The Ambitious Stepmother by Fidelis Morgan

Author:Fidelis Morgan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: FM

Oh dear! She gave a sigh. What banal rubbish. Fit only for children. She read on:

Prince Charming crept away from his wife and made his way to the Sleeping Princess. She was asleep, as she had been for years, and so as usual he undressed himself and ravished her.

Phough! What nauseating stuff. The Countess continued reading:

Still asleep, nine months later she gave birth to his child, and when that child bit her nipple with its sharp teeth she finally awoke…

Good lack, who wrote this filth? She flicked to the end of the story: Isabel Murdo-McTavish. Pshaw! Well, what could be expected? From what Alpiew had told her the woman seemed capable of anything. And if in a fit of jealousy at Lord Whippingham’s interest in the young girl Aurelia…well, then…

‘It’s a fascinating piece of folklore, don’t you agree, Countess? I scribbled that one the night before I was carried off.’

The Countess dropped the paper as though it was on fire. Standing in front of her was Isabel Lady Murdo-McTavish.

‘Isabel!’ She tried to look nonchalant. ‘You’re back?’

‘We each hold one another’s secret.’ Isabel put her finger to her lips and sat at the table. ‘But now we are on a mission, no?’

The Countess looked about her. No one else seemed to be present, but with all the spies she’d heard of, how could she be sure of anything? ‘I’ve come to join the writers’ group, Isabel. Where is everyone?’ She fanned herself, pulled out a chair and sat, trying to look blasé. ‘What exactly do we do at these meetings?’ She pulled out a quill and dipped it in the centrally placed jar of ink. ‘Is no one else coming?’

‘I lied.’ Isabel leant towards the Countess and whispered: ‘It’s usually only me and sometimes Leonora Smith. I let Prude think there are lots of others, so she won’t interfere. But it’s lovely keeping it down to two or three, then we can really analyse one another’s work in great detail.’

‘Come along, Isabel.’ The Countess poised her pen over a blank page. ‘I’m all aflame with creativity. Let’s write!’

‘A little piece together, do you think?’ Isabel picked up a blank sheet of paper. ‘Do you know, Countess, my little sojourn has inspired me with the most wonderful tale. While in…’ she lowered her voice again ‘…you know where, did you hear tell of a Mysterious Prisoner?’

The Countess tried to look interested and ignorant at the same time, and succeeded only in going cross-eyed.

‘I am going to write a story about him. They say he was put in there because he bears a strange likeness to the King. My theory is that the Mysterious Prisoner is the King’s bastard twin-brother, hidden from sight. But there lies the interest of the story: which one is the real King of France?’

Convinced that behind some screen all this was being noted down for the King himself, the Countess gave a little cough and wiggled her quill around. ‘Shouldn’t we just get down to writing something?’

‘What do

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