Princess without a Palace: A King Thrushbeard Fairy Tale Read online

  Once Upon a Time

  Princess Liesel is adamant that the last thing she would ever want is to have to leave her splendid palace and marry a prince. But after she scorns one too many suitors, her father loses his temper with her spoiled ways and declares that she must marry the next man who dares to seek her hand! Unfortunately for her, the next man who proposes—albeit unintentionally—is only a humble, traveling minstrel.

  Now, cast off and penniless, she finds herself at the mercy of her handsome betrothed who intends for her to become a proper peasant. But after a lifetime of being pampered, ordinary chores and tasks are not as easy as she expected, and she soon realizes she will need her prospective husband’s help if she hopes to salvage anything of her future.

  Will the two strangers be able to find a way to work together and perhaps free themselves from their forced betrothal? Or might they find that “happily ever afters” sometimes happen in unexpected ways …

  A retelling of the timeless Grimm fairy tale, “King Thrushbeard.”

  *This book is a clean and proper romance.

  Princess without a Palace

  A King Thrushbeard Fairy Tale

  Kristen Niedfeldt

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are the product of the author’s imagination.

  Text Copyright © 2016 by Kristen Niedfeldt

  Cover Image Copyright Kateryna Upit

  Cover image used under license from Shutterstock.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission from the author.

  Dedicated to

  My parents.

  Thank you for all the years you spent

  listening to and reading all of my stories!

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  Once upon a time…

  It was a mistake to steal the shoes, Liesel thought to herself as she nervously stood beside the wagon that was being prepared for her departure. Every now and then, a royal guard would glance her way and she would reflexively shift her weight from foot to foot, certain he could sense her consuming guilt.

  She looked straight ahead to avoid eye contact with any of the guards positioned around her. She didn’t know how she would survive the shame if she were caught. She knew her father well enough to know that he would confiscate the shoes, burn them before her eyes, and send her away barefoot if he were to discover she was wearing them. But even knowing this, she still hadn’t been able to resist the temptation to slip them on that morning. After all, didn’t she deserve at least a little sense of dignity?

  She heard the heavy steps of a man approaching from behind, but she refused to turn to acknowledge his arrival. Even without glancing his way, she knew exactly who he was. Tears burned in her eyes as she silently cursed, for what was probably the thousandth time, the terrible fortune that had brought his arrival into the kingdom. All it had taken was one line, one disastrously unfortunate sentence, and suddenly, he had changed her life forever.

  And she would never forgive him for it.

  She blinked rapidly to dispel the appearance of excess moisture from her eyes a moment before he came to stand before her.

  “Are you ready then?” he questioned in his deep voice.

  She raised her chin and gave him a curt nod, refusing to answer him verbally.

  “Then you’ve said your goodbyes?”

  “I said I am ready, didn’t I?” she reminded him coolly.

  He extended his arm toward the wagon. “Then shall we be off?”

  Pursing her trembling lips together, she looked down at the ground, afraid of what might happen if she dared to look around at her surroundings one last time. She wasn’t ready to leave, but she had no choice.

  Her orders to leave were final.

  The man took a step forward and placed a hand on her elbow to help her up into the wagon, but she yanked her arm away. Turning from him, she grasped the rough, wooden side of the frame, but before she had a chance to raise her foot to the lowest step, the man’s strong hands circled around her waist and he swiftly hoisted her onto the wagon bench.

  Her eyes blazed down on him and she attempted to transform her surprise into a scowl. “I can climb onto the wagon on my own just fine, you know.”

  “But I wouldn’t want you to exhaust yourself so soon, when we have so far to travel today.”

  She clenched her jaw in anger. How dare he imply that she should be so weak!

  He held her stubborn stare for a long moment before his gaze dropped to her feet.

  Heat immediately sprang to her cheeks. Her shoes! His impertinence had made her forget all about her bright purple shoes which had been dangling for anyone to see!

  She hastened to cover them again with her coarse skirts. Scanning the vicinity, she was relieved to see that no one in the area seemed to have noticed them.

  No one, except the man standing at her feet.

  She despised the amused eyebrow he raised at her. With eyes narrowed in a silent threat, she sternly warned him not to reveal her.

  He dismissed her disdainful look with a smile.

  Oh, how he infuriated her!

  She crossed her arms and sat a little straighter in her seat. She refused to care what this man thought of her. Even if he happened to be the man she was now condemned to marry.

  She would not let it matter to her what he thought of her fancy shoes.

  He was still shaking his head in apparent disbelief as he checked on his horse. Defiantly, she rubbed her toes against the velvet insides and relished their softness.

