The Girl Prince and Her Princess

THE GIRL PRINCE AND HER PRINCESS

A Fairy Tale Novella

By Q. Kelly

Blurb: This fairy tale is set in the kingdoms of Athena and Qax. It’s a magical brew of a big ol’ juicy problem, generous dollops of secrets, castles, kings and queens, princesses and villains.

The king and queen of Athena have a problem. They desperately need a son to marry off to Princess Vexa. She is the unsightly daughter of their neighbor, King Magnatus of Qax. If no prince is born, Magnatus will take over the peaceful Athena and what the heck, kill all the people of the kingdom.

When Athena’s rulers finally produce an offspring, the queen dies in childbirth. The king finds himself faced with the greatest challenge of all—a girl! Boys are scarce, and no one is willing to give up their son to replace the infant girl.

The ruse is on. The sweet baby girl is named Alexandre and is raised to take on the manly duties of being a prince. Eighteen years later, it’s wedding time. Can the deception continue?

Thanks and acknowledgements

Melanie, my wife, deserves a medal for her support and patience.

Thank you to all my readers. I mean everyone, including the people who have bought my books and the people who take the time to review them and/or email me. I owe a special debt of gratitude to my editorial readers as well as my beta readers. They include my wife and then (in no particular order!) Dar, Nicki Wachner, Lee Fitzsimmons and Linda S. North. One beta reader wished to not be listed, but her help was tremendous as well.

Thank you all. You are a big part of what keeps me going.

Ride the Rainbow Books

www.ridetherainbowbooks.com

This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead or actual events is coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced without the permission of the author.

The Girl Prince and Her Princess: A Fairy Tale Novella

Copyright © 2012 by Q. Kelly

Smashwords Edition

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Q. Kelly on the Web:

http://qkellybooks.com

Email: yllek_q@yahoo.com

Q. Kelly's Short-Story Collections

Cupid Pulls a Prank and Other Lesbian Tales

The Old Woman and Other Lesbian Stories

Miss Lucy Parker and Other Short Stories

Q. Kelly's Novels

Waiting

Strange Bedfellows

The Odd Couple

All in the Family

Switch

Third

Table of Contents

Blurb

Chapter One: The Beginning

Chapter Two: The Girl Prince

Chapter Three: The Elephant Princess

Chapter Four: The Secret

Chapter Five: Love

Chapter Six: Pregnant

Chapter Seven: Happily Ever After?

Check out Q. Kelly’s Other Works

CHAPTER ONE

The Beginning

Want a fairy tale that tops everything you’ve heard? I thought so. Pull up a seat. This will be a good one, I promise. I do not boast, mind you. What makes this tale THE BEST is that it’s true. Yep, true, I do declare. I know this for a fact because it’s the story of my great-great-great-great grandparents. What a tale it is! It’s a magical brew of big ol’ juicy problems, generous dollops of secrets, castles, kings and queens, princesses and villains.

Oh! You little ones, sorry, but you gotta leave. This tale is R-rated and includes sex and all that yummy stuff (and some not-so-yummy stuff). Come back when you’re eighteen!

Once upon a time, a king and queen with hair of spun gold and eyes of the clear blue sky ruled the land of Athena. They governed with benevolence and good grace. Their subjects loved them. However, as they neared the end of their childbearing years, they had yet to produce a child. They tried and tried, several times a day in fact, with nothing to show for it.

The kingdom desperately needed a prince, and stress made itself evident. King Attus’s once-thick mane of blond hair receded at an alarming rate, and a new wrinkle appeared on his handsome face every day. Sadness settled in Queen Elizaveta’s eyes, and she took to sitting at windows and sighing wistfully. She stared at nothing in particular.

If Elizaveta did not bear a son, Athena would fall under the control of King Magnatus of Qax. Rule under him promised to be barbaric; many people claimed Magnatus was as evil as his head was bald. Nearly all people agreed that he was a rather odd-looking little fellow. His hair was concentrated in a bushy black mustache he was quite proud of, and he had little, almost womanly, shoulders. Matchsticks made up his legs, and his only child, a horrid, spoiled and piggish twelve-year-old daughter, was betrothed to Elizaveta’s first son.

Now, listen carefully to this part. It’s important, quite important. Come on, lean in. This is a part that must be whispered. Magnatus’s wife, Queen Deidre, did not die in childbirth as history claims. There was a reason Magnatus’s shoulders were almost womanly. He was, in fact, a woman!

He was born a girl named Deidre and married his cousin, the original King Magnatus. After they wed, Deidre developed an easy rapport with a chambermaid who became her trusted confidant. Magnatus and Deidre did not develop a similar rapport, and the maid, Clara, overheard that the king was plotting to banish his wife to the dungeon after their child was born. Clara warned the queen, and Deidre one-upped her husband. She played some favors with the guards, most of them sexual, and gained their loyalty. Magnatus was the person who died in the dungeon.

In these days, a ruling queen, much less a queen ruling alone, was unheard of. Even in Athena, King Attus was his wife’s superior. The fact that Elizaveta possessed the royal blood mattered not. Deidre, to avoid execution for murder and battles for the crown, chopped off Magnatus’s mustache, shaved her head bald, and became her lookalike cousin. She had studied Magnatus enough to have his mannerisms and speech down cold. She’d also spent enough time in the palace to copy how the ruthless Magnatus operated. Blood marked these days. Deidre ordered the slaughter of Magnatus’s allies and other untrustworthy people who might identify her as Deidre.

You might think that after these dreadful events, Deidre would want nothing more than peace. Wrong. She had learned the hard way that no one could be trusted, not even her husband. Clara was the person Deidre let closest to her. Even then, she kept the woman at a bit of a distance. They agreed that to avoid suspicion, Deidre should continue as best as possible the policies the original Magnatus had set. Thus, harsh punishments such as immediate execution for anyone who stole Magnatus’s property.

Now, let’s get back to Magnatus’s daughter.

Princess Vexa was the apple of her father’s eye, although Magnatus, a.k.a. Deidre, was keenly aware his daughter did not meet standards of beauty. People jested behind the king’s back that Vexa was often mistaken for one of his prized pigs. Furthermore, a never-ending rumor claimed that Queen Deidre died not in childbirth but soon after, when she gazed for the first time upon her child.