The Enchanted Kingdoms (Haunting Fairytales Book 1) Read online

  R. L. WEEKS

  Books by R. l. Weeks

  Haunting Fairytales Series

  The Enchanted Kingdoms (Book one)

  Journey to Neverland (Book two)

  Into the Myth Series

  Into the Myth (Book one)

  Horror stories

  One Way Out

  See No Evil

  You’re Next

  Struck Three

  Anthologies

  Once Upon a Cursed Time

  The Unforgiven

  Christmas Nightmares

  For Sammie

  Acknowledgments

  A special thank you to my beta readers. You have all helped me shape this book to be the best it can be. I appreciate your continuous enthusiasm and hard work.

  Rohan Foster; thank you for giving me my happily ever after.

  Dylan & Tate, you boys are my inspiration. I hope you both have happily ever after’s, and that your lives are filled with so much magic, love, and happiness.

  To John, Dad, Sammie, Truman, and the rest of my family and friends, thank you for your support and enthusiasm.

  To the amazing book bloggers & reviewers who have read the collection!

  And as always, thank you to my AWESOME readers.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual events, or locales or persons, living or dead are entirely coincidental.

  Cover designer: Custom Cover Designs

  Edited by: YCES editing

  Published by Vamptasy Publishing

  R. l. Weeks © 2016

  All rights reserved

  Second Edition

  Contents

  FROG PRINCE

  MAGIC HAIR

  DOPEY

  PRINCESS MARY

  LOVE CAN KILL

  ENCHANTRESS

  PLAYING WITH FATE

  LOST

  THE ROSE

  MARKED

  CASTLE OF HEARTS

  TRUTHS

  MEETING BELLE

  STRANGE FLUTTERS

  THE DANCE

  THE KISS

  POWER ABOVE ALL

  PRINCE EDWARD

  MERLIN

  STILT’S DEAL

  PAWNS

  THE EVIL QUEEN

  ISABEL

  SNOW WHITE

  DEAL?

  ALONE

  APPLES

  SHELLS

  SECRETS

  HOME

  SEVEN DWARVES

  RED

  CURSES

  DEATH

  SLAIN

  URSULA

  THE PLAN

  EXPLORING

  TRUE LOVE’S KISS

  ERIC

  THE KING’S DOWNFALL

  CHANGES

  LOVE SHATTERED

  HUMAN

  MORAL COMPASS

  CHOOSING SIDES

  MASQUERADE

  HAPPILY, EVER AFTER?

  GOODBYES

  AS COLD AS SNOW

  MIRROR ON THE WALL

  THE SNOW QUEEN

  SWORD OF SOULS

  THROWN TO THE WOLVES

  MAKE A WISH

  Map of Cantata

  There are nine enchanted kingdoms in the land of Cantata.

  Northmanni, Colomorgh, Milborn, Forosh, Sirani, Agrabah, Dolorom, Fainland, and Tilan.

  FROG PRINCE

  Edward croaked and looked down at his disgusting slimy feet. Soon, he hoped, he would be a prince again and no longer a frog. He sat on the palace wall in the fine Kingdom of Colomorgh. Not the biggest kingdom of them all, but it was full of riches. King Stefan was widely known for being the most ruthless king of them all and that was possibly why Edward admired him the most. Still, Colomorgh was nothing compared to Edward’s Kingdom, Dolorom, which was the richest and biggest Kingdom on Cantata.

  The princess, Rapunzel, was in the palace gardens playing with a small dog. Her hair reached down to her ankles, and she spun around, throwing a small red ball to the fluffy dog. It jumped into the pond, splashing the princess, who just laughed. Edward groaned and hopped down the groves in the wall until he was among the grass. The dog was called back inside by an old woman. Rapunzel started to walk inside too.

  This was possibly his only chance to get his freedom back; at least in this decade. Who else would kiss him more easily than a princess with a secret that she wanted to be kept hidden?

  ‘Wait,’ Edward called out. The princess turned and looked around confused. ‘Down here,’ he shouted as he hopped over to her feet.

