Goddess of Magic: A Snow White retelling (Kingdom of Fairytales Snow White Book 4) Read online

  Goddess of Magic

  Kingdom of Fairytales: Snow White book 4

  Laura Greenwood

  J A Armitage

  Contents

  1. 28th October

  2. 29th October

  3. 30th October

  4. 31st October

  5. 1st November

  6. 2nd November

  7. 3rd November

  After the Happily Ever After…

  A NEW FAIRYTALE ANTHOLOGY

  Join us

  A note from the author

  The Kingdom of Fairytales Team

  About J.A. Armitage

  About Laura Greenwood

  Kingdom of Fairytales

  You all know the fairytales, the stories that always have the happy ending. But what happens after all those storybook characters get what they wanted? Is it really a happily ever after?

  Kingdom of Fairytales is a new way of reading with one chapter a day and one book a week throughout the year beginning January 1st

  Lighting-fast reads you won’t be able to put down

  Read in real time as each chapter follows a day in the life of a character throughout the entire year, with each bite-sized episode representing a week in the life of our hero.

  Each character’s story wrapped up at the end of every season with a brand new character and story featured in each season.

  Fantasy has never been so epic!

  28th October

  I tried to restrain the hopeful feeling that came over me when I realized I was again having the dream about the people with eyes like mine. Each previous time I’d had it, I had learned more about Mother’s curse and the problems in the other kingdoms. I hoped that tonight I’d learn enough to have a clue as to what to do next.

  I'd take any information I could get right now. I had to. Topher would help me work out what it meant in the morning.

  The torches flickered in the corridor, making the shadows dance. But I didn't pay them any attention. They weren't going to do me any harm. Instead, I rushed down the corridor, eager to get to the room.

  I pushed through the door and stepped inside. It was emptier than before, with only a few of the people I'd come to recognize inside. Two of them were leaning over a map, moving small markers up and down. I frowned, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. How was this supposed to help me? They weren't talking about me, the curse, or Enchantia.

  Gaia walked in, a newspaper in her hand. "Have you seen this?" she asked, dropping it onto the table with the map.

  "Not yet. What is it?" Azia responded, looking up.

  "Just read," Gaia said, pushing the paper closer to the other girl.

  Intrigued, I leaned over to get a look at whatever it was that had Gaia all worked up. I scanned the paper, reading the front page three times to make sure I was understanding it correctly.

  The paper was dated the thirty-first of October. That was still four days away. Shouldn't they be dismissing it as complete rubbish just based on that alone?

  Azia picked up the paper and unfolded it. "What page?"

  "Three," Gaia said.

  She flicked through it and scanned the article in question. Unfortunately for me, Azia wasn't holding it in a way that enabled me to read it.

  Neither of them seemed confused by the fact it was from the future, though. Had they got an advance copy?

  No. That wasn't possible. The people behind the paper wouldn't be printing it that far in advance. It would be far too out of date by the time the thirty-first came around.

  Which must mean that this was the thirty-first or later. At a stretch, it was the thirtieth.

  I was seeing the future. Not only in the visions I’d had, but in my dreams also. Everything I’d seen had come true.

  Now that I knew what was happening, only one question remained. Could I do it on purpose?

  Before I could spend much energy thinking about it, the blackness seeped in, and sleep took me once more. But that was all right. I could give it more thought in the morning.

  Sunlight woke me from sleep. I hummed and stretched, not opening my eyes. Once I did, all the normal worries of the day would slip back in, and I wasn't ready for that to happen.

  Memories of my dream from the night before began to slip back in.

  My eyes snapped open.

  The future.

  That wasn't something I could ignore. I supposed the real question was, could I see into the future at will? Or was that thought nothing more an unconscious effort to make sense of the dreams I'd been having? Both theories made sense, but I didn't know which was the truth. When I could make magic fly out of the end of my wand, and do all manner of strange things, seeing the future didn't seem all that far-fetched.

  But perhaps I should try to find someone to talk to about it before trying it out by myself. That was the most sensible course of action, even if I didn't know who to trust with it.

  Topher's face drifted through my mind. I was almost certain he'd know about this kind of thing. And if he didn't, he would know where to look to find the answers. He was good at that, and I was grateful for it. I wasn't sure what I'd do without him and the support he gave me. It made me feel different from how my parents' support did. Though, I couldn't put a finger on why. No doubt, the explanation was a simple one. It always seemed to be.

  He was the most logical person to turn to, especially when I didn't want to worry Father with something like this. He probably didn't have the experience to answer any of my questions anyway. And even if he did, his attention was already taken up by everything that was going on with Mother.

  My excitement waned a little at the memory of her unconscious form. I pushed away the guilt. If Mother could talk to me, I knew she'd tell me that I had to do things for myself. Not just to let go of some of the stress building inside me, but also, to distract people from the thought that anything was wrong in the royal family. That was part of what came with the job. Half the things we did were for appearances. While we had choices about some things like me wearing black most of the time, there were other things where we didn’t have that freedom.

