Princess Before Dawn Read online

  This book is dedicated to Kim, who helps me in so many ways, to Victoria, my guiding light, and to my fans who have continued to ask about Zoë and Francis.

  Also by E. D. Baker

  THE TALES OF THE FROG PRINCESS:

  The Frog Princess

  Dragon’s Breath

  Once Upon a Curse

  No Place for Magic

  The Salamander Spell

  The Dragon Princess

  Dragon Kiss

  A Prince among Frogs

  The Frog Princess Returns

  Fairy Wings

  Fairy Lies

  TALES OF THE WIDE-AWAKE PRINCESS:

  The Wide-Awake Princess

  Unlocking the Spell

  The Bravest Princess

  Princess in Disguise

  Princess between Worlds

  The Princess and the Pearl

  A Question of Magic

  THE FAIRY-TALE MATCHMAKER:

  The Fairy-Tale Matchmaker

  The Perfect Match

  The Truest Heart

  The Magical Match

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  CHAPTER 1

  Two weeks had passed since Annie and Liam had returned the pearl to the sea monster. After coming home to Dorinocco, planning their coronation had taken up nearly all their time.

  “I really wish you hadn’t invited all the fairies from Treecrest and Dorinocco to the coronation,” Liam told Annie as they ate their breakfast in the sunlit private dining room. “You know how much trouble fairies can make, and there will be so many of them!”

  Edda, Annie’s troll dog, looked up at her adoringly. The enormous dog had put her head in Annie’s lap as soon as they sat down. Annie scratched Edda behind the ears, then slipped a piece of sausage to her. “They’d make even more trouble if I hadn’t invited them. Remember what happened with our first wedding?” Annie said to Liam. “They ruined it when they thought we hadn’t sent them invitations.”

  “Thanks to Squidge,” Liam muttered as he reached for another pastry.

  “Did someone call my name?” the little sprite said, appearing in the doorway.

  Annie blinked in surprise as he stepped into the room and climbed onto an empty chair. “Did you show up because Liam said your name?” she asked.

  Squidge chuckled. “Names are powerful things and you should never say them unless you’re willing to face the consequences.” He was grinning when he looked at Annie’s and Liam’s incredulous faces. When he opened his mouth again, he had a twinkle in his eyes, but he seemed to rethink whatever he was going to say and sighed instead. “I could tell you that Liam called me by saying my name—and I bet I could get you to believe it—but I promised the fairies that I’d behave. They are such spoilsports lately.”

  “What are you talking about?” asked Liam.

  “The fairies actually sent me here to help you plan your coronation,” the sprite explained. “They said I owed you community service and that I had to do whatever you wanted.”

  “And why should we trust you?” Liam asked, frowning.

  “Because they said they’d turn me into a gnat if I made any more mischief. I hate gnats and they know it.”

  “What if we say we don’t need your help?” Annie asked him.

  Squidge shrugged. “Of course you need my help. I can do all sorts of things that you can’t. I was very useful when I helped you get ready for your wedding. Remember how I washed all the dogs and scrubbed the dungeon steps and—”

  “Didn’t send out the invitations when you told us you had?” said Annie. “Yes, we remember.”

  “I won’t sabotage it this time. I promise!” Squidge exclaimed. “Now tell me, what do you have planned so far?”

  “Don’t tell him,” Liam said to Annie.

  “I don’t know if it matters,” she replied. “He’d find out anyway. We’re going to have a traditional ceremony, then the feast and coronation ball. We were just about to discuss the menu before you popped up.”

  “Good! I like talking about food, although I like eating it even more,” Squidge said, eyeing the food on the table. “Can you pass me some of those pastries? I’m about to faint from hunger.”

  There was a knock on the door and a footman peeked in. “Your Majesties, a fairy just dropped off a message from the king and queen of Treecrest.”

  “What do you suppose your parents want?” Liam said to Annie. “We were there just a few weeks ago.”

  “I’ll take it,” Annie told the footman.

  He hurried into the room and handed her a folded slip of parchment, then bowed and left.

  “Oh, dear,” Annie said when she’d read it. “This can’t be good. They said that they need our help and want us to come right away. It’s an emergency. The castle is overrun with uninvited guests who refuse to leave.”

  “How is that an emergency?” asked Liam.

  “I suppose that depends on the guests,” said Annie. “I can get ready immediately, but we need to tell your father.”

  “I’m going, too!” Squidge cried as Annie and Liam stood.

  Annie shook her head. “I don’t think so. You haven’t done anything to make me think we can trust you.”

  “What if I polish everyone’s shoes?” said the sprite. “Or give you flowers every day? Or pick the fleas off all the dogs?”

  “You could start by apologizing,” Liam told him. “And then work at being good as hard as you worked at being bad.”

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry times a hundred billion, gajillion times!” Squidge cried, clasping his hands in front of him. “Will you ever forgive me?”

  “Only if you truly behave yourself !” Annie warned him.

  “I’ll be as good as gold!” Squidge declared. “No, make that as good as a gooseberry pie! They’re my favorite. But I should really have a few more of those pastries before I go anywhere.”