  The Princess kneeled, blinking repeatedly. ‘You can talk,’ she said, stating the improbable fact. ‘Frogs can’t talk, yet here you are, talking.’

  If he could roll his eyes, he would. ‘Yes, yes. Look, I have a deal to strike with you. I have been watching you.’

  Her eyebrows shot up. ‘You’ve been doing what?’

  ‘Sorry,’ he mumbled. ‘I had to work out what you would want in exchange for…’ he paused and croaked, ‘well, for a kiss.’

  Her big, blue eyes widened. ‘You want me to kiss you? Why?’

  ‘I’m cursed,’ he admitted. ‘I know you don’t want to marry a prince. I saw you with your true love, the one you can’t be with.’

  ‘You saw? You mustn’t tell a soul,’ she gasped. ‘Please, if Father found that I am…’

  ‘I won’t tell,’ he interrupted. ‘I understand, in fact, I think it’s sweet. However, you must marry a prince, yes?’

  She nodded and frowned. ‘Unfortunately, I must. If not, I will never become Queen. Father will choose my cousin, who is just as horrible as my father. The Kingdom will never know a fair ruler. Father will never accept me for who I am.’

  He nodded. ‘Daddy issues, I get it. So, here is what I have to offer,’ he said. ‘If you kiss me, I will turn back into a Prince. I am also in love with someone else,’ he lied.

  ‘So we can have just a mutually beneficial relationship. I must marry a princess to appease my mother and father. We can both be with who we love and remain married to unite our kingdoms. We can talk about the details later. So, are you in princess?’ he asked. ‘Also, Rapunzel,’ he said before she could answer. ‘If you do accept, we should probably provide just one heir,’ he said, trying to sound convincing.

  He had chosen this opportune moment to offer her this deal. Now that her lover had left, he could finally get her at her most naïve.

  Rapunzel leant forwards and placed her hand on the grass. Edward hopped onto her hand. She brought him up to her face. ‘You better be telling me the truth,’ she warned.

  Edward laughed. ‘Why would I lie? Do you not want to see your true love again?’

  She took a deep breath and brought him closer to her lips. ‘I would do anything. Okay, so just one kiss, right?’

  He nodded. ‘Right.’

  Her lips brushed against the frog. Her expression twisted into one of disgust as she felt the slimy feel of his skin against her soft, thin lips. He croaked one final time and jumped off her hand, landing on the grass just in time.

  Green mist swirled in hypnotising patterns as the shape of the frog grew larger, morphing into the shape of a handsome, athletic man.

  As he grew taller, Rapu
nzel grew smaller. She looked down at her hands and screamed. She had turned into a frog. She looked up at the Prince distraught. ‘What have you done?’

  He shrugged. ‘Sorry love, better you than I. I needed a princess to kiss me, and you were a perfect target. You’ll probably need to find a prince to kiss you now, so yeah, good luck. It took me years to get a kiss.’

  She hopped after him as he turned to walk away. ‘I will tell my parents! They will hunt you down!’ Edward turned and scratched his neat beard.

  He pondered as Rapunzel hopped around pathetically, trying to shout for the guards. ‘You’re right,’ he said and swiped his hand through the air. She felt her voice leave her throat and when she tried to talk, nothing came out but croaks. ‘You’ll get your voice back once you turn into a human again, which will probably never happen,’ he admitted, pressing his lips together. ‘Well, I have my Kingdom to go back too. I haven’t seen it for so long.’ He looked down at his naked body and conjured up some riding boots, black trousers, and a white and gold jacket, and a sword in its scabbard.

  He felt the warmth run back up his arm as the magic faded and he was dressed as a prince once more. He didn’t have a lot of magic left and would need to be careful with it until he could find a way to get more.

  The annoying thing about being a sorcerer, unless you’re Merlin, is that you only have a certain amount of power. Edward didn’t go by the rules, which meant his powers drained fast.