  I'd seen Father sick and sitting in his chair presiding over a banquet before, despite the fact he should have been in bed. Or Mother getting back up after stumbling and putting on a brave face as she righted herself.

  Besides, why shouldn't I feel excited about being able to see the future? If I could do it, then there might be a chance I could see something that would help us heal Mother, or break the curse hanging over her head. Of course, there were other things I wanted to know, but they could wait.

  There was the slight issue of my not knowing how to see the future. All the times I'd done it before, it hadn't been intentional. I'd either been asleep or concentrating on something else.

  Neither of those would make it easy to use the gift of being able to see the future if I had it.

  I pushed a hand over my face as I tried to work out what to do. Should I stay in bed or get up?

  Staying lying down was probably the best bet. I'd seen the future more in my sleep than when I'd been awake, which meant that I should probably be as relaxed as I possibly could. If this didn't work, then I'd write a message to Topher and get him to join me. He'd probably have some ideas on how to do it. Actually, once I got up, I'd do that anyway. If I managed it, then he'd love to hear about it.

  I took a deep, steadying breath and counted to ten, trying to relax. It was more difficult than I anticipated while my palms itched, and my hea
rtbeat raced a mile a minute.

  I was thinking about this too hard.

  So trying to relax wasn't going to work. But what could? Perhaps I needed to think about the future I wanted to see. Everything I was wondering about flooded through my mind at once. Mother's curse, the people with gold-ringed irises, whatever was going on in Urbis, whether or not Topher would be in my life for a long time to come...

  Wait. No. Not that last one. I meant Jake, not Topher. Even as I told myself that was the case, I knew it was a lie. Somewhere along the line, my feelings for the two had started to get muddled, and I wasn't sure what the best way to sort them out was. Only a couple of weeks ago, all I'd wanted in the world was for Jake to notice me, and now, he had. But so had Topher. And he was the one I kept turning to when I needed help.

  Those were thoughts for later if I wasn't sure how I really felt about either of them. But then, my love life was the wrong thing to focus on when I was trying to see the future on purpose. I needed something easier. Simpler.

  An idea hit me. I knew what I should look for.

  I closed my eyes and thought about my Fright Festival costume. When would it be ready? That was what I hoped my gift would tell me. It might have been a frivolous request, but I wanted to check out how things worked before I moved on to bigger problems that actually made a difference.

  My costume. The cape, the green stones. Mother and I had worked on it together. Before she fell asleep.

  Even with my eyes closed, the world around me swirled and slowed, just like it had when I'd seen the spell that nearly killed Jake. It was working. I focused harder.

  My room came into focus behind my eyelids, but I knew it wasn't real. At least, it wasn't real yet. I saw myself sitting on the edge of my bed. A knock sounded on the door, and I sprang to my feet. I grabbed a dressing gown and slipped my arms into it before hurrying over to the door. In the vision, there was a maid waiting behind it with a garment bag in her hands and a smile on her face.

  My eyes snapped open. I hadn't seen very far into the future, but that didn't matter. I'd done it. That was the main thing.

  I swung my legs around and sat on the bed, wondering how long I'd have to wait for the maid to arrive. I hoped it wouldn't be long. Then I could focus on trying to use my gift for bigger things. Perhaps, I should use the waiting time to write a note to Topher. I needed to see him now more than ever. He could help me make sense of this and help me work out how to use it better. I was certain he'd have answers I needed.

  Before I could make my way over to the dresser, the expected knock sounded on the door.

  Excitement pounded in my chest. This was proof of what I'd managed to achieve. I bounced to my feet and put on my dressing gown. I didn't want to open the door wearing nothing more than my nightclothes.

  I pulled the door open to find the smiling maid there, garment bag and everything. Relief washed through me. There'd been a small voice in the back of my head trying to tell me that I was crazy for thinking I could see things that were going to happen in advance.

  "Good morning, Your Highness. I have your Fright Festival dress for you," the maid said.

  "Thank you, would you bring it in?" I asked.

  She nodded and entered the room, hanging the garment bag on one of the hooks on the wall by my dressing area.

  "Is it done, or are there still alterations needed?" It was best to know before I got my hopes up too much and thought this was the finished thing.

  "It's mostly done, Your Highness, but you have a fitting on Friday to make any changes you need and to make sure it fits perfectly. I think your friend has one at the same time," she offered.

  Oh. That was good. I needed some time with Rhi, I hadn't talked to her enough in the past few days. "Thank you."

  The maid stepped back. "Is there anything else I can do for you, Your Highness?"

  I was about to dismiss her when a thought came to mind. "Yes. I have a note I'd like delivered to one of the guests. Would that be possible?"

  "Of course. Do you have it ready?"

  "Just a moment." I rushed over to my dressing table and picked up one of the pens I kept scattered about.

