Princess Before Dawn Read online

  “I know I agreed not to let people see me as a dragon in Treecrest, but they know about vampires now,” Audun told Annie and Liam once he’d changed back. “I figured that it wouldn’t hurt for people to see that dragons are real, and not necessarily scary.”

  “It’s all right,” said Annie. “So many things are changing. The people need to know about the good as well as the bad.”

  Squidge rode up on Tyne’s shoulder. “You’re not wearing that for the ceremony, are you?” the twin asked, looking Annie over.

  The little sprite pinched the girl’s ear. “Be polite! These are my humans,” he told her before turning to Annie and Liam. “It’s time for you two to get ready or you’ll hold everyone up!”

  “Sorry!” Annie said with a laugh. “I promise we’ll be fast.”

  Annie’s and Liam’s clothes were already laid out when they walked into their bedchamber. While Annie dressed in her best gown of pale blue silk, Liam donned his uniform in matching blue. They went downstairs hand in hand. When they reached the corridor leading to the great hall, fairies fluttered around them and sprites scattered flower petals on the floor in front of them. Annie sighed as they reached the doorway and the music began to play. She had Liam at her side and her family and friends were there. As far as she was concerned, it couldn’t be more perfect.

  Annie and Liam were walking down the center aisle when she saw King Montague waiting on the dais at the far end of the hall. He looked resplendent in his cloth of gold over-tunic and his gold crown on his head. Annie couldn’t understand why the air seemed to be sparkling above him until she realized that the fairies were sprinkling him with gold dust.

  Still holding hands, Annie and Liam stepped onto the dais and stood facing King Montague. Annie was listening to the king talk about passing the crown on to the person he trusted the most when suddenly there was a disturbance at the edge of the hall. The sprites had climbed the pillars to get better views, and some of them were batting at the butterflies flying from flower to flower. A sprite with bright pink hair had reached too far and fallen off the column, landing on the head of a courtier below. The woman shrieked in surprise, and cried out even louder when the sprite leaned over and looked her square in the eye. Annie couldn’t help but laugh as the sprite jumped from the woman’s head back onto the column to return to his former perch.

  King Montague didn’t seem to notice and kept talking about the responsibility of the person who sits on the throne as the crowd turned back to listen. He was winding up his speech when, out of the corner of her eye, Annie saw one of the twins tweak the wing of a nearby full-size fairy. The people around the fairy gasped, anticipating some sort of reprisal, but she just smiled at the twin and waved at her as if they were already friends.

  Annie turned back to face King Montague when Liam nudged her. Husband and wife knelt as the old king lifted the crown from his own head and set it on Liam’s. Then, taking a new, fairy-made crown from a satin pillow, he set it on Annie’s head, making her the new queen of Dorinocco.

  Annie looked up and smiled. The crown was as light and delicate as a dandelion puff and it rang with tiny bells every time she moved. Although the fairies had asked her what kind of crown she wanted, she hadn’t seen it before this. It was better than what she’d anticipated and she already knew she loved it.

  Everyone cheered when Annie, Liam, and the old king turned to face the hall. Annie’s heart swelled as she gazed out over everyone she cared about and saw how happy they all looked. After Liam sat down on the center throne with Annie on one side and his father on the other, people approached the dais with gifts. There were so many presents that Annie was overwhelmed until Snow White volunteered to keep track of everything for her. Aside from the carriage that Annie’s parents had already given them, they received jewelry and horses from Andreas, Cozwald, and her royal relatives, a painting of his children from Emilio, a blue parrot that was fluent in seven languages from Azuria, a suit of armor that would actually fit Annie from the Treecrest guards, and their very own potted moonflower from Moonbeam and Selbert.

  The very best gifts came from her Greater Greensward friends.

  “I thought you could use these,” Emma said, handing Annie the stack of Treecrest postcards. “You may keep them or distribute them as you see fit. I also made you some for Dorinocco so you can go back and forth more easily.”

  “That’s wonderful!” Annie cried. “Thank you so much!”

  “I got you that water pitcher you were eyeing,” Zoë said, handing her the pitcher from the Magic Marketplace. “I know how much you liked it.”

  “Oh, I did!” said Annie. “The decision was really hard. Thank you!”

  “We’re giving you each a dragon scale,” Millie said as Audun handed them over. “To help you find things.”

  “And I thought you might like a little music,” Garrid said, unveiling a magic harp.