  He stretched his legs out, feeling the wonder of being able to walk again as a man and strutted off, leaving poor Rapunzel hopping desperately after him.

  He lost her as he hurried outside the palace, heading for the nearest Inn so he could find some poor soul to con into helping him get home. Edward decided to sail home instead of using magic to transport himself there so he could save what magic he had left to find more once back in Dolorom.

  Three days passed as Edward enjoyed his newly found freedom, drinking until late. He had managed to secure a horse and cart to take him down to the docks early in the morning. He was lucky to find a man who would help him, an old Merchant called Thomas, who fortunately for him had his own ship.

  Thomas brought Edward over another drink and sat down at the wooden table.

  Everyone in the room was rowdy, sloshing ale down their throats. ‘Thanks,’ Edward said and took the drink. ‘I will send you gold coins when I return to Dolorom.’

  Thomas ran his hand through his thick grey hair and drank some of his ale.

  ‘I do not want gold. However, my daughter is single and lonely. I was hoping you could perhaps find her a good suitor in your fine kingdom?’

  Edward pressed his lips together. ‘Is she attractive?’

  ‘Beautiful,’ Thomas replied.

  Edward smirked and drank the last of his drink. Of course, the old man would say his daughter is beautiful. He examined the man's wrinkled complexion. He wasn’t bad looking for his age, but he wasn’t conventionally handsome either. If she looked like anything like him, then it would be hard for him to find her a husband. In Dolorom there were far too many exceedingly attractive or filthy rich women looking for husbands.

  ‘If,’ Edward pointed out, ‘she is not as beautiful as the ladies in my Kingdom and with being a daughter of a Merchant with no title, it is unlikely that I would find a wealthy man with a title to wed her,’ Edward admitted.

  The old man leant forwards. ‘She is called Griselda.’ He showed Edward a picture of his daughter. As he thought, she was average, nothing special.

  ‘I have four daughters, yet I worry about Griselda the most. My other daughters, especially Belle, would have no problem finding a husband. So, can you help me? This is the condition in which I help you get back to your Kingdom.’

  ’I will find her a husband,’ Edward lied. ‘You have my word.’ He shook the old man’s hand and left to go to bed. It would be a long day tomorrow and he was excited to return home after all this time.

  Since his former partner Lori cursed him, he had wandered the forests trying to find a way to become human once more. Then he found a witch, Gertrude, who tampered with the curse so any kiss could turn him back into a prince after Lori had left him with the ‘only true love's kiss can break the curse’ out of spite.

  After all, he said he loved her. Lori, Queen of Passion and Princess of Forosh. He could not see how it was his fault. After all, Lori was beautiful in her own right, but one of her ladies was much more beautiful and that was what mattered. He had wondered all this time how she could stay so angry? Did Lori honestly expect him, the most handsome prince in all the lands to stay loyal to someone as average as her?

  ***

  The following morning, Edward awoke to a most peculiar, yet horrifyingly familiar feeling.

  He was surrounded by darkness and felt strangely cold. He moved and felt the sheet under his slimy webbed hands.

  He had somehow turned back into a frog.

  Cheers erupted from the hallway. ‘The princess has returned,’ one man shouted cheerily. Edward gulped.

  Another man spoke outside Edward’s room. ‘She’s telling everyone that she was turned into a frog. Can you believe it? Wherever she disappeared to, it clearly made her loopy.’ Edward gulped and hopped off the bed.

  If anyone did believe Rapunzel’s unlikely story, then there would be a hunt for him. Not caring for his magic supply, which would be useless if he were dead, he made himself vanish just as Thomas opened the door to take Edward down to the docks.

  Edward reappeared outside of Gertrude’s candy cottage and hopped onto the gingerbread windowsill. The haggard woman that he had dealt with before was sat in front of a pile of small bones and a roaring fire.

  ‘Come in,’ she said, noticing his presence. He hopped through the open window.

  ‘I need your help,’ he admitted.

  She smirked. ‘After all this time you still can’t find anyone to kiss you?’

