Millissa Read online

  “You are quiet,” murmured the King.

  “Yes, and afraid, sire.”

  “Are you a maid?”

  Millissa blushed and nodded.

  “Then I will be gentle with you this first time.”

  Something in her stomach twisted, and she knew that there could be no first time. Not unless she wanted to have her corn ground every day by this brute of a man. She closed her eyes and rested her head against his arm, which seemed to please him, as he made a satisfied grunt and picked up his pace.

  The room he brought her to smelled of rancid wine. Its ceiling was high and the walls stone blocks, decorated with the mounted heads of animals. A fire roared in the hearth, and opposite was an ornate four-poster in mahogany wood.

  King Donovan threw Millissa onto a bed with an unusually hard mattress. Sweat-scented air, sharp as spoiled onions, wafted from the sheets. It made her sneeze.

  “Lift your skirts.” The King loomed over her, a gleam in his eyes that made Millissa’s stomach lurch.

  She scrambled upright and off the bed. “Your Majesty—”

  “Donovan.”

  “King Donovan, I have something to tell you.”

  “You’re not a maiden after all?” He unclasped his cape and let it drop. “That matters not to me.”

  “It’s about the gold.”

  “I told you, no one I don’t implicitly trust knows about your sorcery.” He grinned and advanced on her, wiggling his large, stubby fingers. “Get back on the bed.”

  “I didn’t do it!”

  He stopped, heavy brows furrowed. “What are you talking about, girl?”

  “Yesterday, when you locked me in the room with all that straw, I summoned an imp.” Millissa flinched at the King’s thunderous expression, but she forced herself to continue. “It agreed to spin the gold for me under one condition.”

  He bared his blunt, yellow teeth. “And what was that?”

  “That I would be with child as soon as the marriage was consummated, and it would take both my life and the baby in repayment for the gold.”

  “What?” he roared.

  Millissa shrank into the wall, bracing herself for the inevitable blows, but they did not come. The King grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her up. Then he placed her gently on the bed and stared into her eyes.

  “I do not believe you. This is an excuse.”

  She shook her head, terrified that she would betray herself under the King’s glare.

  “Then summon the imp now and have it vouch for you.”

  “I cannot, Sire. It can only be summoned once by each person.”

  He let go and walked to the wall where his weapons hung. The King selected a dagger and pierced his thumb. “Use my blood to draw the runes.”

  She stood, and on shaky legs, approached the King. Blood oozed onto his cupped palm, and she drew the runes on the wall.

  “I will show you how to deal with such creatures, and then, we will consummate our union. Tell me the chant to bring forth the imp.”

  She got him to repeat the words Donkeyskin had taught her. When he finished, he pulled the broadsword from the wall.

  But no imp appeared.

  King Donovan turned to her, his eyes flashing with mirth. “You are a saucy little jackal indeed. For a moment, I thought you really had bound yourself to the creature, but it looks like I’m going to show you—”

  A high-pitched maniacal laugh echoed around the room. Both Millissa and the King turned to the source of the sound. The imp jumped on the bed, pumping its little fists in triumph. “Thanks, Your Majesties! I am free at last and yelling, for I’ve been summoned by the master of this dwelling!”

  “Get off my bed, imp, and tell me the nature of the bargain you made with my wife.”

  The imp hopped to the ground, its smile unnaturally wide. “I cannot say, sire, I will not tell, for an imp’s boons are secret under spell.”

  “In the name of the King,” he bellowed, “I order you to reveal the boon you made with my Queen.”

  The imp narrowed its eyes. “I will tell you soon, when you take my boon.”

  “I will make no deals with an abominable creature.”

  It waggled its finger. “Do not insult an imp, you stinking, overgrown chimp.”

  The King roared and raised its broadsword and cleaved the creature into two. Millissa screamed and clutched her chest. She could not believe the King had bested the creature. Her eyes filled with tears.

