Throne of Sacrifice

by Jennifer Ellision

  Throne of Sacrifice

  Kingdom of Fairytales Rumpelstiltskin book 3

  J A Armitage

  Jennifer Ellision

  Contents

  1. 5th May

  2. 6th May

  3. 7th May

  4. 8th May

  5. 9th May

  6. 10th May

  7. 11th May

  After the Happily Ever After…

  A NEW FAIRYTALE ANTHOLOGY

  Join us

  A note from the author

  About Jennifer Ellision

  About J.A. Armitage

  The Kingdom of Fairytales Team

  Copyright © 2019 by J A Armitage

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  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?

  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!

  5th May

  “He told me that if I was really set on looking for Rumpelstiltskin, I must make absolutely sure not to barter, bargain, or trade with him unless I was prepared to lose everything I held dear. The price is never worth it.”

  The memory of Jay’s voice echoed in my mind as I swept through the palace, fists clenched at my sides, anger burning a flame within my chest. Courtiers and servants bid me a good morning with cheery grins on their faces, used to being greeted with the same in return from me. But that wasn’t what they got today. Oh, no, today they backed away hastily when I turned to them, an uncharacteristic scowl on my face.

  If word spread of this, no one would be calling me the Unicorn Princess for long. That moniker brought to mind someone serene, someone gentle and pure of heart like the unicorns themselves. I didn’t exactly feel like I fit the bill right now. I felt as though I could breathe fire, like a dragon, if the wrong person looked at me the wrong way today.

  They would be innocent victims if they were to step into my path. After all, it was hardly their fault. They couldn’t have known the information I’d learned yesterday. How could they possibly be expected to guess how the news had shaken me to my core?

  At a fast clip, blindly, I turned a corner, then another one, my feet quickly finding their way in a palace I knew as well as the back of my hand. Good thing, too. My eyes were open, but I had to admit that I wasn’t really seeing the pathways before me. My mind’s eye was too busy remembering the expression on Jay’s face—pale and deeply disturbed as he told me of everything a man had lost at the hands of the man named Rumpelstiltskin.

  “But Jay,” I’d said when he’d explained how Rumpelstiltskin had a reputation of dire bargains where his partners in trade almost always came off worse than he did. “We haven't made a deal. We've never even met this man. So he has to be operating on his accord. No one would have the authority to promise him the unicorns. And I don't know of anyone who would be horrible enough to try."

  “Don’t you get it? The point is, we know his name. We may not have known who he was, or what he did, but we damn well knew his name, Eliana.”

  And just like that, all of the pieces had fallen into place like the simplest puzzle. I did know the word Rumpelstiltskin. Not its meaning or who it belonged to, but I had grown up with the word. There was one person who had made sure it was a part of my vocabulary by decorating the walls of my childhood bedroom with it.

  My mother. My mother had to have made a deal with Rumpelstiltskin.

  “Your Highness!” A shout echoed down the hallway after me. Not long after that, the sound of panting and clanking weapons reached my ears as my guards, Avery and Williamson, jogged to keep up with me. “Your Highness,” Avery repeated in a huff, face growing red with exertion.

  Williamson picked up the thread of conversation that Avery had dropped. “We thought you were still in your chambers.”

  “Oh?” I said, uncaring. Mechanically, my feet turned another corner, and the men kept pace with me. We were almost to my parents’ rooms now. My blood thrummed with the promise of the inevitable conversation. At last, I’d have my answers, one way or another.

  “Ye-es.” He sounded annoyed.

  I couldn’t blame him. I probably would have been irritated if I were in his shoes too. But I had my own problems to deal with. Didn’t we all?

  “We thought that because,” Williamson continued, “you told us you wouldn’t leave until at least the normal breakfast time.” He didn’t specifically admonish me, but it was implicit in his tone; Williamson’s voice sounded as if he was gritting his teeth. Probably regretting the day that he and his partner were saddled with the duty of babysitting the rebellious princess. Well, the two men were fine and upstanding fellows, but their job still grated against my principles. I wanted my independence, so I didn’t much like it either.

  “My mistake,” I said. I was flippant, not even bothering to try and pretend to cover up the out-and-out lie. I knew that I wasn’t fooling either of them or sparing their feelings, as they knew they couldn’t trust me. Trust was a valuable currency. They were better off learning not to just give it away as I had.

  But that was too bad. I was going to speak to my mother today, and I was going to do it now—or as soon as humanly possible, anyway. Jay had convinced me to wait a day. I wouldn’t wait any longer.

  I reached the door to my parents’ bedrooms and nodded curtly at the single guard stationed outside their chambers—her favored man, Hardy. He’d grown up with my father and been with my parents since he was old enough to enter royal service.