  ‘I did,’ he said. ‘A princess. It didn’t work. You promised it would work!’

  She scraped the rest of the meat from one of the small bones and stood up. ‘You obviously didn’t do it properly.’

  ‘How can anyone get a kiss wrong?’ he asked, feeling frustrated. ‘We had a deal. I led those kids to you,’ he said, feeling a little sick to his stomach. ‘Killing isn’t beneath me, but they were just children.’

  She cackled. ‘They were delicious. Thank you.’

  He hopped on to her oak table. ‘Put this right!’

  She rolled her eyes, grabbed her cane and made her way over to the bubbling cauldron.

  ‘Fine, I will. I may have left out some important ingredients. I will try something new,’ she said, hunching over the cauldron.

  Edward laid out on the table, stretching his legs, basking in the warm glow of the sun that filled through the window.

  He could hear clanking from the kitchen followed by a smash. ‘Clumsy fool!’ Gertrude said to the closed door. Edward figured it must a servant and laid back down.

  Green and orange smoke swirled up from the cauldron that she worked on. Gertrude wiped the sweat from her forehead with her tattered sleeve. ‘It is done,’ she exclaimed, filling a tiny phial with orange liquid. She handed the phial to the Edward who gulped it down in one.

  Gertrude grinned. ‘The next time you kiss a princess, you will turn back into a man permanently.’

  He looked up at her annoyed. ‘I’ve heard that before.’

  She slammed her fist down on the table. ‘It will work,’ she promised. ‘I always fulfil my deals.’

  ‘You better,’ he warned. ‘I will be leaving then. I have another princess to find and trick, which will take me another year at the least. Thanks a lot.’

  Gertrude huffed and walked toward the kitchen. ‘Wait here. I have someone who can help you.’ When she returned, she was accompanied by a handsome man with a wide jaw and small brown eyes.

  ‘This is Henry,’ she said. ‘He is my servant, and now, he is yours.’ She looked a
t Henry. ‘Henry, the talking frog is called Edward. He is a prince. You will help him to find a princess to kiss. You are free from my charm binding you here.’

  Henry arched his tangled eyebrow and looked at Edward. ‘You don’t eat kids too, do you?’

  Edward glanced at Gertrude with disgust then looked back at Henry. ‘No, I’m not that sick.’

  ‘Thank God,’ Henry breathed.

  Edward hopped onto the windowsill and turned to Gertrude. ‘How do I know he will help me?’

  She cackled. ‘I’d hoped you’d ask that.’ She took a dusty phial from one of the rickety shelves and handed it to Henry. ‘Be a dear and take this, if you wish to be free from me, that is.’

  Henry begrudgingly took the potion and clutched at his chest as if he were having a heart attack. ‘Now,’ Gertrude said. ‘He has a sadness coiled around his heart for you. It will only break once your curse is permanently broken. I have been waiting to use that potion for a long time.’

  ‘Interesting potion,’ Edward said.

  She grinned, loving the acknowledgement of how powerful she is. ‘It takes a lot of skill to make one, but it was easy for me.’

  Henry walked over to the door and grabbed Edward from the windowsill, sitting him onto his hand. ‘Let’s go,’ Edward said.

  ‘Oh,’ Gertrude called after them. ‘Before I forget.’

  Edward turned. ‘What?’

  Gertrude sat back in front of the fire. ‘You must kill the girl you kiss when she is a frog.’

  ‘You left that part out!’ he snapped.

  She cackled. ‘Well, you were once a Sorcerer Prince with no heart. We both know that killing innocents isn’t beneath you.’

  ‘Suppose,’ he replied.

  She laughed. ‘Were you trying to turn over a new leaf?’ she asked. ‘Get it, frogs, lily-pads?’

  Henry opened the door and Edward looked back at Gertrude for hopefully the last time. ‘Worst. Joke. Ever,’ he replied, annoyed.

  ‘Good luck, little Prince,’ she called out before Henry slammed the gingerbread door behind them, making crumbs fall onto the sticky candy mat below.