The Princess Game: A Reimagining of Sleeping Beauty (The Four Kingdoms Book 4)

by Melanie Cellier

  Celine drifted over to where I sat and plopped down beside me. Her glee fell away as her gaze once again locked on the window. “I thought it was supposed to be Spring.” She sighed loudly.

  “It is Spring, silly.” I laughed.

  Despite how many times I was forced to misuse it, I still secretly liked my laugh. The musical sound always managed to convey a sense of joy, regardless of how I actually felt. And other people found it irresistible, responding with a smile or laugh of their own.

  Celine rolled her eyes.

  All except for my family, of course, who spent so much time with me. Celine rarely tried to restrain her impatience, but the rest of them had mostly learned to ignore my strange ways. As the baby of the family, Celine didn’t believe in hiding her feelings.

  She claimed she was being true to herself. Frederic, my oldest brother, said she was looking for attention. I could easily imagine his serious, disapproving face as he said it, too. Frederic didn’t approve of dramatics.

  Secretly I agreed with him a little. Only I didn’t blame her for wanting to stand out. It couldn’t be easy being the youngest of seven. Of course, I couldn’t exactly relate to her situation, either. I would give almost anything not to stand out – to just be one of the many Lanoverian princesses.

  But whenever I began to feel overwhelmed, I reminded myself that it could be worse. I could be dead.

  Chapter 3

  Several hours later, as I reluctantly trailed my extravagantly-dressed sister down to our family’s private dining room, I reminded myself again that I couldn’t steal the dress. I would have to be satisfied with giving the new seamstress a commission of my own.

  My mind turned back to the message from my agent. Too many unusual things had been happening around the Lanoverian palace of late. And too many unsettling rumours. Unfortunately, I had yet to find anything sufficiently concrete to bring to my parent’s attention.

  And it didn’t help that their primary advisor, the Duchess of Sessily, was in Northhelm discussing the treaties surrounding Rafe’s marriage to Marie, the Northhelmian princess. Which meant I was without my usual conduit for information from my secret spy network to my parents.

  I frowned. Perhaps I could gain some more concrete information tonight.

  It didn’t take me more than a second to decide that I would investigate the situation myself rather than assigning one of my agents. I was aching for some action after days of inactivity, and this seemed like a perfect opportunity. Why put a negligent sentry on a lone guard shift unless you were planning for him to fail?

  I pushed the food around on my plate, still contemplating this question as our meal dragged on. Our mother’s reaction to Celine’s garb had been predictable, but I’d been surprised at Celine’s mild response. She had hardly complained at all when she had been forbidden to wear the gown again.

  Her restraint had made for an unexpectedly quiet meal. Maybe everyone had exhausted their conversation at our earlier meal. My father sat at the head of the table and my mother at the foot, in their usual places. To my father’s right sat Frederic, my oldest brother, and Cassian the next oldest. They both dedicated themselves to the task of eating, too serious, or in the case of Cassian, too reserved, to offer much light conversation.

  An empty chair sat next to Cassian, belonging to his twin, Clarisse. Clarisse had been living in Rangmere for years, yet still her chair sat there, empty. As if my parents couldn’t quite let go of any of their children.

  Across from my brothers sat Celine and I. The empty seat between us belonged to Cordelia, and the one between me and my father to Rafe. My brother had gone adventuring before he met Princess Marie of Northhelm, so his place had also been empty for some time. I missed him most of all. Rafe was only two years older than me, and he and I had been best friends before the curse had taken effect.

  Of all my family, he had been least able to accept the consequences of the curse, and he had confided in me that his adventuring had a purpose–to find a way to break my curse. He hadn’t expected the sentiment to mean much to me, my cursed persona never expressed any dissatisfaction with my empty-headed state, but secretly I had been deeply touched. Every now and then we received a letter with a suggested cure. Nothing had worked so far and I didn’t expect it to. I knew the only way to break the curse, even if Rafe did not.