  “Uninvited guests?” King Montague said, rubbing his leg that was hurting from gout again. Annie and Liam had gone to see Liam’s father to tell him that they would be away for a day or so. “That could mean anything from enemy soldiers at the gates to bedbugs in the linens. Neither one is good. Would you like me to send some knights with you just in case?”

  “The message didn’t say it was an invasion, so I don’t think we’ll need any knights,” said Liam. “But thank you for the offer. Besides, Annie and I are traveling by postcard. We’ll be in Treecrest moments after we leave here. Traveling with knights would take us too long. Whatever the problem is, we hope to settle it quickly and get back here as soon as possible. We’ve already told everyone what they need to do to prepare for the coronation.”

  “I’ll make sure they keep working on it,” his father replied. “And I’ll keep Edda here with me. We get along just fine, don’t we, girl?” Summoning the dog by patting his gouty leg, the king grimaced when it hurt.

  Edda left Annie’s side and lumbered over to sit beside Montague, who immediately started petting her.

  “Is there anything else you need me to do?” he asked Annie and Liam.

  “Just rest and take care of your leg. I’d like to dance with you at least once at the coronation ball,” Annie said, and kissed him on the cheek before she left with Liam.

  CHAPT
ER 2

  “This should be fun!” Squidge exclaimed. “I’ve never traveled by postcard before. What do I have to do?”

  Annie smiled at Liam. They had traveled by magic postcard so many times by now that it was no longer as exciting as it had been at first. Having someone with them who had never traveled that way before was fun, even if it was the annoying little sprite.

  “Nothing,” Annie said as she picked him up and reached for Liam’s hand.

  The sprite had joined them in the king’s audience chamber just moments before. His pockets were bulging with pastries and he had icing on his chin and lips.

  “I mean, should I hold my breath or close my eyes or stick my fingers in my nose and plug my ears or stand on my head and gargle or—”

  Liam touched the postcard that he’d placed in his pocket. A moment later they were standing on the gravel road that led to the drawbridge, looking up at the castle where Annie had been born.

  “Wow!” Squidge cried as Annie set him down. “That was fast! Can we do it again?”

  “Not right now,” Annie said, laughing. “It works only one way.”

  “We need to get more postcards. This sure beats tricking a rabbit into giving me a ride or calling up a wind to carry me. Say, I know that cat!” he said when he spotted a gray tabby at the edge of the moat. “Mind if I go say hello? I’ll only be a minute. I’ll see you later!”

  The little sprite had run off to join his friend when something in the moat caught Annie’s eye. “Do you see that?” she asked Liam, nudging him in the side. “There are people swimming in the moat!”

  “Yuck! I’d never do that,” Liam replied. “Granted, your moat is cleaner than most, but it’s a long way from being safe enough to drink or to swim in. Who are those women?”

  “No one from around here,” Annie said, trying not to stare.

  Four fully dressed women were swimming in the moat near the drawbridge. Their long hair streamed out behind them as they paddled from one side to the other, fouling the water with dirt and oil and turning it murky. The women were talking and laughing, their harsh cackles grating on Annie’s nerves. “These must be the uninvited guests,” she whispered to Liam.

  “Watch out!” Liam cried, grabbing Annie’s arm to stop her from walking into a man who had suddenly materialized in front of them. The man was shorter than Annie, and was wearing a bright blue cape over a dark blue tunic and leggings. He had stopped to tuck a magic postcard into a pocket when Annie almost stumbled to avoid him. The man barely spared them a glance over his shoulder as he headed to the drawbridge.

  “I don’t think those women are the only uninvited guests here today,” Liam told Annie.

  “It’s those darn postcards!” Annie said as they followed the man to the castle courtyard. “I knew when I first saw them in the Magic Marketplace that they were going to create problems!”

  Annie was already upset as they started across the drawbridge, but when she heard the ruckus and saw what lay beyond she was horrified. Strangers milled around the courtyard, getting in the way of the castle residents who were trying to go about their regular business. She saw a footman carrying a box unable to move because of the crowd around him. A stable boy couldn’t reach the stable with the horse he was leading because of the people blocking him. Two knights trying to get to the guardhouse were stuck behind a group of wildly dressed men and women who were loudly criticizing the castle’s architecture. These weren’t the ordinary merchants who often came to the castle, nor were they visitors from any of Treecrest’s neighbors. When Annie saw one wave a wand and turn the dovecote into a giant beehive, she knew exactly what they were.

  Witches had used the magic postcards to come to Treecrest.

  “I think I understand the problem now,” she said to Liam through gritted teeth. “Let’s go inside.”

  It took a while for Annie and Liam to work their way across the courtyard to the castle steps. Every time they saw an opening in the crowd, someone else would step up to fill it. Annie tried to be polite at first, saying “excuse me” even when someone bumped into her, but she finally began to lose patience and started pushing between people as she’d seen the strangers do.

  When Annie was born, the fairy Moonbeam had given her the gift that no magic could touch her. This also meant that anyone else’s magic didn’t work when Annie was nearby. Even being close to Annie could diminish magic, although the effect wasn’t permanent. None of the witches and wizards seemed to notice that their appearance changed or their magic no longer worked when Annie touched them. Even if they had, she was soon lost in the crowd and they couldn’t have guessed that she was the reason for the change.

