Pumpkins and Princesses (The Tales and Princesses Series Book 3) Read online

  Contents

  Pumpkins and Princesses

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Note from the Author

  Map

  About the Author

  More by Aleese Hughes

  Pumpkins and Princesses

  Book Three of The Tales and Princesses Series

  Aleese Hughes

  Copyright Ⓒ 2019 Aleese Hughes

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 9781696041706

  Dedication

  To my sister Ellianne. You may be just a toddler, but you’ve already made such a wonderful difference in my life! Thanks for letting me use your name for this one!

  Prologue

  Lucinda Brooker was merely the daughter of a poor merchant and never knew any luxury in life, but she always desired it more than anything. That was probably the biggest reason Lucinda loathed her younger sister. The Crown Prince of Greriveth saw Catherine one day in the woods and fell madly in love with her almost immediately. But Lucinda knew that if it had been she who was gathering firewood, she would have been Queen now of the entire Kingdom— not her sister Catherine.

  Lucinda was convinced that she was cursed. In addition to the ill-fortune of remaining a poor peasant, her husband died, leaving her alone with two wretched boys. She desperately wanted a daughter to dote on, but no higher power that may be out there thought her deserving. But Catherine had a daughter. Lucinda was not at all pleased to hear the news of Greriveth’s Queen bearing twins: a young prince and a beautiful little princess.

  As Lucinda snuck through Newvein that night, hood pulled tightly over her thin face, and her limbs trembling from the fright of getting caught, she told herself that Catherine didn’t need two children. She would be just as happy with a son to direct all of her attention to. Catherine was Queen, for heaven’s sake! What more would she need?

  The guards were easy to slip past— Grerivethan soldiers were known for their incredible lack of ambition and skill. A particularly famous story involved the current captain of the guard and a few comrades falling to their knees in terror as bandits looted their bags and pockets with no fight whatsoever.

  Lucinda was convinced that if she had been the one in charge of Greriveth instead of her perky, daft sister and her sister’s idiotic husband, improvements on the royal guard wouldn’t be the only thing to happen. Lucinda knew of so many ways to make the monarchy— and in turn, the kingdom— much more wealthy than it was. She was the daughter of a merchant, and after taking over her father’s business, she had learned a lot about money and made her father’s merchant trade much more successful than he ever had. Lucinda still wasn’t rich by any sense of the word, but she was proud to see the little difference she could make without her overbearing father and husband telling her to keep her mouth shut. And Lucinda knew that if she were on the throne, she would start by creating more trade routes and encouraging all merchants to travel out of Greriveth into the other four kingdoms. And maybe Greriveth could even become wealthy enough for travel across the ocean to Lurid.

  Lucinda shook her head. It wasn’t the time to get lost in her daydreams. The halls of the castle were unlit and almost spooky as she traversed her way to the nursery. She had an inside tip from a nursing maid as to where she could find the room. The nurse, Giselle Pirone, had watched over Lucinda and Catherine before their father couldn’t afford her services anymore. And, out of loyalty, or something, Catherine hired Giselle for her own children.

  But Giselle had proven to be more loyal to Lucinda instead of her Queen. Catherine was always the favorite to everyone, being prettier with her golden hair and elegant, willowy figure against Lucinda’s white-blonde hair and plump form. Catherine was even referred to as “the one with the kind heart.” But Lucinda had a special place in Giselle’s heart. Maybe it was because the old nursing maid felt bad for her.

  Although she had been given specific directions, the immense size of the building made it harder to navigate than she expected. Lucinda had never been inside the castle, not even for her sister’s wedding, or even her and her husband’s coronation to King and Queen just ten years after the marriage. She had been invited to both, but Lucinda knew it was merely out of pity. And she wasn’t going to give Catherine the satisfaction of coming and showing support for what should have been hers.

  After many years of Lucinda ignoring her sister’s invitations and being less than friendly when Catherine tried to visit, the Queen got to the point where she gave up on trying to build a good relationship with her sister. Lucinda and Catherine hadn’t actually seen or spoken to one another for months.

  After maybe ten minutes of frustrating twists and turns, Lucinda finally recognized the hallway that Giselle had described to her. Unlike the others, no portraits were decorating the walls, but the purple carpeting at her feet was thick and expensive. Two doors down to her right, Lucinda found it. She could see why Giselle had said she would know it when she saw it: the white wood of the door was decorated with a delicate, light blue trim around its edges. It definitely looked like a door to a children’s room.

  Lucinda turned the cold knob slowly and pushed it open, fearing the sound of a creak echoing through the halls, but none came. She sighed in relief and stepped around the door and shut it with a soft click.

  “I was getting worried you weren’t going to make it.”

  Lucinda smiled at Giselle. The nurse sat in a plush rocking chair next to the large, bay window behind her. Her graying hair was tied up into a loose bun, and many strands of hair had escaped from it. She looked exhausted as she rocked back and forth with a small, white bundle in her thin arms.

  “Is that her?”