  And I supposed now that he was married the letters would stop. At least he was bringing his new wife on a tour of Lanover before they settled down, so I would get to see him soon.

  Just as this thought crossed my mind, the door of our dining room swung open. My heart skipped a beat in surprise. Standing there in the empty doorway stood the object of my thoughts.

  “Rafe!” I jumped to my feet, for once able to show my true feelings of delight. I raced around the table and almost fell into his arms.

  He swept me into a giant hug and then set me back down. “Goodness, where is your decorum, sister dear?” His eyes laughed at me. “Who raised such a ruffian?”

  He turned to our parents with a cheeky twinkle. “Mother, Father.” He gave them both a half bow.

  “Raphael. It is a pleasure to see you again, son.” King Leonardo provided the model for Cassian’s reserve.

  “Yes, indeed, Rafe. But we weren’t expecting you until tomorrow.” Our mother’s mild complaint only made Rafe grin and go to give her a hug. He clearly knew better than to expect her to get up and come to him.

  “We made excellent time and decided to push on rather than spending another night on the road. I told the rest of our party to head straight for their various accommodations, but I couldn’t resist coming to greet you all. And to introduce you to my wife.”

  Pride sounded in his voice as he pulled a tall young woman forward through the door. I examined her curiously. She looked nothing like I had expected. Tall and pale, even for a northerner, she was pretty rather than beautiful. But I could tell that Rafe would disagree with that assessment from the way his eyes shone when they rested on her. I determined immediately to love her for his sake.

  Celine rushed forward to receive her own greeting. Rafe had always been her favourite brother, too. As she moved, her new dress swished, and her face glowed with triumph. So it hadn’t been boredom that had inspired Celine to change into such an outrageous dress on this particular evening. Her earlier acquiescence now made sense. The girl was sneakier than I gave her credit for. Perhaps I should consider recruiting her. It would do her good to have a productive direction to channel all that energy towards.

  An unfamiliar young man followed Marie through the door. Tall and broad-shouldered, he carried himself with confidence and command. He had a handsome face, in the golden-haired, blue-eyed fashion of the north, and I could only assume he was Marie’s brother, Prince William. I hadn’t realised he would be accompanying them to Lanover.

  Rafe confirmed my suspicions by announcing William’s name, but he was too busy introducing Marie to Celine and our parents to bother naming the rest of us. I was still standing next to the door, so Prince William turned to me first.

  He took my hand. “I hardly think I need an introduction. One glance at your face tells me that you must be the infamous Sleeping Princess. Allow me to tell you that you’re even more beautiful than the stories say.” His eyes glowed, and I couldn’t tell whether it was with humour or admiration. Or perhaps some mix of both.

  Was he mocking me? Assuming I was too empty-headed to be offended by his greeting me with a reference to my curse? It took all of my control to keep the outrage off my face.

  I curtsied, my smile friendly and oblivious.

  “A pleasure to meet you, Prince.” I looked up at him through my lashes. “I’m afraid I haven’t heard anything at all about you.”

  His brows rose at the simple, artless words. But clearly he knew of my curse. He could no more take offense than I could. I let my smile grow, keeping my expression innocent.

  He regarded me hesitantly for a moment and then grinned, spreading his hand
s wide. “What can I say, Your Highness? I am undone by your beauty.”

  He kissed my hand and then continued on to greet the rest of my family. I pretended to be absorbed in Princess Marie’s conversation with my mother, but I didn’t miss the way his eyes kept returning to me. Sometimes bemused, sometimes suspicious, but always admiring. I couldn’t keep a slow smile from creeping over my face. I would have to be careful with this handsome newcomer. He wasn’t as used to my curse as the Lanoverians. A challenge, then.

  After everyone else had retired to bed, I slipped out of my rooms and into the darkened corridor. I was dressed in the comfortable, loose outfit of a guard, dyed black to blend into the shadows. A long black scarf wrapped around my head, covering my hair and shielding everything but my eyes.