  King Donovan rested his broadsword on his shoulder and smirked. “Come here, wife.”

  Millissa stared at the two bleeding halves of the imp. It seemed so unfair that after witnessing the murder of its mother, it would be killed by the very same man who ordered her death. The King growled his displeasure, making Millissa jump. She turned from the imp’s remains and stepped toward her new husband.

  “Did you think you could get rid of me? Strike again and make us three!” The two halves turned into two new imps.

  The sword swung again, cleaving the new copy in half. Instead of its halves lying on the ground, two imps stood next to the original, giggling.

  “How do I banish the creature?”

  Millissa shook her head. “I have no idea, sire.”

  “If you correctly guess our name, I will return from whence we came!”

  The King turned to Millissa, and she shrugged. His lip curled, and he raised his sword over her head. Millissa cringed away as he swung it downward, but the sword dropped, and the man fell to his knees clutching his chest.

  “Stupid Donovan, the usurper King, You must have known what that would bring!”

  “It appears that the boon I made with my previous wife really does extend to you,” he said, between panting breaths. “Of all the conniving…” He grimaced. “I cannot even insult you.”

  Millissa glanced at one of the imps, who winked.

  “Get out of my sight,” said the King.

  Millissa ran out of the room, relief lightening her steps. One of the imps scampered after her wearing a huge grin.

  “Did you really split in two?” she whispered.

  The imp waggled its finger. “That, sweet belle, I will never tell.”

  “Why are you speaking in rhymes all of a sudden?”

  “Annoying, isn’t it?”

  She nodded, and they laughed together. “You could have at least told me you wanted to trick the King into summoning you.”

  The imp grinned. “If I had outlined my entire plan, you would have looked too confident, and the King would never have taken such a foolish action as to summon me himself.”

  “And what if I hadn’t thought of the lie?”

  “Then your stupidity would have bought you a lifetime of sleeping with that oaf. A fitting punishment, yes?”

  Millissa pressed her lips together and suppressed an angry response. Without the imp’s help, she would either have been executed for being a disobedient witch or turned over for the hunt.

  “Where are you going?” it asked.

  “To the wedding feast. I have one more score to settle.”

  The imp nodded and vanished.

  Millissa strode down the hallway, her head high. From this moment on, she would not be a victim, not to Father, not to random bullies in the village, and certainly not to her new husband. The guards bowed as she entered the banquet hall.

  Father sat at the head of a table filled with Soldiers of Fortune. He held aloft a goblet of red wine and stopped speaking as soon as he spotted Millissa.

  “Do continue, Father. I believe there’s one story you have not yet told.”

  His wine-stained lips parted. “What do you mean? And where is the King?”

  “Donovan’s busy at the moment, but he sent me down to thank our guests.” She took her seat on the smaller of the two thrones. “Tell them of my true parentage, and why I resemble the late Queen Acacia.”

  Father stumbled over the explanation, stammering so much, no one could make sense of what he said.
/>   “Speak up. There’s no shame in being cuckolded by a King. Even if Donovan was incapable of exercising it, droit de seigneur is legal within this land.”

  The room fell to a hush, and Father slammed down his goblet and snarled. “You’re no daughter of mine!”

  Millissa chuckled. “That’s right. I am King October’s daughter.” She glanced at Father who was clenching and unclenching his fists. “Tell them what you did to my mother.”

  “Nothing she didn’t deserve.”

  “You poisoned her because she was pregnant with a second child by the King.”

  Shocked chatters broke out among the soldiers, and the guards exchanged confused glances.

  “Take him away.”

  Father screamed at Millissa all the way down to the dungeon, but for once, she was unmoved by his plight. Now with him out of the way, and the King unable to harm her, directly or indirectly through the boon, there was one more person she needed to find.

  Millissa searched high and low for Donkeyskin. The younger girl was not in the kitchens or skulking near the dungeons, and every servant she’d asked claimed not to even know about her. Even Captain Sprout denied ever having known any young girl of that name.

