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CHAPTER 1

A chorus of boos from the crowd reverberated in my ears as Father stood to speak to our kingdom’s subjects. I spotted several clutching over-ripe tomatoes and braced myself for what would inevitably happen as soon as the speech was over.

“A blight has plagued this land for too long,” he began.

“You’re the blight!” one man shouted, shaking a fist in the air.

Additional angry shouts rose from the crowd to agree, but they were indistinguishable over the low rumble of mutinous muttering. The sentiment was obvious enough that I felt no desire to decipher the exact wording. I fixed my attention on the back of Father’s head, as if riveted by the silver sheen of his short-cropped hair that formed a horseshoe shape under his gold-embossed crown.

“This dragon from the west has been burning our crops and feeding on our sheep and cattle, and if we do not take care, it will come for us, too!” Father continued. “I’m aware of your struggles. I know people have been going hungry.”

“Lower the taxes and we won’t be hungry!” a woman shouted spitefully. One of the knights guarding the platform put his hand on his sword and took a threatening step forward.

“It is the dragon’s fault that the tax rate is so high,” Father responded. “If it weren’t for its constant raids, everyone would have more. And I have a plan to solve the problem.”

I heard a few in the audience shushing others as the noise level decreased slightly, everyone eager to hear what aid would be given to offset their losses. Such hopes were quickly dashed, however, as I knew they would be. Father never had any intention of depleting our kingdom’s coffers for anyone’s benefit but his own.

“Therefore—” Father waited for total silence before he continued, “I will offer my daughter’s hand in marriage to the first prince or man of noble birth who can kill this menace!”

What?! I felt countless eyes shift over to fix on where I sat, frozen in shock, on the raised dais. A murmur of interest rippled through the crowd, but it all sounded like the buzzing of bees as my mind raced to process what had just happened. I couldn’t believe that Father would offer to auction me off to some unknown man, as if I were some paltry trinket to be won at a tournament. Was this his way of getting back at me for the many pranks I’d played on him and his friends in the past?

For the people’s benefit, I schooled my facial expression into one of acceptance, as if I had always known I would be sold off this way. I shivered, partly because I was always cold, and partly at the prospect of how my future, and the futures of so many men, had changed so drastically in a matter of minutes.

“What about until it’s killed?” a haggard-looking elderly man cried out. “I don’t want to marry a princess; I want to feed my family!”

“Stop the taxes!” his friend shouted, and everyone broke into an uproar again, so loud that guards stepped in front of my father, shielding him from the irate civilians. At this rate, ripe tomatoes would be the least of his worries.

Father held up his hands to placate the crowd. “I’ll look into lowering the tax rate,” he vowed. “But in order to continue the imports of food, we wouldn’t be able to lower it significantly without supplies being disrupted, and that means killing the dragon. None of us want any children to starve.”

I resisted snorting. Of course Father would lead with weaponizing children’s safety and security against their terrified parents. I knew enough of the kingdom’s finances to confidently say that there were other avenues we could pursue if we wanted to lower the taxes. No one had to go hungry. The villagers were correct; Father’s greed was the true blight on our land.

“We must beware the dragon,” Father warned them. “If it tires of taking our oxen and sheep, he could come for our children next!”

Several couples looked at each other in fear, but I wanted to groan in embarrassment. This was yet another scare tactic, a very effective one that distracted from the real issue at hand. Dragon attacks only ever occurred when one was challenged by a dragon hunter. Otherwise, they might occasionally steal livestock, but as far as I knew, none ever swooped down to snatch infants from their cradles. In the stories, only knights and princes who sought out dragons met terrible ends.

“Who is brave enough to challenge the dragon and win my daughter’s hand? If the people want to be ruled by one of their own, this is your chance. The future of Rookwyn depends on you!”

Several knights and noblemen began stepping forward, pledging their swords to the attempt and vowing that they would rid the land of the dragon to stop its pillaging. Father commended each one in turn, and I rose, still numb with shock, to greet each in the line of men, all of whom were eager to slay the beast and gain power.

