Im putting the finishing touches on my next Fancytale The Reluctant Princess which should be published sometime late tonight. Heres an excerpt from the beginning when Helena and Simeon first meet as children -- Can you guess which fairy tale it is based on? Inside the room where the duke of Blackthorpes children took their lessons each morning and afternoon, Simeon raised his head the moment he heard the door open. It was her, the quiet, shy girl his father had introduced earlier. She had been polite to them, of course, but he had noted some distraction pulled at her attention far more than her meeting with him and his father had done. Not that he cared, particularly. She was a girl, after all, and so he had merely nodded in her direction before following a servant here to the dukes childrens schoolroom, where his father had instructed him to practice his letters until the girls brothers arrived. But now, here she was again and he did not know why. He tensed, suspicious, and when she stepped aside to reveal a trio of girls behind her, he drew up even more. Girls made him nervous, even in his own homeland, but here, where he did not even fully grasp the language, Simeon knew any dealings with them would be much worse. He did not speak. Rather, he waited for the purpose of their interruption to reveal itself. He did not have long to wait. “Your Highness, allow me to present the ladies Melisande, Arabella, and Diane,” the girl he knew to be Helena said before bobbing a quick curtsey. “Merry, Bella, Di, this is His Royal Highness, Prince Simeon Gustav Mikhail Peitroc – prince and heir to the throne of Kozla.” Simeon could feel his face reddening. What were the English words his father had given him for such introductions? He could not recall. The nervous flutters in his belly which were even now causing his palms to sweat had erased the memory from his thoughts as surely as the drawing cloth would the chalk from the writing board he held. “Merry greet, ladies,” he finally offered with a hesitant nod and the tallest of the three girls standing behind the daughter of his host erupted in a fit of girlish giggles. “Merry greet? What sort of welcome is that?” She disdainfully eyed him from between narrowed lids. “A prince, you say, Helena? He is a fat one, what?” Simeon pinned her with his own narrowed gaze and drew up to his full height, all three feet and eleven inches of it, and then held his silence, suddenly afraid anything he said would merely give the vicious girl more ammunition with which to ridicule him. At the same time, Helena turned on her friends, but not before he saw the pitying look in her eyes. It angered him. He may well be a child at present but he was still a prince, destined someday to be king, and he would not allow this group of tiny females to belittle him. He was not deserving of their pity. Drawing in a breath to tell them exactly that, Simeon realized, belatedly, that he had not the precise words in their language with which to deliver his important speech. To try would only add to their amusement and he refused to pour fuel upon that fire. He bit down upon his tongue, hard, but not before the beginnings of his set down escaped in his own language – a choked, guttural gush of anger and embarrassment. The two more timid of the trio of girls lowered their eyes and hid their giggles behind their quickly raised hands, but not so the taller, outspoken one with red hair. Her laughter sputtered into the quiet of the room, making Simeon feel as if he were shrinking somehow in the face of her cruel humor. “He garbles like a toad, Helena! Are you quite certain he is a prince?” Stepping closer, the red-haired girl reached out and grabbed his hand and Simeon blushed ever more hotly for he knew she would find it clammy to the touch. “How is he to rule a kingdom when he cannot even speak?” “Melisande, please. He is a stranger to our country and thus is unfamiliar with our language. You are being ru-” Helena started, a plea in her eyes, but the other girl cut her off. “Rude? I think not. How is it even possible to act in an ill-mannered fashion when one is speaking to a frog?” Releasing his fingers, the girl Helena had called Melisande wiped her now damp hand against her skirts, her disgust at having touched his hand showing clearly on her face before she opted to poke him in the chest. With one finger, she jabbed at him, accentuating each word as she said, “A big, fat, dumb, slimy toad!” “Melisande, girls, your mothers are waiting in the drawing room below,” a womans voice called from the doorway of the schoolroom who, judging by her clothing, Simeon decided must be the childrens governess. The girl, Melisande, snatched her finger from his chest, her demeanor now one of a contrite, dutiful child, and turned to address the woman. “Yes, Miss Nellie.” The trio of girls filed out of the room behind the governess but Helena, he noticed, held back, allowing her friends to precede her from the room. “I shall be along in a moment,” she promised the woman and her friends and Simeon felt the muscles in his abdomen pull taut. A cold sense of dread filled him. Why did she not leave with the others? “I-I should like to apologize, Simeon, for Melisande. The things she said were quite hurtful and completely uncalled for and I am ashamed on her behalf.” Barely understanding her rushed spate of words, Simeon said nothing. “I think you are rather astute,” she offered. “At the very least shrewd enough to realize Melisande was merely being spiteful because you had my attention and not her.” Without warning, she leaned in and pressed her lips against the softness of his cheek. “Such intelligence will make you a fine prince someday.” Before Simeon could gather his wits enough to say aught or even to push her away, Helena whirled about on her heels and rushed out of the room. He wondered at her motives. What kind of girl would dare to kiss a fat, slimy toad of a boy when her friends quite obviously considered him beneath their notice or regard, prince or no? The thought that she might not regard him with the same level of disdain made his cheeks burn and his tummy ache...and it was a feeling he never would forget.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 12:30:11 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015