• Home
    • About Us
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Ghostwriting
    • Editing
    • Critiques
    • Formatting
    • My Byline
    • Testimonials
  • Free Reads
  • Reviews
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact
HEN HOUSE PUBLISHING
  • Home
    • About Us
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Ghostwriting
    • Editing
    • Critiques
    • Formatting
    • My Byline
    • Testimonials
  • Free Reads
  • Reviews
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact

Hens Lay Eggs

food for thought

"What price will you pay?" #MFRWhooks

7/8/2020

 

The Diamond Gate

Picture
Every night for two years, seven sisters—princesses all—walked beneath silver trees hung with jeweled fruit, crossed a still black lake, and danced to liquid music with their faerie suitors. Every night for two years, their shoes collapsed and kept the city's cobblers busy.

His schemes for political and trade alliances thwarted by his daughters' nightly disappearances, the royal duke of Nuygenie invited royalty and aristocrats from far and wide to solve the mystery and win the hand of a princess. They came and they failed.

Then a common soldier, aged by war and years, thought to try his luck and improve his circumstances. A kindness to an old hag resulted in a magic cloak of invisibility and excellent advice that he put to good use to break the enchantment that held the princesses in thrall to their fey suitors.

Rejoicing, the duke elevated the soldier to serve as his general, so that the man might have rank befitting his royal bride. General Miles Carrow chose the eldest sister, Aurora, and wondered at the emptiness of their betrothal. 
​
The duke then cemented other political and trade alliances with the blood of his other children: Crown Prince Eric, Prince Ascendant Jonathan, Princesses Rose, Pearl, Celeste, Grace, Lily, and Hope. The two youngest princes, Roderick and Simon, were yet too young to be married off as benefited Nuygenie.

The passage beneath was blocked and sealed with iron. The sisters did not discuss all they had lost. No one ever asked them if they had even wanted to be rescued.

This is the story after the faerie tale.
Available on Kindle Unlimited 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01E0V73T0 ​

Excerpt 

“I am not entirely certain,” she replied soberly, thoughtfully. “You see, she loved him, loves him still.”
“Him?”
“The faerie prince who held her in his arms every night. He was exceedingly handsome, wealthy, and witty. He made her laugh and paid her compliments.”
“And you? Did you love your faerie prince?”
The question was rudely bold and he had no leave to pry. However, she forgave the intrusion and favored him with a pained look and an honest reply. “I did, but now I am not so sure.”
He glanced at his fiancée and back at his dance partner. “I do not have fine, sweet words.”
“We may be princesses, but that does not mean we expect a soldier to speak like a courtier,” she replied with a little grin more genuine than anything that had crossed her face the entire evening. “Above all, remember that a princess is still a woman. Treat Aurora like a thinking, feeling woman and she may look favorably upon you.”
Did such emotional creatures really think, he wondered. Aloud, he asked, “Do you really believe so? I’d not cause her anguish, but neither will I let her fancies destroy my future.”
The princess looked him bravely and boldly in the eyes and he was startled to notice they were the deep, dark green of forest moss. She had not missed the glint of determination and ambition in his eyes, nor did she fault him for it. “I do not believe she will ever love you, but she may begin to like you and with that you must be content.”
Rose’s stark pragmatism shocked him. Were not all young, pretty aristocratic ladies silly with romantic fancies such as sung by balladeers? Did they not spend their idle hours embroidering fine tapestries and finer love stories of heroism and handsome princes? And was he not the subject of one of those very ballads, one of those very heroes, if not so young and handsome?
“We’re not as frivolous as we may seem,” she commented quietly, correctly interpreting his silence. “And we understand that our privileges and comforts cost us.”
The music drew to a close, but he continued the conversation as they walked slowly back to the sisters.
“And what price will you pay?” he inquired.
Janet link
7/8/2020 01:16:28 pm

Interesting scene and kind of sad


Comments are closed.

    Share!

    Picture

    Author

    Hard boiled, scrambled, over easy, and sunny side up: eggs are the musings of Holly Bargo, the pseudonym for the author.

    Follow
    Karen (Holly)

    Blog Swaps
    View Guest Author Posts
    Looking for a place to swap blogs? Holly Bargo at Hen House Publishing is happy to reciprocate Blog Swaps in 2019.
    For more information: 
    Email Us

    Get Your Copy of
    Hen House Publishing Blog via Email:

    Delivered by FeedBurner


    Categories

    All
    Books By Holly Bargo
    Egg Reviews
    Events
    Guest Author
    Interviews
    Mfrw
    Mfrwauthor
    #MFRWHooks
    Reviews
    #SpringfieldOHBookFair
    Status
    #WinterBookFair

    Share

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

HOME | ABOUT US | SERVICES | PORTFOLIO | TESTIMONIALS | BOOK CATALOG | FREE READS | BLOG | EVENTS | CONTACT
Copyright © 2015 - 2023
  • Home
    • About Us
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Ghostwriting
    • Editing
    • Critiques
    • Formatting
    • My Byline
    • Testimonials
  • Free Reads
  • Reviews
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact