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    The Lair of the Twelve Princesses
    The Lair of the Twelve Princesses
    The Lair of the Twelve Princesses
    Ebook49 pages38 minutes

    The Lair of the Twelve Princesses

    By Amanda C. Davis

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    About this ebook

    Bay has nothing to show for her years of military service but the clothes on her back, a bad leg, and a sardonic imp in a bottle who's more harm than help. When she hears an open call for bodyguards for the twelve headstrong princesses, she thinks the job could reverse her fortunes. Unfortunately, her new charges are under a nightly curse, and everyone seems determined to keep the details a mystery--including its victims.

    Luckily, Bay has a trick up her sleeve. Her imp owes her three wishes, and is desperate to grant them. She's been hoarding his magic for an emergency, but it might be time to cash in: according to a fine-print clause in her contract, if she cannot solve the princesses' curse in three nights, she'll be executed the following dawn.

    This 9000-word novelette first appeared in InterGalactic Medicine Show in January 2012.

    Cover elements by Jessica Truscott and Jeannie Ann Numos.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAmanda C. Davis
    Release dateJan 12, 2014
    ISBN9781310859946
    The Lair of the Twelve Princesses
    Author

    Amanda C. Davis

    Amanda C. Davis is a combustion engineer who loves baking, gardening, and low-budget horror films. Her work has appeared or is upcoming in Goblin Fruit, Shock Totem, and Cemetery Dance, among others. She tweets enthusiastically as @davisac1. You can find out more about her and read more of her work at http://www.amandacdavis.com.

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      Book preview

      The Lair of the Twelve Princesses - Amanda C. Davis

      The Lair of the Twelve Princesses

      First published in Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show #26, 2012

      © Amanda C. Davis, 2012

      Bones in the Branches

      First published in Frightening Fables and Freaky Fairy Tales, 2010

      © Amanda C. Davis, 2010

      The Instructions

      First appeared in Daily Science Fiction, 2011

      Reprinted in Wolves and Witches, 2013

      © Amanda C. Davis, 2011

      *Smashwords edition*

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold 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.

      Cover art by Amanda C. Davis, 2013

      Cover art elements by Jessica Truscott via deviantART and Jeannie Ann Numos via deviantART

      Contents

      The Lair of the Twelve Princesses

      Bonus Material:

      Essay: Seven Years in the Making

      Bones in the Branches

      About the Author

      The Lair of the Twelve Princesses

      by Amanda C. Davis

      I. The First Night

      Bay followed the dance of the ivory dice across the table. Her bitten-dull nails dug into her palms. A bounce--another--and the pair fell still. A one and a three. There went the last of her coins. Oh well, she thought, grinding the heel of her hand into her eyes as the narrow-faced man across the table from her raked in his winnings. Wasn't enough to buy a room anyway.

      The winner called out false condolences; Bay gave him a halfhearted sneer in return. She gathered her army kit from under her chair. Waving away the sniggering offers from her fellow-gamblers to share their beds, she collected her sword at the tavern door and limped out into the warm city evening.

      When she was well into the shadows of the streets, a cloud of ash swirled from the lead bottle tied at her waist. It settled atop her shoulder and solidified into a deep-red, oddly handsome imp, who made himself comfortable between the collar and epaulet of her faded army uniform. Poor fortune again, I see.

      Bay limped along, steadfast and slow as always. You could have been more help in there, Khloromain.

      I would have, sniffed the imp, had you simply wished me to. But you chose to trust your dice to fate.

      Between you and fate, I trust fate further, said Bay. I thought I saw an empty alley behind the butcher's a few streets over. Stunk to hell but I bet nobody'd bother us until morning.

      Khloromain made a noise of interest and rose from her shoulder without warning. Wait. He zipped away. In a moment he returned carrying a poster bearing the seal of the king. He waggled the poster in Bay's face. Why don't we lodge in the king's manor instead?

      Bay brushed the poster aside. What's it say?

      The imp's eyebrows rose craftily. You wish me to read it?

      "No, I want you to read it,

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