  Still she continued to search. Millissa did not believe she had imagined Donkeyskin in her desperation, and there was only one place in the grounds she had not searched: the old palace.

  Chapter 6

  Millissa took a lantern out of the building and traveled across the courtyard to where the paving stones ended. The moon shone through the clouds, bathing Majesty Mount in dim light, while the bronze palace glinted like a half-tarnished kettle. She tramped on the overgrown lawn, piles of dead leaves crunching underfoot. Loose paving stones on the old courtyard made her stumble, but at last, she reached the entrance of the former palace. Although the exterior of this building was not maintained, the front steps glistened as though someone had recently polished them.

  Millissa closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath. She knew she would not meet any howling ghosts, but it still shook her to be in the place of such brutal murders. But she could not falter. She needed to find Donkeyskin. Millissa creeped open the door, and a lone figure retreated into the shadows, its footsteps echoing down the hallway.

  “Donkeyskin, wait!” The girl stopped running and turned around. “I’m sorry for not taking you up on your offer to help.”

  She shrugged. “That’s all right. I’m glad you’ve stopped making excuses for your father.” She clapped her hand over her mouth. “I-I didn’t mean to be rude.”

  “You’re Princess Calluna, aren’t you?”

  The girl glanced away.

  “I won’t tell anyone.”

  She nodded. “But don’t call me that. I’m Donkeyskin now.”

  “I’m your aunt.”

  She glanced up, meeting Millissa’s gaze with those eerie aquamarine eyes. “How?”

  Millissa explained Father’s revelation of Mother’s affair with Donkeyskin’s grandfather, King October. She described the jewelry with the royal insignia that Mother had given Millissa on her deathbed, which she’d given to the imp as payment for spinning the straw into gold.

  Donkeyskin shook her head with a hysterical laugh. “And you’re my stepmother now, too.”

  Millissa let out a surprised chuckle. “I suppose I am.” She chewed her lip, not knowing how to phrase the next question, so she blurted, “Why are you hiding here?”

  Donkeyskin ducked her head.

  Millissa held her hand. “You can tell me anything. We’re family, and I think we share a common enemy.”

  The girl nodded, still not making eye contact with Millissa. “On my fourteenth birthday, I awoke to find a wedding dress laid out on the chaise. I thought my betrothal to Prince Heinrich of Clement had gone through, but a female Soldier of Fortune told me that I was to marry my own father.”

  Although Millissa had suspected this was the case, she still clapped her hand over her mouth. The corners of her eyes filled with tears, and she had to sit on a dusty stool in order to hear the rest of the story.

  Donkeyskin wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I did everything I could to delay the wedding. I asked for a dress as bright as the sun, one the exact shade of moonlight, but Father gave me everything I requested, no matter how ridiculous. He even slaughtered his precious donkey that excreted gold, just because I said I wanted it as a cloak.”

  Millissa raised her eyebrows, surprised King Donovan had been so accommodating. “So that’s why people call you Donkeyskin?”

  She nodded. “When I ran out of impossible demands, my lady-in-waiting helped me escape to her home in Harvestown, but Father’s massive dogs arrived the next morning. They brought me, my lady-in-waiting, her parents and brothers to the palace, and…” She sobbed. “He made me watch them all being executed.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Millissa handed the girl a handkerchief.

  Donkeyskin wiped her eyes. “When I refused to marry Father, he made me sit with him on his horse and watch his soldiers hunt down the female Soldier of Fortune who used to be my personal guard. He said he would continue to kill everyone who cared about me until I gave in.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I ran to the old palace, hoping the dogs would be too afraid of the ghost to enter, and I met the imp who offered me a boon. In exchange for keeping it company or finding it a way to escape, it would make Father think I had died the same time as Mother.

  Millissa frowned. “But if he saw you again with your appearance, he’d immediately want to marry you again.”

