Sleeping Beauty (Not Quite the Fairy Tale Book 7)(10)

Marina had worn an artifact meant to deflect any spell cast on her; a trinket created by an amateur, or at least, someone who’d never rival Mal in affairs of magic.

Her spell didn’t spare Marina but it nonetheless spread to those around her. Namely, Rupert and Aurora, who’d been in his arms at the time.

“What have I done,” Mal cried.

She tried to undo her spell. Tried and tried again. Yet it remained, hanging over their heads.

She’d played with words. Next time you get a prick to satisfy your selfish desires, you’ll die, said she.

Marina valued her life enough to stop seeing her lovers, but still, they fell. Rupert wasn’t sure how.

By that time, Mal had altered the spell; they weren’t going to die, she said, just sleep until came a time when they could be safely reawakened. “I’ll not rest until I know how to beat my curse; that I promise you.” And she assured him that she’d take necessary steps so that their bodies wouldn’t fall to the trials of time.

So, she’d frozen them.

The curse had still been upon them - he should have fallen right back into his endless slumber, and yet, here he was. Rupert would ask Mal, of course, but there was little doubt in his mind that the scientist had used Love’s First Kiss.

There were different sorts of love: the kind one felt for a parent or a child, for a sovereign, or a man. Aurora loved the idea of her King and that had been enough. He couldn’t count on the same trick functioning on his daughter, though. His own kiss wouldn’t do either; he’d dropped his lips on her forehead, or her cheeks, plenty of times. The only kiss with real power was the very first.

Still, now that he was conscious, he wouldn’t rest until his daughter breathed. For she was his, despite the fact that his blood didn’t run in her veins.

They had other problems in the meantime.

“You’ve served me well, Rory,” said he, because it wouldn’t do to use his child’s name on a woman who looked like this. “But brace yourself. The Council will come for you.” There would be no forgiving her betrayal. “They’ll come for us both.”





Chapter 8





A New era





Aurora nervously ran her hands on her skirts, hoping that her sweaty palms wouldn’t leave a mark. The King’s plan had been sound - indeed, the only sane course of action, but she bit her lips nonetheless, her heart full of what ifs. It could go wrong. In fact, it probably would. And even if everything went perfectly as they hoped, what then? What of her? Her entire world was going to be swept into oblivion.

Still, she went, keeping her head down and ignoring the whispers around her.

They all wondered who’d called the meeting. At first, they’d assumed it was her father, the only man with the authority and means to push the red button in his valise. The fingerprint recognition software validated the identity of the Regent before connecting to the network of noblemen of Ferren and letting him summon them.

Ferren had always been a few steps ahead of the rest of the world, when it came to matters of science. One of the many reasons why no one had stepped into the King’s rooms since his fall. They couldn’t. Each night, a system locked his apartments - and more importantly, his office - and no one but him, or his named heir could have access to it. Retinal recognition. The technology was a hundred years old but it still worked quite well.

They’d moved between the walls, taking secret passages Aurora had never known of, until they’d arrived in front of The Red Door. A door she’d passed a thousand times. Seeing it open in front of her made her heart tighten in her chest. She was witnessing history.

His rooms were dusty; spiders and rats had taken residence in the silver and blue royal quarters, eating at the curtains, and crapping on the floor. It was also quite cold and smelled dreadful.

“You can’t sleep here,” said she, holding her hand over her nose.

“Nor do I intend to.” He’d seemed quite indifferent to the disastrous surroundings, moving in his familiar apartments until he’d reached his desk. He sat on the chair, sharing it with a large spider that made Aurora take three steps back.

Rupert smiled.

“I didn’t take you for a faint of heart, Rory.”

So, apparently, the Rory thing was staying. She wasn’t sure what to make of it. Had she ever had a nickname? None that she could recall.

“It has eight legs,” she simply stated. No other explanation was necessary. Spiders were the devil.

“Ah. Fear not, we won’t remain long.”

Rupert touched something under the empty desk, and a secret compartment opened up. He pulled out an antediluvian laptop, and its charger.

He then got up and walked to her. The King had remained at a reasonable distance until then, but he stepped right in her personal space, as though he belonged there. Her heart stopped when his hand brushed on her shoulder, close to her neck. Aurora blushed.

Then he stepped back and she knew what he’d just done.

“Don’t tell me I had a spider on me.”

She was going to feel sick. And embarrassed. But mostly sick.

“I won’t tell you,” he replied, amused. “We should have what we need. Let us go.”

Go where, she could have asked, but she knew.

The King couldn’t exactly get out of the palace and walk to check into an inn tonight. She bit her lip.