Pitch
One hundred years after she accidentally cursed her own Fae court and fled her abuser, Vesper still doesn’t know who she is. As The Huntress, she’s a gifted warrior who protects humans from monsters escaping Faerie. As La Conteuse, she tells fantastical tales to infiltrate King Louis XIV’s superstitious court. And La Malreine, the fugitive faerie queen, is hunted by the mysterious sorcerer in danger of capturing her heart. When curse turns to blight and young women die of sleeping sickness, Vesper must unravel her past, control her Fae gifts and accept the darkness within, before it consumes both realms. Sleeping Beauty becomes Maleficent in a feminist story of power and forbidden love, set in the realms of Faerie and 17th century France.
‘You believe you know her story, Mortal, but you do not. The story of a spindle. A curse. An enchanted castle enveloped by vine and thorn. Of one hundred years lost. The story of a prince. A kiss. An awakening. The truth would fill but a thimble. The rest…what you believe you know…is nothing but lies.’
Excerpt from The Sleeping Princess
A tale of faery byLa Conteuse, L’Oiseau Bleu
Chapter One
Val de Loire
1696
Vesper
Under a gnarled oak, the ghulnox sniffs the girl’s throat, as if deciding where to bite.
Like many creatures of Faerie, it possesses an irresistible nature to humans, its beauty honed to lure innocents into dark woods. It may appear as a winsome youth. Or a handsome prince from tales of the Fae. Whatever its victim desires. Only another faerie can see the monster beneath its foul skin.
Another faerie like me. And never again will I be a victim.
This poor girl cannot see beyond the creature’s façade, but she must sense its wrongness. It stands tall, its dark hair visible under a black hood, one hand gripping her neck. The other caresses her tear-stained cheeks. Fear, like sour milk and bitter cabbage, seeps from her pores. Her dark eyes are wide with terror, her body limp in its arms. Her chaff-covered skirt suggests she was threshing when it lured her from her hamlet. Perhaps nearby Virolais. It likely set her loose in the woods, allowing the hope of escape, only to catch her again.
But no human can outrun the Night Fae.
Before it sinks its teeth into her flesh, I stride from the forest’s shadows, twenty paces away, a silver arrow nocked in my bow. ‘You’re not welcome here, ghulnox.’
The creature’s head snaps towards me, nostrils flaring. ‘The Place In Between belongs to all of us, Huntress,’ it hisses in a deep, resonant voice. ‘You’ve been away a long time. Things have changed.’
I cannot disagree. In my absence, the border between the human realm and Faerie has grown feral.
‘Aidez moi,’ the girl begs, seeing me. ‘S’il vous plaît, Madame.’
I ignore her pleas. I must, if I’m to save her. If I cannot…well, it’s better not to glimpse her humanity. Not to etch her doomed face into memory. Like too many others.
Continued…