The Goose Girl and the Artificial

By K.M. Robinson

What would you do if your artificially intelligent handmaiden stole your identity?

Threatened by her Artificial, Arta, Princess Goselyn is forced to switch places and pretend she isn't human when she reaches Prince Corinth to negotiate a treaty they both need to be able to take their respective crowns one day. If she doesn't comply, her Artificial, controlled by her evil cousin, will not only kill Goselyn's mother, but Prince Corinth and his father as well.

Can the quiet princess outsmart a machine created to be more intelligent than she is, all while surviving the other Artificials and robots working against her in the foreign palace, or will Corinth and his father find out and destroy her chance to save them all?

Perfect for fans of Katherine Arden, Kiera Cass, and Annie Sullivan.

• Language: English
• Publisher: K.M. Robinson
• Release date: Dec 18, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386192664

Book preview

The Goose Girl and the ArtificalFull Page Image

Contents

Copyright

The Goose Girl and the Artificial

Acknowledgments

World Portals

About the Author

Connect On Social Media

Also By K.M. Robinson

Jaded: Book One of the Jaded Duology

Golden: Book One of the Golden Trilogy

The Siren Wars: Book One of the Siren Wars Saga

Along Came A Spider: The First Prequel Novelette To The Legends Chronicles

Virtually Sleeping Beauty

The Revolution of Jack Frost

The Sinking

Cindrill

Sugarcoated

THE GOOSE GIRL AND THE ARTIFICIAL

Copyright © 2018 by K.M. Robinson.

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Published by Crescent Sea Publishing.

www.crescentseapublishing.com

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Cover designed by Reading Transforms.

Image copyright © K.M. Robinson Photography.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, brands, trademarks, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.

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All rights reserved, which includes the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever except as provided by the U.S. Copyright Law.

To Elle, without whom I never would have known the story of Goose Girl

You don’t have a choice, Arta sneers. You lost your key—you have no control over me, and in case you’ve forgotten, I’m designed to be smarter than you.

My father always used to tell me that if I had to lose to someone, I should lose to someone that wasn’t as smart as I was. That’s hard advice to follow when the person you’re losing to artificially created to be smarter than me.

I trail behind Arta as she walks away from Fal. My dress swishes behind her as she moves.

If they’re smarter than you, they will know how to stay on top. If they aren’t, you can beat them at their own game.

Arta is definitely smarter.

Behave, I tap Fal on the head. He beeps quietly, slipping into sleep mode.

Greetings, a man sings, walking swiftly toward us. Thank you for making the journey. My son has been waiting for you.

Thank you, your highness. Arta dips gracefully into a curtsy. This is my Artificial.

She waves her hand at me.

What might your name be? the king asks.

Goselyn, sir, I say softly. Arta waves a finger behind her back, reminding me to follow orders.

Artificials aren’t required to bow to humans, so I hold my pose. There are a lot of things I’m going to have to remember to do now.

Come along, ladies, the king turns, guiding us toward the massive palace.

Panels along the hallway walls mimic exterior windows, morphing into different scenes based on the king’s biometric readings. The device around his neck reads his movements and controls the devices around him, including the settings on the fake windows.

A door slides back in front of us courtesy of the device, opening up into a stunning parlor. The walls are covered in red and gold tapestries—a stark contrast to the purple and silver in my own palace.

Princess, a young man says, jumping to his feet as he sets the book down he had been reading. "Thank you