, twice as wide as my normal one and much shorter. It still drags the ground, but not nearly as much.

  I can finally stand up. “Where’s Snowy?” I ask. They have no idea who I’m talking about until I say, ‘The Ice Witch.’ One of them jabbers through a list of directions I can’t possibly understand but I’m too embarrassed to say so. I leave the room with only a vague idea of ‘left’ and ‘up.’

  I carry the end of my thick, fancy braid in one hand and my goblet of water in the other. I feel like I should ask Snowy about the tears. It’s probably pointless now, but I hate to just throw them away.

  I turn left and walk for a while. I climb some stairs and walk a while more. It’s all the same, just hallways and doors. I don’t see any people at all. What do I do? How will I ever find my room again? What if I’m lost up here forever?

  I hear a cough – and know who it is. I whirl around to listen. It’s not far, I trace the sound to a door maybe ten steps back. She’s still coughing. I hover outside the room, hesitant, then I turn the handle and let myself in.

  It’s another large bedroom. The walls are pale gray and the furniture is made of natural wood and doesn’t shine. Melodie is sitting on her wide bed with a blanket over her legs. She looks surprised to see me.

  “Do you know where Snowy’s room is?” I ask.

  Melodie tries to speak but her voice crackles and she coughs again. She grabs a small pitcher off the table by her bed and spits into it. Panting, she puts the pitcher back.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispers. “It hurts so much.”

  “What hurts?”

  Melodie takes a few deep breaths. “My chest. My throat. Feels like it’s choking me.” She coughs again, ending with gags, and I hear the phlegm inside her. When she grabs the spit pitcher, I turn my face away. It’s too gross.

  “I’m sorry,” she says again.

  She looks awful. Pale and weak, with dark rings around her eyes. She’s still wearing her nightdress and her hair is loose and stringy. I don’t think she got up today.

  “Are you always like this?” I ask.

  “I have good days and bad days,” she says. Her voice is scratchy. “But as the years go by, the bad days come more often. I’m so tired….” She slumps back on the bed and tries in vain to clear her throat.

  “Do you need some water?” I ask.

  “I drank it all,” Melodie says.

  Oh my blood and bones. I just thought of something. But wait, should I do it? Yes… I should. But she has to pay me first. That’s what Snowy said, she always made the people pay first.

  “Where’s Snowy’s room?” I ask again.

  “You mean the one she grew up in?”

  “I think so.”

  Melodie has another coughing fit before continuing. “Go up one floor. Find the painting of a castle on a glass hill. The door to her tower will be beside it.”

  I nod. Payment accepted.

  “Here.” I offer her the goblet of water, half-filled, lukewarm, and holding my two dissolved tears. “This is from Kay.”

  “From Kay?” Melodie reaches for it.

  I nod. Melodie takes a small sip and leans over to put the cup on her bedside table.

  “Oh, um… you need to drink it all,” I say. “Kay thinks you need it. I want to tell him you drank the whole thing. I mean, there’s not much in there.”

  “All right. Wish he brought it to me himself, though.” Melodie returns the cup to her lips. I watch her tip it back until I’m sure she has swallowed all of the water.

  “Thank you.” She hands me the cup.

  “I’ll let you rest now,” I say.

  But I leave the room with a huge grin on my face. By tomorrow morning, she’ll have no cough at all. It will never come back.

  Because my tears have healing magic. They can cure any sickness.

  And oh, excuse me, can Beauty do that?

  ~*~ 32 ~*~

  I find Snowy’s room. It’s at the top of a winding staircase, cramped and dark. I step around chunks of broken candles littering the stairs. When she doesn’t answer my knock, I let myself in.

  The room is small and round. It feels like home. Looks like it hasn’t been used in years; it’s mostly bare, dingy with dust, and the bed doesn’t even have sheets on it. Snowy’s sitting on the floor underneath the one window, her right side pressed to the wall. Her knees are drawn up, her face bowed over them.

  I pull the rest of my braid into the room and shut the door. “Hey, Snowy.”

  She doesn’t move.

  There’s a chair by her bed. I drag it forward and sit on it. “This was your room? It doesn’t look… princessy.”

  “Cinderella put me here,” Snowy says. “She wanted me out of the way.”

  “You don’t have to stay here. There are other rooms, really nice ones. I think you can stay where you want.”

  Snowy shakes her head.

  I don’t like seeing her this way. She looks small and girlish. She’s thrown her black cloak into a corner and just sits there in her white wool dress. Like a little mound of snow, ready to melt away.

  “Snowy….”

  “Why did you leave?” she asks without lifting her head. “You ruined everything. We’re finished now.”

  �
��I wanted to see people,” I say. “I couldn’t stay there forever, Snowy. It wasn’t fair.”

  “Nothing is fair,” Snowy says. “But we were safe. And now it’s all over.” She moans and looks at her hands. “My magic is gone, Rapunzel, do you understand? I have nothing left.”

  I frown. “You have me.”

  “You left me!” Snowy says, turning hot eyes on me. “Did you even think about my feelings? I was frantic when I came home and couldn’t find you. Did you think about that?”

  “They threw me in prison! I couldn’t help it!”

  “You could if you hadn’t left at all.”

  Ugh! I stand up and pace around. She never tries to understand. “Well, I’m sorry but we’re not dead! You just lost your magic, that’s all. I know you’re going to miss it but you didn’t always have it, right?”

  “I got it the day I lost Hunter.” Snowy leans her head into the wall and shuts her eyes. “Hunter made me feel special. The magic made me feel strong. And now I feel nothing, I am nothing. I may as well die.”

  I stop by the window, sighing. It’s a narrow window but taller than I am. I find a latch on one side and nudge it open to bring some air into this musty room. Directly below is the rose garden, looking very small from here. I should probably tell Snowy that Hunter is alive. But I’m nervous about it. Either she’ll freak out or she won’t believe me at all. If she does believe me, she’ll want to see him and I don’t know how to make him come. Still… I guess I should tell her.

  “I – I don’t think it’s the end, Snowy,” I say. “I think we can start a new life here. You might even be happy again, because-”

  “Lunilla is going to kill us,” Snowy says. “Don’t think for a moment that she won’t. You, me, Beauty – we’re all dead. Godnutter’s threat is just an obstacle, there are ways to get around it. I don’t know Lunilla but I know her type and they don’t lose gracefully. All she has to do is have one of the fairies hide her baby. And we are dead.”