  She no longer questioned her brazen choice. She was glad she had stolen them from her castle room, because no matter what else laid in store for her in her now extremely uncertain future life, she was sure of one thing.

  She was determined to ensure that this man–her betrothed–would never forget:

  She had been born, and would forever remain, a princess.

  Chapter One

  One week earlier…

  Princess Liesel stretched out along the bench beneath her bedroom window and glanced out at the mountains in the distance. Even though she had sketched this same scene countless times before, she couldn’t help but draw it again now. She loved the soaring mountains and grassy meadows like they were a part of her own soul.

  While she worked on shading the shadows that were creeping up the mountain slopes, a small visitor flew in and perched on her windowsill. Pecking at the edge of the paper on her knees, the little bird demanded to be noticed.

  “Shoo,” Liesel ordered with a dismissive flick of her hand.

  Realizing that the bird still lingered, she glanced up to see the small tilting head studying her. She was beginning to feel unnerved by its persistent stare when it su
ddenly turned and flew away. Liesel recognized the bird’s speckled breast and drooping beak as that of a song thrush, and watched with regret as he disappeared beyond one of the stone towers. Ordering him away, she had robbed herself of any chance of hearing his beautiful song.

  Perhaps the little bird would come back. She sincerely hoped he would. Such a picturesque evening deserved musical accompaniment.

  Relegating her regret to a farther part of her mind, she returned to her drawing and began sketching the clouds in the sky. Light and wispy, she was pleased to note that the sky was clear of any signs of impending storms.

  She continued with her sketch for several quiet moments and then looked out at the valley again. She almost didn’t notice the subtle change in the distance until her eyes settled on the edge of the valley, and then her charcoal dropped with a sudden thud from her hand. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Thin gray streams of smoke were curling into the air from the entrance of the kingdom’s northern mountain pass.

  Her pulse accelerated as a deep fear took root within her.

  She had to admit she was surprised by the degree of terror she felt when she was almost certain she knew who was coming.

  It was just that she hadn’t expected to see this sight so soon.

  When torch-bearing soldiers began filing into the valley in disciplined rows only moments later, she sprang to her feet and looked around frantically. Where could she possibly flee?

  A trumpet from one of the castle’s tallest towers pierced the air with two syncopated blasts, and the inhabitants within the castle propelled themselves into action.

  Liesel listened as the outside corridors were suddenly flooded with servants rushing about in a frantic frenzy. She knew her mother would expect her to help with the preparations, but Liesel recoiled at the thought of joining such a chaotic scene.

  Instead, she ran across the room and jumped into her bed.

  Knowing her door would likely open at any moment, she quickly threw her bed covers over her head to hide her face from sight.

  She was not concealed a moment too soon.

  Liesel inhaled a sharp breath and held it tight within her chest as her door swung open and crashed back against the stone wall.

  “Liesel, are you in here?” her sister called out breathlessly.

  She listened to quick footsteps cross the floor until they stopped just a few inches away. “Liesel, what are you doing in bed so early? Are you unwell?” There was another pause before she felt her sister’s hand shake her shoulder. “Liesel?”

  The younger princess waited a few seconds before she turned on her heels and hurried back out of the room. From under her covers, Liesel couldn’t make out all of the muffled words her sister grumbled as she exited, but she was pretty certain she heard her sister, Adelaide, note that only Liesel could sleep through the most exciting day of the summer.

  Ironically, Liesel knew that she would most likely not sleep at all this night. How could she when she knew what the returning army meant for her future?

  For one thing, it meant that her father was finally home. And with his return, she could only pray that he had been too preoccupied with his distant wars to remember his parting promise to her.

  Closing her eyes, she dared to allow herself to hope. Perhaps it had merely been an empty threat. Perhaps her father had no intention of actually following through with it.

  She squeezed her eyes tighter in an attempt to hold onto that hope.

  She just couldn’t bear to believe otherwise.

  Chapter Two

  “Good morning, milady,” Gretchen sang as she entered the princess’s chamber the next morning.

  Liesel opened an eye to see her ever-merry maid setting her breakfast tray beside her bed, but she merely closed her eyes once more and turned to face the other way.

  “Oh, you’ll not be wanting to stay in bed this morning, I wager. Such excitement! Such important visitors! It’s a wonder you were able to sleep through it all last night.”

  “Hmmm,” Liesel answered. She refrained from confessing that she had actually been awake most of the night. The clanging of the returning company and their ungraceful movements downstairs would have hardly allowed for anything else.

  But then Liesel stiffened. Daring to look back over her shoulder, she inquired warily, “What did you say about important guests?”

  “Then you haven’t heard the chatter in the halls?”

  Liesel shook her head.