  Walking up the castle steps proved to be just as difficult as crossing the courtyard. One old woman was sitting on the steps, pointing a wand at the sky. When Annie looked up, she saw pigeons flying in circles overhead, following the movement of the wand. Everyone had to work their way around the woman, who didn’t seem to know or care that she was in the way. A few steps higher, a man was juggling balls of light. When he dropped one, it landed on another man’s shoulder. Although the light sputtered and went out, the second man turned around and shoved the juggler. Liam grabbed hold of Annie and dragged her through the crowd as the men started to fight, tossing spiders and sparks at each other.

  The corridor inside wasn’t quite as crowded, and Annie and Liam were able to make their way to the great hall without too much trouble. A statue of Captain Sterling, the captain of the guard, stood just inside the door. The statues of two of his men stood beside him. Someone had painted all three in bright splashes of blues, purples, and yellows, while someone else had wrapped the scarf from a lady’s hat around the statue of the captain. Peeking around the statues, Annie saw that there appeared to be a party going on with a table set up for food at one end and a large group dancing to fiddle music in the middle. Witches and wizards stood in small groups, comparing notes on magic.

  A witch standing by herself was popping bright red beans into her mouth, chewing them, then spitting them into a silver cup that Annie recognized as belonging to the royal family. The scent of something spicy was almost overwhelming when the witch opened her mouth, flashing teeth and gums as red as blood. As soon as the cup was full, the witch swirled its contents, muttered a few words, and poured it on the floor. The scarlet pulp turned into salamanders that scuttled off into the rushes.

  “Look at all the food on that table!” Liam said as they made their way into the room. “It’s enough to feed everyone in the entire castle for days! Do you suppose the cook made it or these people used a magic tablecloth like the animals from Brementown gave to Gwennie?”

  “Good question,” Annie said, shaking her head. The witches and wizards were gathered around the table as they picked at the roast boar, stuffed peacock, beef haunch, huge platter of fish, and mountain of pastries. Squidge and the gray tabby were there, too, helping themselves from the platters.

  Annie and Liam were crossing the room when suddenly Liam began to dance to the music of the fiddle. “What are you doing?” Annie asked, surprised.

  Liam looked confused as he exclaimed, “I don’t know, but I can’t help it!”

  Annie glanced at the other people who were all dancing in the same way. Most of them had their backs to her as they faced the fiddle, but she thought one of them might work in the kitchen. The only person who seemed to be enjoying herself was the witch playing the fiddle. While Annie watched, the witch headed to the food-laden table while the fiddle hung in the air, still playing where she’d left it.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Annie said, touching Liam’s back.

  As soon as the magic no longer controlled him, he stopped dancing with a sigh of relief and joined her as she headed for the door. “Thank you,” he said. “I’ve never really liked dancing, especially like that.”

  “You’re very welcome!” Annie told him with a smile. “I wonder how long those people have been dancing. The ones I saw looked awfully tire
d. Do you mind if we go to the kitchen? I want to see if Cook is making all that food. If she is, she’ll use up all the stores and the buttery will be empty in days.”

  “Lead on,” Liam said. “I’m curious, too.”

  Although they didn’t hear the usual bustle and clang coming from the kitchen, they did hear two voices. When they peeked inside, neither Cook nor any of her helpers were there. Instead, two witches were stirring something that smelled like rancid fat in Cook’s biggest pot while they compared recipes.

  “I use the hair of the dog that bit me and the ragweed that made me sneeze instead of henbane and bat ears,” one witch said. “I find that personalizing a potion like that works better.”

  The second witch was mumbling something when Annie spotted Squidge in the corner, sharing a hunk of cheese with the gray tabby cat. The little sprite saw them and waved, but the cat didn’t even look up.

  “I’ve seen more than enough,” Annie told Liam. “It’s time we found my parents. I think I know what I have to do, but I want to talk to them first.”

  They located Annie’s parents in her father’s chamber behind a locked and barricaded door. Annie had to assure them that she and Liam were alone before a footman would let them in. Once Annie and Liam were in the room, the servants locked the door and pushed a heavy table in front of it. Annie was surprised by how many people were there. All of her mother’s ladies-in-waiting were crowded into the two rooms along with her father’s attendants, half the guards, and at least a dozen servants.

  “We thought everyone would be safer here with us than downstairs with those horrible people,” the queen said when she saw Annie looking around in surprise.

  “You do realize that ‘those people’ are witches and can probably go anywhere they want, right?” said Annie.

  “I know, but we were hoping they’d leave us alone if they had the run of the rest of the castle,” the queen replied.

  Annie glanced at Liam. Her parents must be truly frightened to have given up the castle to strangers.

  “I’m just glad that you and Liam got here safely,” said the king. “We asked Captain Sterling to make the witches leave, but you saw what they did to him. Anyone who goes near the great hall now gets dragged into their dance. We didn’t know what to do, so we sent for you hoping that you might have an idea. Your mother thought it best that we stay in my chambers until you arrived.”