They met back up with Dannan The Ogre who clearly knew Jon and offered to aide them in their quest to the castle.
As she hung on to Jon Doe The Stable Boy, his broad back her marker through the thickening haze of snow, she stumbled and tripped her way toward wherever they were going.
And still, even with the wind and snow lashing their faces, the bitter cold making her eyes water, this was a cakewalk compared to closing the store with Bree breathing down her neck, demanding she move faster so she could go home and play with her friends on Facebook.
For that much, she was grateful.
Jon forced himself to remain calm, yet his heart crashed in his chest so loudly, he worried the others would hear its harsh thump. As he held Toni’s hand, helping her over logs, pushing the brush from their path, he stole glances at her.
Good realms, she was beautiful. Her hair was like fire, dancing over her slender back and resting on her rounded hips, her eyes the color of the green gemstones he and his brother once dove for during summers at the lake.
She possessed lips he wished to press his fingers to in order to discover if they were as soft and plump as he imagined.
She smelled of the breeze in the summer, a hint of honeysuckle on the vine mingling with the lavender his mother used to grow.
This Toni was intoxicating, leaving him with a tight chest and a heady heart, and he didn’t understand this feeling. One he’d never felt before.
He’d never heard of this land she claimed to hail from, but he reminded himself to consult a map the moment he could get his hands on one.
In the meantime, he had to return her to the castle—a treacherous journey to be sure. Though, possibly not for the pale goddess whose title was Nina. She’d almost made him cringe as she’d glared at him and threatened his very life, her pale skin a pretty canvass for her darkly disturbing almond-shaped eyes.
And how was it she was mother to a reindeer? It was absurd. Did this land called Jersey have a new species of reindeer he’d not encountered?
And how odd that Toni had the king’s shoes. He vaguely remembered some sort of scandal at the last ball the king held, but he paid no mind to the matters of Castle Beckett these days.
As they approached his modest cottage and stables, the glow of the warm fire inside beckoning, these were the things he pondered.
But what he pondered most heavily upon was Toni—and how he was going to simply hand over this beautiful creature to the king when the time came and why, after only just meeting her, was he left with an emotion so strong?
Chapter 4
When last I left you, dear readers, the three fair maidens and a zombie named Carl were all shopping for Christmas, full of joy and goodwill.
Okay, so not everyone was joyful over half-off scarves and maxi dresses, but you get the picture, right?
As you’ve witnessed firsthand, tragedy has struck our trio and their newfound fair maiden friend Toni. Well, mostly the tragedy centers around poor Toni, who’s never encountered a paranormal event and is now stuck in a land with no running water, shoes that are killing her arches, and the thoroughly impossible Nina, who’s being held captive by a yellow dress, poofy hair, fledgling wings and, soon to come—singing bluebirds, circling above her head in a joyous wreath of feathers and song.
Of course, you’d never know Toni was the fair maiden in crisis, for all the caterwauling Nina’s doing. But she’ll rally—this I promise.
As the group begins their journey through the Not So Sherwood Forest toward destination Castle Beckett after a long, restless night in an unknown land, treachery and deceit await them deep in the thick of the woods.
And again, I stress, some really bad dudes will continue to come their way.
For the wrathful Queen Angria from a neighboring land, is a queen so malevolent, so cruel she’d sell her own mother’s organs at a lemonade stand, is displeased—like, spitting mad.
Just this very moment, she’s been informed that the beautiful Toni is headed toward the castle, and while she has no flying monkeys to carry out her evil bidding, she’s got a buttload of ammunition up her sleeve. And Queen Angria will stop at nothing to prevent Toni from meeting King Dick’s son, Prince Iver Daring, hottie medieval bachelor and all-round winner-winner-chicken-dinner.
In other words, major husband material for the queen’s daughter, Resplendant.
The merging of the two rulers’ kingdoms would have created the ultimate in not just prime real estate, but power, the one thing Queen Angria craves above all else.
Resplendant was promised to Prince Iver at birth. But King Dick, in all his flukey-kooky notions, has decided Resplendant isn’t the maiden for his precious firstborn. This according to his soothsayer, the Great and Wonderful Roz. For as Roz peered into her mirror guide, she saw Prince Iver’s truest love, and well…her face wasn’t Resplendant’s.