  “Princess Eliana,” he said. His caterpillar eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “Is your mother expecting you? She hasn’t mentioned any visitors. I don’t think she expected to see you in between any occasions when you dined together today.”

  “Can’t a daughter pay her mother an unscheduled visit?” I smiled and made it as saccharine as I could. But Hardy wasn’t fooled. The fact that he’d been with my parents so long meant that he’d seen me grow up. And he could occasionally figure out when I was lying or playing at sweetness in order to get what I wanted like I was today.

  Hardy slid a cautious glance behind me to my guards. I turned my head enough that, out of the corner of my eye, I could see Avery shrug helplessly and mouth “No idea.”

  But Hardy seemed to decide that whatever business I had with my mother, it was a matter between mother and daughter. Oh, if only he knew. It was a matter that may well have concerned the entire kingdom.

  Finally, he stepped aside so that I had unbarred access to her door.

  I lifted my hand and paused for a moment, looking over at him. Just the one man outside the King and Queen of Vale’s rooms.

  It had never escaped my notice that my parents had perilously few personal guards. Sometimes, my mother allowed me to be unescorted—althoug
h those days seem to be over now—but whenever I had an armed escort, it was always at least two guards.

  My mother wasn’t half so concerned with her safety or my father’s as she was with mine. I had always thought it a strange thing. Yes, I was the heir to the throne, and it made a certain amount of sense for my safety to be thought of, but they were the ruling monarchs. Surely their safety should take a great deal of precedence over mine. Vale would be left in a lurch without them. I was a long way away from being ready to inherit the crown and keys to the kingdom.

  My mother had hand-waved away such questions, citing Vale’s history of a low crime rate as the reason they didn’t have a larger personal guard. I’d told her that explained absolutely nothing. If anything, it should have meant that if she just had one guard, I should have had no guards at all.

  She didn’t see it that way. I had always wondered why.

  Now, I had more than a sneaking suspicion that it had to do with the dangerous man named Rumpelstiltskin.

  My blood curdled. What had he done to her? To all of us?

  I banged on the door, not bothering with the light, polite taps as I usually did. No, this knock sounded like the boom of cannon fire at her door that would blow it in if she didn’t answer quickly enough. “Mother? Open up!” I hollered.

  The door flew open, my mother’s normally coiffed appearance not nearly as put together as usual. Her face was free of makeup, and her hair was tied up in a sleeping cap.

  “Eliana? Are you all right? What on earth is going on?” Her worried eyes scanned my body from head to toe, taking me in and inspecting me for any possible injuries. Finding none, she hastily knotted the belt of her dressing gown and motioned me inside as her concerned expression gave way to bewilderment.

  “What’s going on?” she asked again.

  “Where’s Father?” I returned. Did he know too? I wondered. Who exactly was to blame for all these years of secrets? Who besides her had intentionally kept me in the dark?

  She opened her arms wide, indicating the rooms, empty of all but us. “He left already. He had to meet with some advisors early this morning. But if it’s important and you need him, I’m sure he’d be happy to come. Shall I ring and have him join us?” Her hand gravitated toward the bell pull and was halfway there when I shook my head.

  “That won’t be necessary. I may speak with him later as well, but it’s really you I wanted to talk to.”

  Her hand stilled, something in my tone giving me away. It was grim and foreboding; not the tone of someone who just had a hankering to see her loving parents.

  “All right,” my mother said slowly. Her hand drifted through the air to settle in her lap. Her eyes flicked over me in a crude inspection. Before, she’d looked me over for injuries, but now she seemed to notice my furrowed brows, my stiff posture. And now, she understood this wouldn’t be an altogether pleasant visit. She seemed to gather herself, squirming in the chair—wriggling left and right until she found a position comfortable to her, and she straightened like someone who was preparing to be dealt a great blow. Now that her initial concern had passed, she seemed to sense the charged air between us and gathered that something was amiss. Something that was a big enough deal to send me charging to her door, pounding on it like the palace was under attack. “What’s—”

  “What’s going on?” I air quoted with a great deal of sarcasm, then crossed my arms aggressively. I could hardly believe she even had the nerve to ask me that. “That’s funny. Hilarious, even. What. A. Coincidence.” I punctuated each word with a rhythmic and insincere cadence, tilting my head from side to side. “You see, it’s funny because I had the same question for you. But you did always teach me to respect my elders, so why don’t you go first?” I gestured toward her as though I was passing the conversation her way.

  She squinted in confusion, forehead wrinkling as though she’d be able to spy my meaning if she just looked at me hard enough. “I’m sorry, darling, but I just don’t understand what you’re getting at. What is that supposed to mean?”

  I could speed this up quickly enough. So I did. I held a single finger in the air and glared at her. “One word, Mother: Rumpelstiltskin.”