Each of those vowing to hunt the dragon whispered words to me as he brushed his lips to my hand, all saying how he would win my favor, that it was an honor to risk his life for so beautiful a woman, and other comments that washed over me without ever sinking in. Was that the last time they would kiss a woman’s hand? Did any of them know what was in store for them? Did they have any idea just how shrewd and intelligent a dragon was?

This was no mere boar that could be hunted with hounds or lances, scared out of its hiding place with noise and arrows. We were discussing a fully grown dragon, a beast more intelligent than any human, more powerful than a dozen war stallions, and covered with a scaly armor that, as far as I knew, was impenetrable.

Father hadn’t proposed a noble quest; this was a suicide mission.

For the first time in what felt like years, we weren’t pelted with overripe fruit as we were escorted off the dais and to the carriage. I’d heard tales of kingdoms in which the royalty were lauded with cheers and accolades everywhere they went, but if such stories were true, they never happened in Rookwyn or the surrounding areas. Our subjects had no reason to love us.

Greed was a pervasive infection that had been solidly entrenched in all the nobility and royalty I knew of. I even saw it in myself, though it disgusted me to know I was sometimes so similar to Father. He used to be kind and even playful at times, but ever since his parents had passed away several years ago and he took over ruling the kingdom, his former warmth had evaporated like the morning dew on a summer day.

* * *

On the carriage ride home, Father was the one who brought up the topic of my impending engagement. “I’m sure it must have come as a bit of a shock to you,” he began.

“You think?” I spat back.

“Rapunzel,” he scolded while straightening his crown, displaced from the carriage bumping down the road riddled with potholes. “I don’t know why you’re so worked up about it. You’ve done similar things in the past.”

“What are you talking about? I’ve never pulled anything like the stunt you just did!”

Father shot me a withering stare. “You sent out an official decree on my personal letterhead that all nobility needed to present a poem praising my accomplishments before being allowed entry to the throne room.”

“That wasn’t harmful. That was just funny.”

“You wrote insults on Lord Morvain’s banner celebrating his twenty years of service to the crown.”

“Those were all true statements.”

One of his eyebrows arched up the same way mine did. “Not to mention how many men you’ve kissed just to humiliate me. Everyone has been saying I can’t control my own daughter.”

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. “Oh dear,” I drawled. “What an appalling tragedy that is. We can’t have anyone thinking I have my own free will now, can we? Best slap me in chains now so you can control me better. Perhaps it would be best if you lead me around like a dog on a leash. Should I wear a collar?”

“Rapunzel!”

“It’s still different. What you did isn’t some harmless prank; these are lives at stake. It’s my future, and it is the lives of all those men. They’ll die trying to defeat a dragon; you know it, and if one doesn’t, then I’ll be forced to marry?—”

“Don’t worry,” Father interrupted with a chuckle. “It isn’t like any of them will succeed. And besides, how will we know if they don’t try?”

The weight of his words crashed into me. It isn’t like any of them will succeed ? Father anticipated them all failing. He expected them to try and to be killed in the attempt, and to what end—to deflect some of the anger that they felt toward him? To prove that he was just as despicable a ruler as they believed him to be? To thin out those who might vie for the throne? He was willing to send his subjects on a suicide mission just to pretend like he was doing something to help them.

Father watched me through narrowed eyes. “You’ve forced my hand.”

“So you’re auctioning off mine? Pray tell, how did I force you to send dozens of men to their deaths?”

“You’ve offended so many of the surrounding kingdoms that I need to do something to regain their favor. The dragon’s lair is near the border of many kingdoms; this will benefit everyone.”

I met his glare with one of my own. “Except those you send to be slaughtered.”

“The lives of a few are a small price to pay if it stops the dragon stealing livestock.”

“It’s not too small a price if you’re the one who’s being sacrificed. Livestock isn’t the same as human life.”

“They signed up. They all volunteered. I’m not forcing anyone to do anything. Besides, if they do succeed, they will be the future queen’s consort. A fine deal, if you ask me.”

“I didn’t ask you, and you certainly never asked me my thoughts about you deciding my future for me.”

“Your future was decided for you when you were born,” he said dismissively.