  “My present is actually for King Montague,” Ting-Tang told them. “I noticed that he has gout, so I picked a few things in your forest and prepared a potion in your kitchen. Have him take one sip every day for five days and he’ll be as good as new.”

  “That’s fantastic!” Annie exclaimed as Montague beamed.

  After the last gift was revealed and Annie and Liam had thanked the last person individually, Annie declared to everyone there, “Thank you all so much! We’re delighted that you were able to join us on this special day, and we thank you all for your thoughtful gifts.”

  Everyone cheered them once again. When they turned away, they discovered that the fairies had set up the tables and benches, and food was already waiting for them. People were taking their seats when Moonbeam came up to Annie and Liam.

  “Squidge told me that he no longer wants to work in the Moonflower Glade,” said Moonbeam. “He says he wants to stay here with you instead. According to him, you two really need him to keep your lives in order. He says that you are forever having problems that he can solve. I told him that if it was all right with you, it was fine with me. It is all right with you, isn’t it?”

  Annie glanced at Liam and laughed. “I guess so,” she said. “He already feels like part of the family. Are you sure you won’t need him?”

  Moonbeam nodded. “I’m positive. He’s made it plain that he doesn’t like Selbert. Sometimes it’s a real struggle to keep that little squirt from playing nasty tricks on my sweetie. Selbert still hasn’t gotten over finding a family of skunks in his clothing trunk. Good luck with Squidge. He can be a real help some days, and a real challenge others.”

  “We’ve already noticed that!” Liam declared.

  “Annie, I have to say that the day your parents had me cast a spell to keep magic from ever touching you, I thought they were making a big mistake. I was wrong, though. You’ve actually turned out to be quite wonderful. Who would have thought it?”

  As Moonbeam walked away, Annie turned to Liam. “I got you a pillow at the Magic Marketplace that’s guaranteed to give you a restful sleep.”

  “I could really use that!” Liam told her. “Thank you. And I got you an acorn like the one Francis has. You wouldn’t believe how much that thing can hold.”

  “So you’re the person who bought the last one!” Annie said, smiling. “I know those acorns can hold a lot, which is why I wanted to get one for you. It’s funny, though. People were thinking about what I would like when they bought the magical gifts, but they’re really all your presents. Most of them won’t work when I touch them.”

  “I guess people tend to forget that,” said Liam. “I think they mostly remember how sweet and brave you are.”

  “Did you get yourself a singing sword?” Annie asked him.

  Liam shook his head. “I remembered what happened when I looked at them last time. I don’t really need a sword that loses its magic when you’re around because I never want to be separated from you again.”

  A group of people at a nearby table laughed and Annie turned toward them. “Look at that,” she said, gaz
ing down at the variety of guests seated side by side at the tables. “Witches and fairies seated with sprites and vampires and humans and they all seem to be having a marvelous time.”

  “The world is changing,” said Liam. “Those postcards made a big difference and we can’t put things back the way they were before, even if we wanted to.”

  “I know,” said Annie. “All we can do is make sure that the people we love can handle the change and don’t lose sight of what’s important.”

  “Like family and friends?” said Liam.

  Annie nodded. “I was going to say the ones you love most. Congratulations, King Liam. I just know that you are going to be a wonderful ruler.”

  “As are you, Queen Annabelle,” Liam said with a smile. “I’m the luckiest king around, and Dorinocco is the luckiest kingdom to have a queen like you. Who would have thought that growing up without magic would make you the most wonderful princess of all?”

  Copyright © 2018 by E. D. Baker

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  First published in the United States of America in March 2018

  by Bloomsbury Children’s Books

  www.bloomsbury.com

  Bloomsbury is a registered trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 1385 Broadway, New York, New York 10018

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Baker, E. D., author.

  Title: Princess before dawn / by E. D. Baker.

  Description: New York : Bloomsbury, 2018. | Series: Wide-awake princess ; 7

  Summary: Annie and Liam call on their friends Francis and Zoë to help when a strange group visits Treecrest and takes over the hunting grounds.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2017024229 (print) • LCCN 2017038523 (e-book)

  ISBN 978-1-68119-673-2 (hardcover) • ISBN 978-1-68119-674-9 (e-book)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Fairy tales. | Princesses—Fiction. | Magic—Fiction. | Vampires—Fiction. | Characters in literature—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ8.B173 Prt 2018 (print) | LCC PZ8.B173 (e-book) | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017024229