Page 1 of Rapunzel's Gambit (All That Glitters)

CHAPTER1

Achorus of boos from the crowd reverberated in my ears as Father stood to speak to our kingdom’s subjects. I spotted several clutching over-ripe tomatoes and braced myself for what would inevitably happen as soon as the speech was over.

“A blight has plagued this land for too long,” he began.

“You’re the blight!” one man shouted, shaking a fist in the air.

Additional angry shouts rose from the crowd to agree, but they were indistinguishable over the low rumble of mutinous muttering. The sentiment was obvious enough that I felt no desire to decipher the exact wording. I fixed my attention on the back of Father’s head, as if riveted by the silver sheen of his short-cropped hair that formed a horseshoe shape under his gold-embossed crown.

“This dragon from the west has been burning our crops and feeding on our sheep and cattle, and if we do not take care, it will come for us, too!” Father continued. “I’m aware of your struggles. I know people have been going hungry.”

“Lower the taxes and we won’t be hungry!” a woman shouted spitefully. One of the knights guarding the platform put his hand on his sword and took a threatening step forward.

“It is thedragon’sfault that the tax rate is so high,” Father responded. “If it weren’t for its constant raids, everyone would have more. And I have a plan to solve the problem.”

I heard a few in the audience shushing others as the noise level decreased slightly, everyone eager to hear what aid would be given to offset their losses. Such hopes were quickly dashed, however, as I knew they would be. Father never had any intention of depleting our kingdom’s coffers for anyone’s benefit but his own.

“Therefore—” Father waited for total silence before he continued, “I will offer my daughter’s hand in marriage to the first prince or man of noble birth who can kill this menace!”

What?!I felt countless eyes shift over to fix on where I sat, frozen in shock, on the raised dais. A murmur of interest rippled through the crowd, but it all sounded like the buzzing of bees as my mind raced to process what had just happened. I couldn’t believe that Father would offer to auction me off to some unknown man, as if I were some paltry trinket to be won at a tournament. Was this his way of getting back at me for the many pranks I’d played on him and his friends in the past?

For the people’s benefit, I schooled my facial expression into one of acceptance, as if I had always known I would be sold off this way. I shivered, partly because I was always cold, and partly at the prospect of how my future, and the futures of so many men, had changed so drastically in a matter of minutes.

“What aboutuntilit’s killed?” a haggard-looking elderly man cried out. “I don’t want to marry a princess; I want to feed my family!”

“Stop the taxes!” his friend shouted, and everyone broke into an uproar again, so loud that guards stepped in front of my father, shielding him from the irate civilians. At this rate, ripe tomatoes would be the least of his worries.

Father held up his hands to placate the crowd. “I’ll look into lowering the tax rate,” he vowed. “But in order to continue the imports of food, we wouldn’t be able to lower it significantly without supplies being disrupted, and that means killing the dragon. None of us want any children to starve.”

I resisted snorting. Of course Father would lead with weaponizing children’s safety and security against their terrified parents. I knew enough of the kingdom’s finances to confidently say that there were other avenues we could pursue if we wanted to lower the taxes. No one had to go hungry. The villagers were correct; Father’s greed was the true blight on our land.

“We must beware the dragon,” Father warned them. “If it tires of taking our oxen and sheep, he could come for our children next!”

Several couples looked at each other in fear, but I wanted to groan in embarrassment. This was yet another scare tactic, a very effective one that distracted from the real issue at hand. Dragon attacks only ever occurred when one was challenged by a dragon hunter. Otherwise, they might occasionally steal livestock, but as far as I knew, none ever swooped down to snatch infants from their cradles. In the stories, only knights and princes who sought out dragons met terrible ends.

“Who is brave enough to challenge the dragon and win my daughter’s hand? If the people want to be ruled by one of their own, this is your chance. The future of Rookwyn depends on you!”

Several knights and noblemen began stepping forward, pledging their swords to the attempt and vowing that they would rid the land of the dragon to stop its pillaging. Father commended each one in turn, and I rose, still numb with shock, to greet each in the line of men, all of whom were eager to slay the beast and gain power.

Each of those vowing to hunt the dragon whispered words to me as he brushed his lips to my hand, all saying how he would win my favor, that it was an honor to risk his life for so beautiful a woman, and other comments that washed over me without ever sinking in. Was that the last time they would kiss a woman’s hand? Did any of them know what was in store for them? Did they have any idea just how shrewd and intelligent a dragon was?

This was no mere boar that could be hunted with hounds or lances, scared out of its hiding place with noise and arrows. We were discussing a fully growndragon,a beast more intelligent than any human, more powerful than a dozen war stallions, and covered with a scaly armor that, as far as I knew, was impenetrable.

Father hadn’t proposed a noble quest; this was a suicide mission.

For the first time in what felt like years, we weren’t pelted with overripe fruit as we were escorted off the dais and to the carriage. I’d heard tales of kingdoms in which the royalty were lauded with cheers and accolades everywhere they went, but if such stories were true, they never happened in Rookwyn or the surrounding areas. Our subjects had no reason to love us.

Greed was a pervasive infection that had been solidly entrenched in all the nobility and royalty I knew of. I even saw it in myself, though it disgusted me to know I was sometimes so similar to Father. He used to be kind and even playful at times, but ever since his parents had passed away several years ago and he took over ruling the kingdom, his former warmth had evaporated like the morning dew on a summer day.

* * *

On the carriage ride home, Father was the one who brought up the topic of my impending engagement. “I’m sure it must have come as a bit of a shock to you,” he began.

“You think?” I spat back.

“Rapunzel,” he scolded while straightening his crown, displaced from the carriage bumping down the road riddled with potholes. “I don’t know why you’re so worked up about it. You’ve done similar things in the past.”

“What are you talking about? I’ve never pulled anything like the stunt you just did!”

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