  “Oh my! No one has been able to speak of anything else today! But perhaps I should just let it be a grand surprise …” the maid trailed off with a teasing smile.

  Liesel pushed herself up to a sitting position. “You’ll do nothing of the sort. Who are these visitors you speak of?”

  “You needn’t be so uppity with me, Princess,” Gretchen scolded fondly. Liesel raised an eyebrow at her maid’s address, but didn’t reproach her. The maid then sat on the edge of the bed, and leaned forward to confide, “Why, your father has returned from his travels with not one, but two distinguished princes!”

  Liesel clutched her stomach. She was going to be sick.

  Despite her deepest hopes, it seemed her father was intent on following through with his threats.

  Her maid didn’t appear to notice her mistress’s sudden lack of color and continued, “And you know what this means, don’t you?”

  “Of course not. They could be here for any number of reasons,” snapped the princess as she picked at the loose threads in her bedspread.

  The maid pretended to be oblivious of Liesel’s temper, but wisely didn’t continue on the subject.

  “Will you be wanting me to wash your hair this morning?” the maid asked as she touched one of Liesel’s long, light brown tresses. “It looks so stunning when it’s freshly clean.”

  “There’s no need for that. I’d actually prefer you to braid it this morning.”

  “But why must you hide such pretty hair from your handsome suitors?”

  “Don’t call them that,” Liesel reproved sharply.

  “Well, that’s what they are, aren’t they?” the maid said with a smile as she patted the princess’s hand.

  “You have yet to tell me the names of these princes,” Liesel reminded. “And they are probably only here to negotiate another one of Father’s treaties” she insisted.

  Gretchen gave her mistress an exasperated look, but willingly answered, “One of them is hardly a stranger to you. The handsome Prince Cornelius has come with his father.”

  “I see,” Liesel replied. Prince Cornelius had been an incorrigible flirt at all of his visits since the time they had been young teenagers. “And the other one?” she prompted.

  “Hmmm … I cannot remember his name exactly.”

  “Gretchen,” Liesel said in a warning tone.

  “Honestly, Princess. I cannot remember his name. But he is from Brenhausen, the kingdom to our west.”

  “I think I have heard something of him before,” Liesel mumbled. But she wasn’t sure. Alas, she should have paid better attention when her mother had rambled on about such matters. But in her defense, it had been almost a year since her mother had last pestered her about anything related to diplomacy. After her brother’s birth, Liesel had been freed from that kind of torture. And nothing could have pleased her more. She had dreaded the prospect of ever having to take the throne.

  “Don’t you want me to tell you what he looks like?” Gretchen asked.

  “I really don’t care to know.”

  “Well, it’s no matter. You’ll know who he is when you meet him. And you’ll never forget him either.” Liesel wondered what Gretchen meant by that, but didn’t dare ask. “But I doubt you’ll be paying him much attention anyway with Prince Cornelius around. That young man has always been able to bring such a blush to your cheeks.”

  “Of mortification!” Liesel defended. “And again. I must insist that you stop implying the princes are here for any business that has anything to do with me.
”

  “As you wish, milady,” Gretchen answered with another one of her twinkling smiles. She then began walking back toward the door, but stopped to inquire one last time, “Are you sure you would not like me to wash your hair this morning?”

  “Gretchen,” Liesel growled.

  “I just thought I should make sure … With a pretty sister like Adelaide, I wouldn’t want to risk losing such a handsome suitor … I mean ambassador,” Gretchen amended with a teasing smile, “just because I was too stubborn to bathe.”

  “She is more than welcome to him,” Liesel offered generously. “And now if you wouldn’t mind, I would like to leisurely eat my breakfast in peace. You may return to braid my hair when you are ready to cease with your teasing.”

  Gretchen curtsied and then slipped from the room.

  But after the door closed, Liesel found she could do little more than just stare at the food on her plate. How could she muster an appetite when her insides were completely filled with dread?

  She might be able to order Gretchen to leave the matter alone. But she knew she would not find it as easy a task to dissuade her formidable father from his plans.

  With her hair freshly coiled around her head in an appropriate crown-like fashion, Liesel begrudgingly made her way downstairs. Although she wished she could, she knew it was futile to try to stay inside her room forever.

  After making her way down the long, spiral staircase that led to the main floor, she paused before the massive doors of the great hall. The energy that exuded from the room was overwhelming. Scores of people could be heard moving about within and their singing and boisterous laughter rattled the door handles. One of the soldiers standing guard moved to open the door for her, but she instantly waved his service aside and turned to walk down another hall.

  She was somewhat ashamed of her momentary lack of courage, but reasoned that although she couldn’t confine herself to her quarters, there was no need to proactively rush to meet her fate.