  It only took me a moment to scribble the note. I folded it over and handed it to her. Perhaps I should have sealed it too, but it didn't say anything particularly interesting. The maid probably wouldn't even look.

  "Can you take this to Topher, please?" I asked, handing it to her. "He's one of Adam's guests." It was safest to tell her that in case she didn't know who he was. That was possible. He hadn't been at the palace all that long. Then again, he'd been spending a lot of time with me, so perhaps the staff had learned his name.

  "Of course, Your Highness." She tucked the note into her pocket and dipped into an elegant curtsy that a lot of noblewomen would have envied.

  "I'll deliver it right now, Princess." She curtsied again, then left the room.

  As soon as the door clicked behind her, I retook my place on the bed and took a few steadying breaths. Perhaps, I should have gotten dressed first, but I was too focused on what I wanted to see to be able to concentrate on something so trivial.

  This time, I was going to try and see when Mother would wake up. If I did that, then I'd be able to give Father some good news. I was certain he'd appreciate it with how worried he'd been over the past week or so.

  I took another breath and closed my eyes.

  Mother's face formed in my mind, and I tried to think of it the way it was when she was awake and uncursed. It was difficult to focus on when I knew she was lying down the corridor, not responding to the world at all.

  When will she wake up? When will she wake up? The statement whizzed around my mind, and I might even have been saying the words out loud. I had no way of knowing, considering that all of my attention was on the phrase.

  My vision started to shift, even in the darkness, and excitement built up within me. Was I going to see the answer? I hoped so.

  A room came into focus. I looked around, trying to make sense of what I was seeing even before it fully came into focus. Even through the haze, I vaguely recognized the room I was in. That was good. It was probably Mother's bedchamber. That would make the most sense.

  The vision snapped into place, and disappointment welled up within me.

  I was in the underground room. I waited for a moment, looking around to see who was in the room and if they were doing anything of interest.

  Unfortunately, they didn't seem to be. None of them were talking to one another. Instead, they were glancing around, as if they were expecting something to happen.

  I let the vision slip. This wasn't what I wanted to see, and they weren't doing anything of interest to warrant my staying

  After it had gone, I settled and took a few minutes to compose myself again.

  Mother. Mother. Mother. A question hadn't worked before, so perhaps one word would now. It wasn't like the magic could mistake anyone in the underground room for my mother. At least, I hoped it wouldn't. It seemed unlikely given that they all seemed to be about my age. But, stranger things had happened, and I didn't know anything about my real parentage. Perhaps it was time I asked Father about it.

  Just as I was about to ponder more on the subject, my vision blurred again. Good.

  As soon as everything was in focus, I cursed inwardly. I was back in the underground cavern. And even worse, nothing had changed. I let the vision slip again. The only positive in this was that I knew I was capable of seeing the future when I wanted to. But it seemed like I wasn't able to control what I was seeing, which wasn't so good.

  Except, that wasn't right. I'd been able to concentrate on my Fright Festival costume and see what was happening there. It was just the more complicated things that seemed to be a problem.

  No matter. I'd simply keep trying until I saw what I was looking for.

  I let myself drift into another vision. The same thing happened. The underground room. The people shuffling around nervously. But nothing new.

 
I tried a few more times but didn't manage to see anything different.

  Frustrated, I got up from the bed and walked over to the small table. The moment I was on my feet, a woozy feeling washed over me. I pressed a hand to my temple, hoping to ward it off. Was this a result of trying too hard to see something about Mother's future? I hoped not. I wanted to try again later.

  "What have you been doing, Kelis? You're a mess," the mirror announced.

  I groaned. Somehow, I'd managed to forget it was in the room. That was quite a feat, considering I hadn't left the room since the night before.

  "I look fine," I grumbled.

  "Ha. Have you seen yourself? You could pack half your closet in the bags under your eyes."

  I scowled, not in the mood for the mirror's word games. Normally, I could give as good as I got. But not today.

  "Whatever." I set my mug down and moved over to my dressing table. I gasped the moment I saw my reflection.

  I hated to admit it, but the mirror was right. It looked as if I hadn't slept in three days. As if seeing it for myself caused it, a wave of tiredness rushed over my body.

  The urge to return to bed hit me. I couldn't do that, though, right? I had too many responsibilities to waste my time in bed. But I knew that both of my parents would hate to hear me talking like that. They'd say my own health and mental well-being should come above anything else.

  And a nap never hurt anyone. I was going to lie down, and when I woke up, I could try on my Fright Festival costume, then get on with the other things I needed to do with my day. Perhaps when I was done with all of those, I could try and see into the future more. Unless Topher responded to my message first.

  I slipped off my dressing gown and got back into bed, pulling the covers tight up to my chin. Before sleep could take me, I thought back through all of the things I'd seen. The people with the golden irises had seemed restless, maybe even nervous. Like they were waiting for something. It was something to do with what was happening in Urbis, I was certain of it, though, I had no idea how or why.