  Giselle grinned, lighting up her tired eyes. “Do you want to see her?”

  Lucinda gingerly stepped over to the old woman, as if frightened of the bundle. As she pulled the blanket down to look upon the little face, tears sprang in Lucinda’s eyes. The baby was beautiful with rosy cheeks and a button nose. Her round face turned to look up at Lucinda, and a little smile came from the soft, pink lips.

  “Oh,” Lucinda breathed. “She’s so beautiful.”

  Giselle’s grin grew, deepening the wrinkles in her cheeks. “I think she looks more like you than Catherine.”

  Lucinda’s breath caught as she was reminded of her sister. The nurse seemed to notice.

  “I’m sorry,” Giselle whispered. “Maybe you should get going.”

  Giselle slowly stood so as not to wake the Princess and slipped the little bundle into Lucinda’s arms. Lucinda felt a shudder of joy run through her veins. The baby gurgled slightly and shifted in her sleep. She really was beautiful. Lucinda’s sons had never looked so exquisite— not even as newborns. They had taken after their all-too-plain father.

  “Where’s the other one?”

  Giselle nodded to the end of the room toward a blue bassinet. “He’s sleeping, too.”

  “What about you?” Lucinda asked.
“Will they suspect you?”

  The nurse’s brown eyes twinkled. “I have quite the story planned.”

  Lucinda didn’t want to know what type of story Giselle had conjured up— she had always been good at the storytelling. Too good.

  “What’s my best way out of here?” Lucinda said.

  Giselle pointed towards the slightly opened door behind them. “Back where you came from. Through the kitchens.”

  “Thank you.”

  The two embraced tightly, careful not to squish the child between them, and without a second thought, Lucinda swept away and back through the corridor. She carefully tucked the Princess in the crook of her arm within the folds of her cloak and threw the hood back over her dirty-blonde curls. There still was no one to stop her, and the two guards she saw were slumped to the floor in a drunken slumber. Something really needed to be done about the slothful soldiers.

  Lucinda made it to the large, empty kitchens. They were still warm from the use of the ovens for supper that night. The soles of her boots clicked against the tiled floor loudly, and she held her breath until she pushed through the back door and made it back onto the cobbled streets. Once Lucinda was out of the light of the street lamps and back among the shadows of the trees, she pulled the child from hiding and snuggled the Princess deep into her chest.

  Lucinda loved the smell of newborns. The thick hairs atop the child’s head tickled her nose as she took in the scent. The baby then stirred awake, but instead of crying, her eyes locked onto Lucinda’s own. She gasped, noticing that the child’s eyes were a bright hazel like her own.

  “She really does look like me,” Lucinda whispered into the night. She stroked the baby’s soft cheek. “Let’s go home, my child.”

  Chapter 1

  Lucinda, my mother, said she named me Ellianne, Ellie for short, because of its meaning: “gift.” I had always been a gift for my mother— sent by fate, sent by the ancient High Kings… something like that. When asking about my birth, all she’d ever say was that she always yearned for a daughter, and my coming was the greatest gift. There were a lot of mysteries about where I came from. Especially since Jacob and Jared refused to let me call them my brothers— it was always “stepbrothers.” When asking about this particular detail, Mother would merely say they were not my real brothers, but she was and always would be my mother. I did look almost exactly like her, so I just assumed I had a different father than the boys. And maybe Mother was merely ashamed of her past… I learned not to press the issue.

  I laid on my back upon the cot in the little bedroom I shared with Mother. A particularly good book was pressed against my nose. It was about a young man adventuring to gain the power of all knowledge. It was quite the plot and had just the amount of romance a book needed.

  “Ellie!”

  I didn’t hear Mother’s call for me at first, but once she shouted out a second time, I bolted upright in bed and rushed to the living area of the cabin. There was a modest hearth in the center with a pot of water boiling atop the fire, a couple wooden chairs, and a pillow or two about the room to sit on. We weren’t rich by any means, but the cabin was homey.

  “Mother?” I called. “Where are you?”

  “In the kitchen, dear!”

  I skipped over to our kitchen area, bare feet slipping slightly on the smooth, wooden floor. Mother was tasting the chicken she had just pulled out of our tiny, stone oven.

  “Hot!” she cried, dropping the piece of white meat out of her mouth.

  I chuckled. “I thought that might be obvious, Mother. You just got it out.”

  She chuckled along with me and wiped her hands along her stained apron. She turned to me, cheeks red from cooking and light brown, almost honey-colored hair frizzed up and around her oval face into tiny ringlets. My hair did the same thing when I was cooking or in the heat, not to mention it was the same color as hers. Sometimes our similarities were shocking. Yet, they were comforting at the same time, considering how much mystery circled around my birth. She couldn’t not be my mother.

  “Ellie, I wanted to tell you. I have to travel to Capthar again today.”

  I groaned. “Mardasia again? You were just there last month!”

  She frowned. “I know, but I have better customers down there than in Newvein.” Mother hesitated and studied me curiously as if trying to decide whether or not to tell me more. “We need the money. We had a lot of crops this summer, and I also made a lot of dresses in the past few months. It’ll sell better in Capthar.”

