The Wayward Tower: A Rapunzel Novella: The Twin Kingdoms, #3

By Nancy O'Toole

Trapped in a tower

 

Aria knows how to escape imprisonment. All she needs to do is to lead Prince Victor to his death. But she has no desire to become a murderer or assist the man that holds her captive. Instead, Aria discovers a possible solution in unfamiliar magic. The Wayward Paths may lead her to freedom, but they will require her to come face to face with the shadows of her past.

 

The foolish prince

 

Victor's life is in danger. After barely escaping a deadly masquerade, he finds himself a target of The Mage King, an ancient being who requires royal blood. Not that Victor takes that too seriously. He'd rather think about Aria, the beautiful and mysterious woman that visits him in his dreams. Aria's past holds the key to the identity of The Mage King, but will their encounters provide him with answers or result in his demise?

 

What dangers lie on The Wayward Paths?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nancy O'Toole
• Release date: Dec 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201246679

Book preview

The Wayward Tower

A Rapunzel Novella

Nancy O'Toole

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Midnight Tide Publishing

Copyright © 2021 by Nancy O'Toole

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

Contents

1. The Tower

2. The Knight

3. The Compound

4. The Book

5. The Bedtime Story

6. The Classroom

7. The Sleeping Prince

8. The Monarch

9. The Hill

10. The Dreamer

11. The Princess

12. The Name

13. The Soldier

14. The Wings

15. The Beast

16. The Magician

17. The Flower

18. The Secret

19. The Catacombs

20. The Rope

21. The Golem

22. The Truth

Acknowledgments

The Starlight Blade

Also by Nancy O'Toole

More by Midnight Tide Publishing

1

The Tower

Victor

I know it’s around here somewhere.

I led my horse to a clearing in the middle of the woods, the sound of my sister rustling through the brush behind me. Beyond that, all I could hear was birdsong and the wind in the trees.

A bit different from the royal compound where I lived with my family.

At the same time, it was pretty ordinary. The trees were just trees. The dirt beneath my horse’s hooves was nothing more than regular old dirt. But that didn’t change the fact that beneath it all, there was something else. Something deeper. I could feel it.

Not willing to admit you’re wrong?

At the familiar drawl, I turned around to catch sight of my sister on top of a chestnut mare, stepping out from the trees. A lazy smile spread across my face. Not many people would look at us and think siblings. We didn’t much look alike. I was pretty much everything you’d expect a Verdian prince to be, at least on the outside. Tall, with dark eyes, lightly tanned skin, and brown hair my mother was always getting on me to trim.

My sister, on the other hand? She was a constant reminder that while Verdians tended to look a certain way, there were always outliers. She had freckled skin, red hair cut to about chin length, and light brown eyes. And you couldn’t tell from up on that horse, but she was a solid foot shorter than me.

As for which one of us acted more like royalty? That was another story.

Admit I’m wrong? I raised an eyebrow. Now, why would I do that?

Viola rolled her eyes. Because there’s no tower out here, dummy. I know Pa’s lands. It’s just trees and more trees.

Hey now! Don’t discount this place. We just passed by a stream. That wasn’t a tree!

Fine. A stream is one thing. But a tower?

I shook my head. Truth be told, it had been years since I’d been able to find the place. I had been awful small, toddling away when my nursemaid wasn’t looking. But while I don’t have many memories from way back then, the sight of the big honking thing, towering stories above, had never left me.

An insistent pull of magic brought me back there now.

I turned to the left, where the pull was the strongest, then pivoted back to Viola with a smile.

It’s just through those trees, I said.

Excuse me?

You heard me, sis. Right through that group of trees. Damn impressive sight, too.

Viola snorted in disbelief, then paused. You’re serious?

Oh, I don’t joke about masonry.

You don’t…what does that even mean?

Just go ahead. I jerked my head in the right direction. Take a look.

Viola gave me a long, steady look before letting out a sigh. Why do I feel as if I’m being set up for some prank?

What are you expecting? Pie in the face?

More like a bucket of water falling on my head.

Sis, you wound me. I pressed my hand against my chest in mock sincerity. Who do you take me for?

Someone who doesn’t take anything seriously, she replied, but pushed on toward the trees.

Oh, I’ll have you know that I take many things seriously. I urged my horse after her. Nights out at the tavern. Afternoon naps.

