A spellbound princess. An enchanted castle. A mysterious stranger.
The castle binds her, even protects her. princess Alikina is sure she is destined to live out her life trapped in this prison of perfect leisure, alone but for the company of one silent being.
Until the stranger arrives, mortally wounded, turning her world upside down.
Who is this outsider? Where did he come from?
What dark tidings does he bear?
Alikina discovers the one thing that can save her kingdom. She slips through the flawed enchantment to face a world of pain and sorrow wrought by the hand of an evil queen.
Can she find the courage to face her fears and claim the throne she was born to?
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A literary medieval fantasy novel suitable for all ages.
Meet the Characters
Alikina
"One evening after going into my room, quite worn out from the day's work, I passed a mirror, stopped and just looked at me, now it was through the eyes of our man. I never before gave much attention to my appearance outside of an occasional odd time in a costume as described in a current read. But this time I really looked. I saw a head of stringy hair, messy and unkept. A shift and plain kirtle with no sleeves as was my habit to wear. My shawl was limp and missing tassels. My stockings bagged about my ankles and my shoes were never tied for I often kicked them off to tuck my feet under me as I read. I blushed for the hundredth time that day. How ashamed I was! Oh, Hans must be so humiliated! Me, a princess, whom he is to serve and I've no more care for my appearance than a scullery maid, or beggar girl. My mother! What would she think if she were alive? It was as though now, through the eyes of our man, the whole world saw me. And my father, if he may yet be alive, would not be pleased. I collapsed into a pile of overlong pent-up emotions. Suddenly my life became so complicated and exhausting. My would be prison had been my safety, was now invaded."
Hans
"Hans lost no time setting to his task, as his senses did not seem to hinder his abilities, or was it that he had mastered them, after all he was only an apparition with hands, wasn’t he? I had not even considered these small oddities for such a long time, and only in my recalling is it that I mention how strange it must have been. Hans was the way he was, a pair of gloves that needed torchlight to see, had feeling and felt pain, and apparently in this moment, immune to the offensive odor of a mortal wound. "
Raoul
"I took his face in my hands and closed my eyes, I needed to remember what it felt to be warmed by another. Then I wanted to look at him: the hair on his head, brushed back into its queue, his weathered cheeks that constantly threatened to beard, his dark eyes, where there was no twinkle this moment but displayed a heart that lay open, offering, hesitant and pleading. I would not forget his face, the sound of his voice, nor the smell of horses and leather that permeated his person. Overwhelmed with a terrible need to not forget I leaned forward and kissed his brow. "