The Stepmother by Cordelia Castel

Author:Cordelia Castel
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub

Chapter 3

Gabrielle gaped. “What do you mean?”

Angelique frowned. “You can’t be a Queen.”

Candide stuck her nose in the air and glared at the captain. “You will arrange my transportation at once.”

Captain Noyer shrugged and gave a boy whispered instructions and a silver coin. The boy scampered off in the rain, and puddles splashed over his shins. Candide stood in the middle of the harbor, taking in the sights of her homeland. Fishermen scurried past, carrying multiple-legged creatures and fish the size of ogres. Dockworkers loaded crates of pungent spices onto ships.

Unlike in the Seven Kingdoms, everyone in Savannah had dark hair and olive skin. Despite years of living in the sun, Candide had always kept her complexion fair. It had been something which had differentiated her from her countrywomen and had attracted the attention of the King.

“Are you going to explain yourself?” snapped Angelique.

Candide curved her lips. “I will wait until you’re in the presence of your father, the King, before telling my story.”

Gabrielle squealed and grabbed her sister’s hand. “I told you we were special.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“That attitude is hardly befitting of a princess,” said Candide, putting a hint of reprimand in her voice.

“So you’re really the Queen, then?” asked Captain Noyer.

Candide smirked. “Yes.”

The captain bent into a low bow. Candide’s face split into a grin, but she noticed he didn’t attempt to refund any of the gold he and his crew had extorted from her. She tossed her head. After the awful journey through Merman’s triangle, she couldn’t complain. Half a dozen crew members had died during the trip, which made her feel some sense of vindication.

The boy returned with a Talking Toad, a ten-feet tall, crimson creature, carrying a golden howdah on its back. Its handler, a man clad in a red silk tunic and matching chaperon, sat on the beast’s neck.

“Mother, I’m not getting on that thing,” said Gabrielle. “It looks poisonous.”

“Never mind the color,” said Angelique. “It’s bigger than an elephant. What if it eats us?”

Candide turned to the gaping captain and offered him a regal smile. “I can honestly say it was not a pleasure to have met you. You are a scoundrel and ruffian of the worst order, and if you don’t leave my shores this instant, I will have you hanged for piracy.”

The man’s face fell, which gave Candide some measure of satisfaction.

Candide strode forward, forcing the first mate to accompany her with the canopy. She eyed her daughters. They shrieked when the first drops of hot rain hit their skin and ran ahead to the shelter.

The serving boy unrolled a long ladder attached to the howdah. Candide struggled up the ladder in her gown. It swayed from side to side, despite the efforts of the boy to hold it still. At last, they boarded the howdah and sank into its plush, jaguar skin cushions. Ropes of thick, soft silk secured them to their seats. He held a large, spiky fruit, from which a bamboo straw protruded. “Abacanut, senhoritas?”

Angelique curled her lip.

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