The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell

Author:Merrie Haskell
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins

I didn’t have to wait long before the princesses returned to the boats, each carried by her oarsman. Lord Dragos came last, holding Princess Lacrimora in his arms. He deposited her in the boat with a strange sort of tenderness, whispering an apology in her ear. I examined him, considering. What sort of creature, dragon-demon or otherwise, apologizes for dancing a woman’s feet bloody? Why not just let them go if he regretted it so much?

Iosif shoved off with a grunt. He rowed slowly behind the others, glaring at Lacrimora the whole while, as though it were possible that she with her slender frame had actually managed to gain a whole person’s weight in the course of one day.

When we finally reached the other shore, I disembarked as quietly and gracefully as possible, which honestly wasn’t very quietly or very gracefully. Still, Iosif didn’t notice, and Lacrimora said nothing. I made sure to walk far behind the princesses as they limped slowly through the forests.

What was going to happen, exactly, when Prince Vasile learned that the curse on his daughters was a strange bargain with a zmeu? If I told Prince Vasile and the Princess Consort what was going on down here, would that really put an end to all of this? Could it? Just discovering what the princesses were doing wasn’t actually enough, not in the face of the awesome powers of a zmeu.

I had to find out how to end this, how to free the princesses from the zmeu. Then they could stop poisoning people; then they could go out into the world and make important marriages that would bring peace and security to Sylvania; then they could produce those heirs for Prince Vasile.

Then they could wake the sleepers.

I stared at the plants in the strange forest and wondered if one of them was the secret of the deathlike sleep. My fingers itched to take a sample of every growing thing, just in case, but the fear of being trapped in the Underworld spurred me onward.

This made me think of Mihas, of course. Poor Mihas— I could pity him now, had to pity him now. I couldn’t leave him to this darkness alone.

And then there was the matter of Iosif the Saxon. He was surly, no question, but being Lacrimora’s oarsman would make anyone surly. More to the point, though: If Iosif was the linchpin in Hungary’s machinations against Sylvania, wouldn’t it take the wind out of their sails if Iosif showed up and told them that the curse was real?

Before I quite knew it, I had decided that I had to return to the Underworld again. My first priority was to free Iosif and Mihas; my second was to learn how to break the curse.

In the winter forest, I drew closer to the princesses, determined not to be left behind. They murmured about the chill of the snow freezing the iron surrounding their feet.

“Feels bloody wonderful,” Ruxandra said.

“They’re going to hurt even worse when they warm up again,” Viorica said.

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