Glass Slipper Scandal by Tansy Rayner Roberts

Author:Tansy Rayner Roberts [Roberts, Tansy Rayner]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780995365117
Publisher: Sheep Might Fly
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

HUNTING WITH QUILLS

Kai could not believe the luck of it. The story of the century had fallen into his lap, and this time he wasn’t going to let itgo.

He had tried pitching several original pieces to the editor, who turned all of them down flat. Amira shook her head at him afterwards. “If you’re not writing about the midnight princess right now, pet, you’re invisible.”

“But everyone’s writing about the midnight princess,” Kai said in frustration.

“Sure, but there’s always a new angle.”

A new angle on the story that had already been done to death in less than 24 hours? Sure.

So Kai returned to the castle, walking the path that the fleeing princess must have taken after the ball, and trying to get his head around a ‘new angle’. He didn’t question why he needed to be here, why the castle was tugging at him, until he noticed that his ink was itchy.

Kai had a magical tattoo on the small of his back: his mother had always told him that in the kingdom they came from, it was traditional to have a fortune tattoo bespelled to each child, marking out their destined path inlife.

His had never made a lot of sense: it was a literal blot of ink, most of the time, shimmering and occasionally splashing, as if a new drop had been added. Sometimes it resolved itself into words, though they were hard for him to read and he had rarely been in a position to ask others to translate forhim.

On the few occasions he had been drawn to the changing images by the itch of the ink, and held a mirror up in time, he had caught what looked like newspaper headlines: Castle Charming Princes Go Wild and thelike.

It had been enough to convince his mother that his path lay here, that being a quill was a profession she could be proud of, though she had been hoping for something more highbrow: a writer of ballads, perhaps, or a scholar of journals.

Kai had never in his life regretted following where the ink urged him, and tonight it clearly wanted him here, in this garden behind the castle, for whatever reason.

It certainly wasn’t for inspiration, as he had been walking around in circles to no avail for hours.

Just as he was about to give up, he spied a girl in a nightgown climbing down the trellis and running off into the garden. He wasn’t sure if it was her — the actual midnight princess herself — until he crept closer and heard something of her conversation with the sinister, beautiful fairy gentleman.

This was pure gold. Story of the century. But it was all too fanciful to write up for the Herald without something solid to tetherit.

An interview. He would have to interview the midnight princess.

“I could smell your bluebell bullshit a mile off. Come out here and face me, you bastards!”

The princess fled the scene, and Kai went after her, scrambling around urns and hedges until he got in front of her.

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