I sank back into the plush velvet seat of the carriage. What sort of reality was he living in which he could discard the lives of his citizens so easily? Did he think that the blood of his extensively trained knights came cheaply? Did he think that, with a snap of his fingers, he could replace an army? He was so consumed by greed and selfishness that he had become impossible to reason with.

The landscape flashed by outside the window, from the blur of fields of crops withered by the brutal sun to the craggy mountains pitted with caves.

No amount of glaring could ever convey the depth of deep-seated resentment and hostility I felt toward my father. We trundled past an orphanage, where children with sunken, hungry faces wearing heavily patched clothing stared with open mouths at the carriage whisking by.

“Why are you not sending more aid to the people? They’re struggling and you know it.”

Father stroked his bearded chin, averting his eyes from the orphans to stare out the opposite window. “You’ll see in time, Rapunzel. Peasants often bring about their own misfortunes. They resent paying the required taxes that pay for the military who protect them and the roads that they use, then they spend time griping about it, and because they wasted their time complaining, they consequently have less time to work, earn less because of their laziness, and then spend even more time sitting around blaming us for all the shortages they experience. It’s a vicious cycle. We mustn’t reward them for their lack of effort.”

I shivered slightly as I frowned at him. Had his disdain for the people always been so apparent, or was it only becoming evident as I grew old enough to accept more of the responsibilities of ruling? What had happened to the caring man who used to read me stories when I was a child?

“When was the last time you talked with the people?”

Father raised an eyebrow as if he questioned my sanity. “Just today. You heard me speak to them.”

“No, you talked at them. When did you last listen to their concerns and ask for their input?”

Father shook his head, still stroking his pointed beard. “Royalty cannot afford such things. It would be a risk to my personal safety, and besides, peasants only know their small corner of the world. Imagine taking advice from someone who knows nothing of operating a kingdom. They know nothing about tariffs or foreign diplomacy or domestic affairs. They know their trades, and their responsibility to the kingdom is to perform their trade well.”

Father was an intelligent man. He could do complicated arithmetic inside his head and quote lengthy passages of great works of literature, but he hadn’t been a wise or compassionate king. The people truly hated him, but it didn’t bother him one bit. It hadn’t troubled me when I was young enough not to know better, but it did now.

I fidgeted with my handbag, opening and closing it again so my hands had something to do. “How can we rule the people if we do not truly know their circumstances?”

“I wouldn’t expect a young girl to understand the complexities of politics yet. This isn’t like one of your little chess games.” Father smiled indulgently at me, but a flame of hot anger leapt inside my chest. So, I was just a young girl who couldn’t understand anything? Was that why he offered my hand in marriage, because it was the only value he thought I held? I wasn’t going to stand for it. If only I could oust him from power and seize control of the kingdom now. I would be a better ruler than Father had been. But even so…he was still my father. I wouldn’t initiate a coup against him.

What benefit was there to being a princess if I was going to be auctioned off to some power-hungry knight who saw me as a tool to further his own position? Why would I want to rule if my people hated me for my whole life? If I ran away or refused to be married, I was sure to be seen as shirking my duty or selfishly putting my own happiness before that of the kingdom. If I stayed and ruled as Father had, I would be hated, just as he was. The only other option was to wait for the next forty to fifty years for Father to die so I could take over and rule the way I saw fit, but the notion of eagerly anticipating my own father’s death was repugnant.

No matter what, there was no way to win.

Before the carriage had come to a complete halt, I threw open the door and leapt down. The footman squeaked in alarm as I bypassed the stairs he normally unfastened for me. I stumbled upon landing and nearly dropped my handbag but hastened to right myself and stalk away.

“Rapunzel!” Father called after me, reproach in his voice.

I didn’t stop. I didn’t care if he wanted to talk to me or explain himself or if he was simply concerned about the servants realizing we had argued. If he refused to extend me any courtesy, I would do likewise. He didn’t deserve my respect or time when he clearly didn’t value it anyway.

“Rapunzel!” he shouted again. “Don’t forget about the ball tonight!”