  The lingering humidity in the air made the material uncomfortable against my face, but I didn’t even consider removing it. Once, at the beginning, I had decided to reveal my true identity to one of my agents. As soon as my hand moved towards the scarf, I had been hit by crippling stomach cramps. I had been incapacitated in bed for three days, terrified the whole time that I would never recover. The warning had been clear.

  Fear of permanent disablement and pain was a convincing motivation to ensure no-one ever discovered the true name of the mysterious spymaster, codenamed Aurora.

  Slipping from shadow to shadow, I visited each of my message caches. Hidden in plain sight, like the sideboard in the dining room, my agents used these nooks to pass information on to me. Tonight they were all empty, which left me free to follow up on the change in guard shift.

  I rolled my shoulders and moved towards the western gate. An unexpected glow appeared around a corner, followed by the sound of feet and the low murmur of voices. Moving silently, I eased open one of the doors lining the corridor and slipped into a storage cupboard. I knew where every door in the sprawling palace led and could find my way around every corridor blind.

  I left the door open a crack so I could see who else was roaming the palace at such a late hour. I instantly recognised the three figures. I had been wrong – not all of my family were already in bed. My two oldest brothers, Frederic and Cassian, strode along, deep in conversation with my father’s brother. Uncle Horace always kept late hours, and, from their dress, it looked like he had been refereeing for a sparring match between my brothers.

  Frederic and Cassian both took their responsibilities to our kingdom seriously and were wont to engage in physical training late at night, if other duties had kept them occupied during the day. I had often dreamed of competing against my brothers, wildly curious to know if I could hold my own against them. But Cassian was four years older than me and Frederic six. Before the curse they had deemed me too much a child to duel with them, and afterwards I couldn’t afford to let anyone know I had continued and expanded my training.

  I waited until they had disappeared from sight and then continued on my way. I soon arrived at the western gate.

  Everyone in the palace called it a gate, but it was really only a door. The other kingdoms all had high walls surrounding their many-storied palaces. But in Lanover, our royal residence was single-story, a huge sprawling building built of the same reddish sandstone as the rest of our city. The only things that distinguished it were its size and its location. Built on top of a large hill, and surrounded by extensive gardens, the palace looked out over the entire city.

  Apparently, my ancestors had felt that the hill provided enough protection and had never enclosed the building and gardens with a wall. Personally, I suspected they had liked the view. It helped that Lanover had a much more relaxed culture than our northern neighbours, and our capital had never come under attack.

  But on occasions like this, I felt the danger of having nothing but a single guard and a small wooden door between the palace’s inhabitants and the outside world. Of course, that was why Aurora existed – to keep the royal family and the kingdom safe.

  The guard was stationed outside the door, but I decided to wait inside, hiding myself behind a large potted plant a small way down the corridor. I settled down to await events.

  The first two hours passed peacefully, my greatest challenge being to stay awake. I practiced hand strengthening exercises, and when my muscles tired, I played mind games designed to sharpen my senses. By the third hour, I was thinking longingly of my comfortable bed and grumbling silently to myself.

  Why had I chosen to spend my night sitting in an uncomfortable corridor, again?

  A sudden noise jerked me out of my head. The door was slowly opening from the outside. Something that most definitely was not supposed to be happening in the middle of the night.

  I eased onto the balls of my feet and waited there, crouching in place. A man, also dressed in black, came through the doorway. He carefully shut the heavy door behind him and surveyed his surroundings. After only a moment of hesitation, he took off down the corridor.

  I waited for several breaths and then followed behind him. As I padded along the stone floor, I admitted to a moment of relief. Part of me had wondered if I was making a mistake by watching the door alone. I had been honing my skills for years now, but I was still only one person. If an actual assault had come through the door, I couldn’t have stopped it.

  But I had put my trust in my intelligence network, and it had not let me down. I was sure I would get more warning of anything as serious as an attack on the palace. Whatever was being planned, it was still in its early stages.

