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    The Price of Longing
    The Price of Longing
    The Price of Longing
    Ebook36 pages35 minutes

    The Price of Longing

    By Amber Marshall

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    About this ebook

    A short story of 9700 words. A retelling of the Rapunzel story. When a witch claims a couple's newborn daughter in exchange for the father's trespass and theft, she finally has the daughter she's always wanted. As Rapunzel grows and matures, however, the witch finds that even with all her powers, she cannot keep her child from growing up.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAmber Marshall
    Release dateJan 2, 2012
    ISBN9781465901248
    The Price of Longing
    Author

    Amber Marshall

    I'm a writer. I've been writing off and on most of my life but decided I wanted "to be a writer" by 12 years old. Ever since then I've been writing, taking writing classes (I got a bachelors in English at UNH), and steadily improving. A couple years ago, my friend Kris and I started passing a story back and forth as a writing exercise. That story became our novel, The Trident of Merrow. You can find out more about that at our page, Tavern Tales from the Laughing Maggie. It's out now in paperback and on Kindle. We're planning on a few sequels eventually. In the meantime, I'm still working on my own stuff. I have a novel, Negatives, still pre-publication, and I'm working on its sequel, Apertures (which has nothing to do with Portal, by the way). I also have some short stories and novellas I may release at least on the Kindle as inexpensive downloads. Stay tuned for that. In the meantime, this space is just for me to go on mostly about my own writing (I'll try and keep it to that) as opposed to my projects with Kris. I mostly write and read young adult fiction and have a fascination with the supernatural, the occult, dystopias and post-apocalyptic worlds. I love romance but not romance novels. My vampires don't sparkle, my boys are bad and angsty and golden-hearted and my heroines kick ass. My bookshelves are aching to the point where a Kindle is starting to look like a good idea. Besides Tavern Tales…, I'm on Twitter @talesofaquan, and on Goodreads.

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      Book preview

      The Price of Longing - Amber Marshall

      The Price of Longing: A Short Story

      By Amber Marshall

      Copyright © 2012 Amber Marshall

      Smashwords Edition

      This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      Thank you for downloading this free ebook. Although this is a free book, it remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy at Smashwords.com, where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

      Prologue: Rapunzel’s Father Speaks

      ---

      When my wife became pregnant, my father warned me that a pregnant woman is a strange thing. My mother and wife were in the kitchen cooing over the news, and well out of earshot. A rational, sensible wife becomes a madwoman when she’s breeding, he told me. She becomes a slave to her emotions, more than women usually are, he said with a wry smile. Best to stay out of her way and try to fulfill her requests when you can.

      My wife wants a salad. Rampion. It grows wild, in fair season, common as dirt. It is nothing special. But she says it is the most delicious thing she has ever eaten. She has gone nearly mad about it, pining and wasting, saying she is sick and cannot eat until she eats of these greens.

      If it was summer, I could go out by the roadside and pick enough to stuff a bushel basket, but it is dead winter, and the only one who can grow the stuff is the witch. Her garden is lush and green even in this frozen season. No snow falls there. I can see it, over the garden wall, from our bedroom window. No doubt it is due to her magic, to her pacts with the Devil.

      "She has some. Maybe we can bargain with her," my wife suggests, eyes mad and feverish.

      "Her price is too high, I say. Would you have me selling my soul to demons?" I fail to keep frustration out of my voice.

      "Don’t yell at me!" she cries, and begins to weep loudly. I leave the room, slamming the door behind me. Who can resist his wife’s will, when she is carrying his child and threatening to kill it by starvation? I must do as she asks.

      At night, then. Surely even witches sleep?

      The stones of the garden wall are slick with ice. I cling to the moss covering them. Scaling the wall is tricky, but soon I make it, and land in the garden. The witch grows plenty of ordinary plants here, herbs and

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