Trust me! You don’t have to tell me that you’re a lazy…

Viola’s voice drifted off the second she made it to the clearing. I watched as her eyes widened and her neck craned back.

Holy shit, she finally said.

Not that I could blame her. It was just as tall as I remembered it, which is impressive given that I’d been quite a bit shorter as a toddler. The tower was a round, skinny stone structure several stories high. Sure, the exact number of levels was hard to make out. There weren’t that many windows, and the bottom layer was surrounded by giant thorn bushes that probably blocked off the door.

I looked at my sister and chuckled. Such language! And from a princess?

How have I never seen this? It’s so tall! It should be visible from the compound.

I can think of a damn good reason.

Viola gave me a strange look.

Maaaagic.

Victor. Her voice was low and warning.

Now. I raised a hand. I know what you’re gonna say.

Victor, we are being hunted by a powerful member of an ancient race! Is now really the time to be following magical urges?

What, you think this is a trap or something?

Yes! This looks like the perfect place to sacrifice a couple of royals to raise The Mage King.

The Mage King. I snorted. Think his mother gave him that name?

Please! Don’t treat this like a joke!

I think we’ve recently established that is counter to my nature.

Well, I would appreciate it if you were serious for once. Because it’s exhausting doing so for the both of us.

At that, Viola whirled away from me and directed her mare back into the woods.

Viola? I called out. Come on, Viola!

But it was too late.

She wouldn’t go far, of course. Had to be around in case something terrible happened. Which, I had to admit, was a possibility.

My sister, as always, had a point.

It was why we had spent the last six months in the frozen north. Last fall, weird magical occurrences had begun happening in the royal compound. At first, we didn’t pay them much heed, which might sound strange if you didn’t know my personal history. Weird magical things just happened around me. From finding towers that no one else could see to climbing trees only to discover that they had doubled in size when I was halfway up.

It made for an exciting childhood.

When I was eight, the court magician had taken this as a sign that I was magically inclined. It wasn’t all that uncommon in the royal family, after all. But when I had failed to show an aptitude for it (not to mention the patience), that stuffed shirt had given up on me, labeling the second son of King Valiant the Third as odd.

But while strange stuff happened to me all the time, waking up to find my entire room covered in thorns was a bit much. And that had only been the beginning.

According to Rebecca, the Queen of Kelvia, our neighbor to the north, these strange events lined up with magical outbursts throughout the Twin Kingdoms. The reason behind it? The Mage King, a member of an ancient race known as the fair folk, was waking up from a cursed sleep. And apparently, the best cure for said curse happened to be royal blood. It had taken the death of the former King of Kelvia, commonly known as The Butcher, to rouse him, and now he was hungry for more.

While Viola and I had been in Kelvia, The Mage King had set a trap with an enchanted masquerade, run by his cohort The Master of Ceremonies, also known as Lyric. Rebecca had managed to take out Lyric, allowing us to escape. In recent months, things had seemed to calm down, and my sister and I had decided to come home.

So, you could see why Viola was a little sensitive about the magic thing.

Hell, I should be too. Guess I had just grown used to shrugging off weird magic.

With a sigh, I turned my horse in the direction of my sister, then froze when I caught sight of something in the highest window of the tower.

It couldn’t be…

I craned my neck back in its direction, looking up at that high window. It was empty, of course. But for just a moment, I could have sworn that I had seen her.

My horse danced beneath me.

All right, all right, I said, reaching up to pat him on the side of the neck. I can see you’re on Vi’s side.

And with that, I turned and rode away from the tower, shoving all nonsense from my mind. Those thorn bushes blocked the entrance. There was no way anyone could ever get up there, never mind Aria.

Must have been wishful thinking on my part.

2

The Knight

Aria

I awoke with a gasp, finding my lungs completely empty of oxygen. My pulse thundered in panic as I struggled to draw in air. I raised a single hand to my chest, forcing my breathing to steady, my body to stop trembling, and my gaze to focus on the solid wooden beams above me. I repeated a single thought in my mind:

I’m awake. I’m awake. I’m awake.

It had happened again. The Nightmare had come for me, eager to pull me back into its dark embrace as it had for thousands of years, along with the rest of the folk.

I would not let it take me again.

With a grunt of effort, I moved into a sitting position and swung my legs off the side of the bed. I reached back and freed my thick braid of hair from my pillows and sheets. Life had recently educated me about the complications that came with ankle-length hair, including the fact that it could take an hour just to thoroughly untangle it.