  For over an hour, I followed the man silently around the palace. I became increasingly tense as the minutes passed. What was his purpose? He had opened many doors but hadn’t entered any of the rooms. We had nearly circled back around to the western gate when a brown furry figure slunk around the corner.

  The cat ignored the stranger but headed straight in my direction. I froze. I recognised her immediately, she had been raised in the palace since kittenhood and was an excellent mouser. Unfortunately, I was one of her favourite people.

  She marched straight up to where I hid in the shadows and rubbed against my leg, purring. I stifled a curse.

  “Mrrow,” she said, pressing in closer. She was hoping for a treat.

  My eyes flew to the shrouded figure ahead of me.

  He hadn’t appeared to notice the cat at first, but at the sound, he turned and strained to see in the darkness. His body stiffened when he spotted me.

  He took off, sprinting in the direction of the gate. I growled and started after him, pushing my legs as fast as they could go. He had nearly reached the exit, when I leaped forward and tackled him to the ground.

  I quickly rolled out of reach. The man was taller and heavier, and I couldn’t afford to get pinned down. I jumped up and then lunged forward, kicking out before he had a chance to regain his balance.

  He staggered backwards before grunting and charging towards me. I stepped aside at the last moment and used his momentum to swing him over my hip and back down onto the floor. I skirted around him, positioning myself between him and the door.

  He was warier the second time, striking out with his fists and feet, but not committing his whole body to the attacks. I blocked him, slowly falling backwards. I needed to finish the bout. I didn’t want to let him escape when I still had no idea what he wanted in the palace, but I also had no idea what to do with him once I’d managed to overpower him. I could hardly turn him over to the guard myself.

  He must have seen my mental hesitation reflected in my stance, because he made a second, desperate charge. I blocked him, using a well-timed kick. But this time, as he fell, he grasped at my face, his fingers tangling in my scarf.

  I snatched at the material, whirling around to put my back to him while I replaced it. I didn’t think he had seen my face.

  A shoulder in the middle of my back sent me sprawling. I flipped over in time to see him disappearing through the external door. By the time I had regained my breath enough to follow, he was long gone.

  I ground my teeth as I looke
d out over the shadowy gardens. He had only escaped because of the stupid curse. And if he ever came back, he would know my weak spot now. I glanced down at the guard. The man slumped in a sitting position, his back to the wall.

  I nearly turned away in disgust, but something made me pause. I crouched down and examined him. To my surprise, the smell of alcohol was missing. I lightly shook his shoulders, but his head simply lolled further to one side. Wrinkling my nose in distaste, I leant in close and sniffed his breath.

  Well. I rocked back on my heels. I recognised the scent. A sleeping potion. So whoever had arranged the change in the sentry roster had left nothing to chance. It was a clever plan. Given his history, the man would be too scared to report any lapse of consciousness. And if anyone discovered him, they would assume he had overindulged and fallen asleep.

  I considered calling for a fresh guard but decided it was unnecessary. Dawn would arrive soon and with it a change of guard. I was confident the stranger I had fought wouldn’t return to the palace via this means.

  I hurried back to my room, my mind whirling. Why go to all that trouble just to wander around the palace? Had the man found what he was looking for, or had I disturbed him before he had the chance?

  I changed into my nightgown and hid my Aurora outfit in its usual hiding place in a box under my bed. Slipping between the sheets, I admitted to myself that I had no idea what had just happened. I didn’t like the feeling.

  From my earliest memory, I had been smarter and more aware than other children my age. I had asked my parents in confusion why the others were so slow, and that was the first time I had heard about my Christening gifts. They didn’t tell me about the curse until later.

  By thirteen, I could outthink most of the adults that I knew. Confusion was, therefore, an unfamiliar and unwelcome sensation.

  I tossed in the bed, knowing that I needed to be sleeping, but unable to stop thinking about the strange events of the night.