  She shrugged. “The imp took great delight in telling me that as soon as we’d made the boon. He said the only way to escape Father’s notice was to wear this horrible donkey skin.”

  Millissa pursed her lips. The more interactions she had with the creature, the less she liked it. But then, perhaps it had withheld the flaw in the boon to get revenge on King Donovan’s daughter for the actions of her father.

  “You’ve fulfilled the boon, so shouldn’t you be free of it?”

  She gazed up at Millissa, her eyes bright. “But I have nowhere to go. Even if the imp reversed the spell he cast on Father, I wouldn’t want to live in the same palace as him.”

  “There are people loyal to King October who don’t have anyone to rally around. Why don’t we overthrow your father so you can take the throne? As King October’s legitimate granddaughter, it’s rightfully yours.”

  She bowed her head. “I’ll think about it.”

  Donkeyskin clammed up after that, so Millissa told the young woman she would return the next morning, then returned to the new palace. Her quarters were situated next to the King’s, and the imp’s manic giggles drowned out King Donovan’s yells and bangs and crashes.

  She hoped the imp would drive the King to madness before she could stage a coup. It would be a dangerous endeavor, even if the King couldn’t hurt Millissa. From Donkeyskin’s story, it seemed like King Donovan was not above hurting innocents to coerce people into doing what he wanted. She undressed and sank into the plush, silk sheets of the Queen’s bed, closed her eyes, ignoring the sounds of mayhem from the other room.

  Millissa’s plans to spend the next day with Donkeyskin were scuppered by the arrival of a team of advisors, one of whom was a stern-looking General named Dino Cazador. Breakfast was served in the tavern room, and the servants pushed together the wooden tables to accommodate half a dozen guests.

  As soon as he caught sight of Millissa, King Donovan stood with a pained expression and gestured for her to sit. “And here is my afflicted bride. Enchanting, isn’t she?”

  The advisors gave the King polite nods, but General Cazador leaned forward and stared at Millissa with naked scrutiny. The man had a livid red scar running down his left temple, and Millissa tried not to think of how he had gotten it. He picked up his tankard, still not taking his eyes off her, and drank. “It surprises me, Your Majesty, how you were able to find a wife who so rese
mbles your previous.”

  King Donovan coughed. “An unexpected blessing, I suppose, but the child has gotten herself mixed up with an imp, and you’re here to break the boon.”

  “So you're requesting the talents of the Anti-Magic Army,” said the General with a sneer. “Why don’t you put your own Soldiers of Fortune on the job?”

  Millissa stared from her husband to the General, her heart thrumming. The other man appeared to detest the King.

  He shrugged. “They are but an extension of the King’s Guard.”

  “Who happen to take on mercenary assignments in other countries?”

  King Donovan coughed. “We’re here to free my wife from her magical affliction, not to discuss my Soldiers.” He nudged Millissa. “Go on, Pet. Tell them what happened. They won’t hurt you.”

  Millissa recounted the events of the past two days, leaving out her conversations with Donkeyskin and adjusting the story to fit the lie she told King Donovan on their wedding night. All throughout her tale, General Cazador stared at her with raised eyebrows and a smirk flickering on his lips. She gulped and concluded with, “So now, if I lie with my husband, I will be with child and perish.”

  “A sorry tale,” said the General, not sounding the least bit sympathetic. The nameless advisors nodded and murmured.

  “I didn’t call on you to muse on this tragedy,” snapped the King. “Can you or can’t you fix her?”

  General Cazador rubbed his chin. “If you can convince the creature to come down, perhaps I can talk to it.” King Donovan nodded, got up and ran to the door, his cloak flying behind him like a magic carpet. The General glared at the other advisors and spat, “Why are you dithering? Go with him!”

  The men shot out of their seats and scurried after the King. When the door closed behind them, the General turned his steel gaze on Millissa, making her shift in her seat. “You’re King October’s bastard.”