  All of the air seemed to leave her body like I’d socked her in the stomach unexpectedly. It was that quick. That effective. Her perfect posture disappeared as she inhaled a shaky breath and sagged back into her seat. She suddenly looked old beyond her years. She rubbed at her temples. “I had hoped never to have this conversation.” She looked back up at me. “What do you know?”

  “I don’t want you leaving anything out because you think that I don’t need to know it anymore. I know enough that I’m here,” I said curtly.

  …Well, that simply wasn’t true. I tried again. “Well, I know some,” I corrected myself. “It’s not nearly enough. And that’s why I’ve come. So you could be honest with me for once in your life.”

  But I could see that she still wasn’t ready to relinquish the truth. She was like a safe that had been shut for so many years that the lock was rusting. I needed more than just a key to open it with. She eyed me warily. “And what you know is…?”

  I took a deep breath and said it again. The word. The name that would tell her all that she needed to know. “Rumpelstiltskin.”

  She shuddered visibly upon hearing it, but I forged on, unsympathetic. “I know he’s a man. A dangerous one. I know he makes deals.” Another deep breath and I went for the kill shot. “And I know that you made one with him.”

  She scooted forward in her seat and smiled wanly, running stressed fingers over her cheeks. She leaned forward onto her knees and looked me in the eyes. “I knew this day would come someday. But gods, I hoped to be wrong and that I’d never have to tell you. This knowledge is not kind to anyone, and I vowed that I would be a kind parent. Not like my own father. You remember me telling you about him? About how he was not a kind man? A lazy drunk?”

  “Yes, of course.” A frisson of pity for the girl my mother had been sparked, but I hardened my heart against it. I wouldn’t let her distract me like this. I’d come here for answers, and I was damn well going to get them.

  “Well, there’s more to the story.” She took a deep breath and began. “My story—mine and Rumpelstiltskin’s—began when my father bragged in a bar one day that I could spin straw into gold.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “But spinning straw into gold is impossible without magic.” And unicorns aside, there wasn’t a whole lot of magic in Vale, so I knew my mother certainly didn’t possess such a gift.

  She snorted. “Impossible didn’t matter to my drunk of a father. And didn’t much matter to your other grandfather, the king, either. After my father made such a bold claim, and it reached the ears of the king, it was spin straw into gold or be killed. Those were my choices. And not much of a choice either, seeing as how I was just a miller’s daughter. Not exactly a sorceress with magic at the tips of my fingers.”

  Her expression became far away. “And in the midst of the impossible… he appeared. Rumpelstiltskin. Though back in those days, I knew him only as ‘the imp.’ And he gave me a chance. I didn’t have any magic, but he did. He could do what I couldn’t. It was simple, at first. All he asked for was a small thing. The necklace I wore. It was just a trinket, and I couldn’t get it off my neck and into his hands fast enough. He did what he promised, and the king let me live. But your royal grandfather wasn’t done with me. Greedy, now that he had a room full of gold where only straw had been before, he shoved me in another room filled with straw—bigger, this time—and demanded I turn all of that into gold as well. Again, I thought that I was doomed, but again, the imp appeared, offering to do the deed so that I might live. This time, the price was a little harder to part with. The ring I wore.” She smiled sadly. “It had been my mother’s. But it still wasn’t worth refusing when it would cost me my life. I yanked it from my finger, and he spun the straw. I hoped that would be the end of it. But it wasn’t.

  “The king put me i
n another room, even bigger than the last. I was told he’d make me a queen if I succeeded one last time. The consequences if I were to fail remained the same. I’d die. I remember thinking the life he promised wasn’t much better. I’d be marrying a monster. But gods, despite knowing the life that awaited me, I wanted to live. And the imp told me he could make sure that happened. If I just promised him my firstborn child.”

  Her child.

  All of my anger suddenly flew away as though my rage had been a balloon, and my mother had just neatly punctured it with a pin.

  I understood now. I understood why she was always so afraid for me, that some terrible tragedy would befall me.

  I may not have been borne of her body, but I had never thought that I wasn’t her child. And all my life, she had had a reason to believe I was in danger.

  Would I have behaved so very differently if it was Fae’s life at stake? I wasn’t sure that I would.

  “At the time, I didn’t have any children to be concerned about. And I certainly hoped that if I married the king, I’d be able to figure out a way not to conceive his children.” She shuddered a little, her thoughts clearly back in that time, back with the girl she used to be. “I agreed. He did it again.” Her expression brightened a little. “But it wasn’t your grandfather they intended for me, but your father.” For the first time in the telling of this story, a true smile graced her face. “Prince Bennet was good and kind. And even if it meant I’d be related to his father, I considered myself lucky to be marrying him. And we grew to love each other easily over that first year of marriage.”

  My heart swelled. My parents were quiet together, but the love between them was evident and genuine. It was nice to hear that had been the case from the beginning.