  “But, Capthar is a week’s travel away!” I protested, folding my arms. “You won’t be back for more than two weeks!”

  Mother stepped over to me and rested a soft hand on my cheek. She smiled down at me, almost amused by my objections. Her eyes crinkled up as she smiled, revealing the few wrinkles she had.

  “It’ll be okay, Ellie,” she said. “Jacob and Jared will be here to keep you company.”

  I flinched at the words, then bit my lip to keep from groaning and tried not to frown. My stepbrothers hated me. It might have had something to do with the incredible love Mother always showed me. And through their jealousy, whenever Mother was gone on her trips, they would force me to do one chore after another. It wasn’t that I minded the work— it gave me solitude and time to think. It was just how much of it and the difficulty of the jobs I ended up doing for them. I found myself wishing in those moments that Mother had a husband to keep up her merchant business so she could stay home with me. She was gone a lot.

  “Ellie,” Mother said, noticing my disappointment. “What’s wrong?”

  There had been many times I almost told her of Jacob and Jared’s cruelty, but I was a little scared of what they might do if I ratted them out. Besides, soon they would both find wives and leave Mother and me to ourselves. Jacob was three years my senior, being twenty-one, and Jared was close behind his brother at twenty. They were men and would soon need to build up their trades and start families of their own.

  “I’m just going to miss you,” I said, giving her a timid smile.

  Mother wrapped me into her arms and squeezed me tight.

  “I’ll be back before you know it,” she whispered into my ear.

  “Mother!” the squeaky voice of Jacob sounded.

  “Oh!” Mother pulled out of our embrace. “I sent Jacob and Jared out this morning to gather some firewood for the duration of my absence. I guess they’re back.”

  She ran out of the kitchen to greet her sons, and I followed not as quickly. Jared, a very plump and incredibly freckled young man, heaved a stack of freshly chopped wood by the hearth. Jacob, much taller than his brother and rather gangly, threw his own stack along with it.

  “You chopped it, too!” Mother exclaimed, clapping her hands together in delight. “I’m not worried about leaving you boys at all this time!”

  My stepbrothers grinned from ear to ear, proud of themselves.

  “Thank you, Mother,” Jacob said with an exaggerated bow. The brown mop on his head flipped back and forth with the movement.

  While Mother’s hair had more of a honey hue, both Jacob and Jared’s hair was a dull brown.

  “How long will you be gone this time?” Jared chimed in.

  Mother stepped over to the hearth, picked up a tattered cloth on the stone, and pulled the pot of boiling water away from the heat. She then proceeded to throw a couple new logs onto the dying fire.

  “About three weeks,” she said.

  The boys glanced at me and smirked. It was only for a split second, but it happened. I pressed my hands against my brown skirt and clenched them into fists.

  “Well, children! Lunch is ready. Let’s eat, and then I’ll be off!”

  Mother gestured for us to follow her into our modest dining area— just a room branched off from the kitchen with a small, rickety table and four chairs with peeling, white paint. I didn’t mind it, though. We had a roof over our heads, which was saying more for a lot of people in the world. Mother and my stepbrothers didn�
�t like it, however. They often chatted about their dreams to one day be rich and live in a mansion. There was no harm in dreaming— I did it myself from time to time.

  We each took our respective seats as Mother bustled about putting lunch on the table. Jacob and Jared’s eyes flew to me every time she left the room and snickered as I uncomfortably shifted in my seat. It was going to be a long three weeks.

  Chapter 2

  “Ellie, we’re out of water!”

  My eyes fluttered open at the shouting. I remained still, however, staring up at the wooden beams of the ceiling in my bedroom. I moved my head to the side and looked to Mother’s empty bed. She had left for Mardasia three days ago, and I had already done a week’s amount of work for my stepbrothers. How long had I even slept that night? After finishing all the dishes and mopping the floors, I had finally retreated to bed well past midnight. The little sunlight peeking through the one window in the bedroom suggested to me that it was dawn, and I estimated that I slept for a mere four or five hours.

  I groaned as I pushed myself up and out of the wool covers. My muscles ached from all the cleaning and lack of sleep.

  “Ellie!” Jacob’s voice rang through my walls.

  “I’m coming!” I shouted back, shivering from the chill air blowing through my nightgown and onto my skin.

  I walked over to the chest of drawers Mother and I shared and pulled out a simple, brown frock. All of my dresses were simple… And most were brown. The one thing I found myself really wishing for when Mother and my stepbrothers were daydreaming about better lives was pretty clothing. I studied myself in the full-length, cracked mirror by my bed. I did have a pretty, slender figure. It would be nice to one day wear something that flattered it… And maybe even put my hair up in a pretty style and wear some delicate slippers on my feet.

  I shook my head and turned away from my image. There was no use in wishing for such things. Though my stepbrothers were often mean and moronic, I had a loving mother and food in my belly. It could be worse.