There may as well have been a thundercloud hovering over my head as I stormed through the gardens. I glowered at the dragon sculptures sprinkled throughout the gardens, maws open wide and ruby eyes glittering in the bright afternoon sun. Dragons. Father blamed all his problems on the one near our kingdom’s border, but the people seemed much less concerned about the creature—and rightly so. It never troubled the citizens that I’d heard of, whereas Father’s gross negligence caused immense suffering.

I kicked morosely at a stone that skittered away down the garden path, then closed the distance to where it lay and kicked it again, even harder. It felt cathartic to transfer my frustration into something else. It bounced against the marble fountain, and I raised my gaze to stare at the obstacle. Yet another dragon-related sculpture, this one a marble block shaped like a dragon spewing flame from the center of the fountain, with water pouring from its fanged mouth instead of fire. I stared into its jeweled eyes, which appeared alive as the light reflected off the gemstones. Fat fish swam lazily about in the pool beneath the dragon’s carved claws, unconcerned with anything as they drifted about in the pool’s glimmering depths.

As I lowered my hand to touch the water, they approached, eagerly searching for any tidbits I might have brought them, then retreated when they found none. I circled my hand in the pool. The summer day had warmed the water, and the gentle heat against my skin soaked into my hand just as desperately as the fish had wanted food.

A scarlet-crested jay fluttered down and settled on the dragon’s sculpted head, piping its eerie melody to the sky. I moved on, dodging behind statues anytime I thought I saw a servant headed my way. Father would never deign to search for me himself, but I had no doubt he would send an endless stream of ladies-in-waiting to track me down before the ball tonight. Ugh, yet another one of the endless parties Father threw to flaunt his wealth to other kingdoms while refusing to aid his own people.

“Princess Rapunzel!” I had been spotted. I glared at the inscription chiseled into the plaque beneath the sculpture: Never trust a dragon . I snorted. Father had been aptly nicknamed The Dragon King by the people. He was just as greedy, and the inscription was true. I shouldn’t ever trust him.

“Princess Rapunzel!” the voice repeated, and I wearily looked around for the speaker. It was Harold. Both he and his father, Lord Morvain, were some of Father’s most trusted advisors, and new anger flared in my chest. Did he have any idea about what Father had announced? Had he encouraged it? Harold was still unmarried and close to my age, but it was too much to expect that he would have any sympathy for my plight. He was just like all the royalty and nobility I knew—arrogant and self-absorbed. Harold looked very similar to Lord Morvain, with a hooked, hawk-like nose, shrewd eyes, and a thin build with wispy hair. One might have thought of them as bookkeepers, but I was more inclined to think of them as snakes—deceptive and cold.

“Harold,” I greeted him frostily, inclining my head a fraction of an inch. Was I like my own father? Surely I had the predisposition to be just as ruthless and cunning as he.

“You have a ball tonight,” he informed me, drawing up close. “Several of the knights planning to challenge the dragon will be in attendance, and your father wishes for you to greet each one personally.”

So he knew after all. Had all of Father’s advisors known and neglected to tell me about it? I attended most of the same meetings Father did, from foreign diplomacy to domestic affairs and trade negotiations. How was I the only one unaware? They must have known I would object and therefore discussed it in secret when I wasn’t around. I ground my teeth together. Of course they’d discussed my future without me.

“Did you hear me?” he asked, raising his voice a little. “I need to let your father know that you received his message.”

“I heard,” I told him. No matter how much Father wanted to control my life, I still had some freedoms. I coyly pulled my lipstick out of my handbag and coated my lips. “It’s a shame I won’t have any say in whom I’m soon to marry; I have my own preferences. Tell me, Lord Harold, have you ever seen our vegetable gardens?”

He curled his lip in disdain. “I have not. I have much more important matters to tend to.”

“That’s too bad. It’s very secluded this time of day,” I told him, lowering both my eyes and my voice. “ Very secluded.” I took a mint from my bag and pressed it onto my tongue. “And I don’t need to start getting ready for the ball for another hour or two. Would you like me to show you the gardens?”

“I—oh!” I could almost see the gears working in his head as his expression shifted from condescending to cautiously hopeful. “Yes, I think I would like to take a stroll in the garden with you.”