For today’s
post, I have the pleasure of sharing Rhys Ethan’s fairy tale Christmas story, Sleeping Beauty’s Stolen Kiss!
Once upon a time, there were two Princes,
Summer and Bryar, and after the latter had woken the former from his hundred
years of sleep, they were finally together again and the entire palace was in
preparation for their wedding.
In the month of December and as their
wedding day approached, the entire kingdom was covered in snow and festive
decorations, for Christmas was fast approaching. In fact, the two young royals
would be getting married on Christmas Eve, have Christmas dinner with their
family and friends and then riding off to one of their winter houses for their
honeymoon.
The day before the wedding, Queen Kylie
arrived from her private residence on the South. She took Summer away from all
the frivolous wedding organisers to visit the villages for the dedicated tour
of the prince before his wedding, where all his people could give their
blessings to their future ruler.
Naturally, Summer did more than he was
meant to. He had his fairy godmothers to blame for that. They had all gifted
him with too much kindness for his own good.
He helped some carry their logs inside the
house and next to the fireplace, some wives cook their food while they were
tending to their children, and listened to everyone’s problems and what he’d
have to address once he was back at the palace.
He also visited the orphanage, where all
the children crowded around him and asked to be read a story in his melodic
voice. All the children, that was, but for one little girl who was standing in
the corner of the room, staring at Summer and biting her nails. Summer was too
far in the story to stop and ask her to come closer, so instead, he sneaked
glances her way and caught the blue of her eyes in the firelight every once in
a while.
When he returned to the palace, he was
exhausted and all he wanted to do was to curl into Bryar’s arms and stay there
until the next morning, but the two were kept at separate wings until they met
at the altar.
The morning after, Summer walked down the
church aisle towards his one true love with a wide smile on his face. Bryar
looked breathtaking in his royal suit, which was tinged with deep emerald
colours.
The priestess awaited them at the end of
the room, with all her tools in front of her, laid on the table. When the two
lovers reunited, she opened a book in her hands, asked the guests to take a
seat and began chanting her spiritual words.
“Do you, Prince Summer of the Rose Gardens
take Prince Bryar as thy lawfully wedded husband?” she asked.
“I do,” Summer replied not missing a beat.
The priestess addressed Bryar. “Do you,
Prince Bryar, take Prince Summer of the Rose Gardens as thy lawfully wedded
husband?”
“I do,” Bryar said.
“Then with the power invested in me by the
Gods, may you seal this ritual with a kiss and may you be so pronounced husband
and husband,” she cited and closed her book, waiting for the couple’s kiss.
However, when they tried to kiss, they
couldn’t.
“What’s going on? What happened?” Bryar
enquired.
Summer looked over to his fairy godmothers.
“My kiss. I think…” he turned to Bryar, “it’s been stolen.”
Everyone gasped. The fairies of the Rainbow
and Queen Skylar gathered around the prince trying to figure out what had
happened.
“When was the last time you had your kiss?”
Fairy Ananda asked him.
Summer tried to think. “I certainly had it
yesterday. Mother and I went to the village for the prince’s tour and I visited
lots of people,” he explained.
“Yes, he definitely had it when we visited
the orphanage. That was the last place we went to,” Queen Skylar added.
Pius, Bryar’s loyal friend and page jumped
in and raised his fist in the air. “It must be one of the darned children. One
of them stole the prince’s kiss. Let’s go. Let’s go and find the little thief.”
And so they did. The two princes, the
fairies of the Rainbow, Queen Skylar, Pius and the priestess rushed to the
orphanage to find Sleeping Beauty’s stolen kiss so that he could complete the
wedding ritual.
The mistress of the home called all the
children in the hall and told them what had happened. Then, Pius interrupted
her and asked for the perpetrator to come forward and give the future king his
kiss back. None of the children did. Queen Skylar pleaded with them. None of
the kids stepped up. Then the fairies did too, but yet again, none of the children
confessed. Last, but not least, Prince Summer and Bryar stood before everyone
and begged the children to return Summer’s kiss so that they could be together.
But everyone remained quiet.
Bryar noticed a girl in the corner of the
room, staring at both of them and hugging her doll very tight. She was the only
one that was sitting so far away from the rest of the group.
Bryar nudged Summer and told him about the
girl. “She’s been staring at us ever since we arrived.”
“I remember her,” Summer jumped. “She was
there yesterday when I was reading to the children, but she kept to a corner
and stared at me the whole time.”
“Maybe it’s her,” Bryar suggested and
approached the mistress to ask about the girl.
The mistress pursed her lips before she
answered. “She was just brought in a couple of weeks ago. She lost her parents
in a fire and she hasn’t talked since. There is a rumour around her village
that her parents were witches and that they burned themselves by accident while
trying to cook up a potion,” the mistress explained.
Bryar and Summer looked at each other’s
eyes and knew they had to talk to the little girl. So they approached her and
sat down on their knees.
“Hello, little one, what’s your name?”
Bryar asked.
The girl gawked at them without replying.
“I’m Bryar and this is Prince Summer. You
remember him? He was here yesterday,” he continued.
The girl nodded.
“Did you happen to take anything from
Prince Summer before he went back to the palace? You can tell us the truth,”
Bryar asked, placing his hand on top of Summer’s.
The girl nodded again.
“What did you take?” Summer smiled.
The girl bent forward and kissed Prince
Summer’s cheek. “Your kiss,” she said in the sweetest voice they had ever
heard.
Summer looked at Bryar and laughed. “She
gave it back,” he said.
“Thank you, so much,” Bryar told her. “But
why did you take it in the first place?”
The girl hesitated but answered the
Prince’s question. “Because I want a family.”
The princes bawled and squeezed each
other’s hand. “What is your name, little one?” Summer asked her.
“I don’t know,” she replied.
“How old are you?”
“I’m three,” this time she smiled because
she knew the answer.
Bryar took the little girl’s hand in his.
“Did you steal the prince’s kiss, because you want us to be your family?”
The girl nodded and looked down, blushing.
Summer looked at Bryar and they both knew
what each other was thinking.
“We want you to be our family too,” Bryar
announced.
The girl looked up. “Really?”
The princes nodded and hugged the little
girl. “We have to give you a name, too,” Summer suggested.
“Can I be Bryar?” she asked.
Bryar laughed. “I am Bryar, sweetheart.”
“But I like it,” she insisted.
“I’ll tell you what. You can be Briar-Rose.
Sounds more like you. What do you think?”
The girl bounced and clapped her hands. “I
am Briar-Rose, I am Briar-Rose,” she sang over and over.
The priestess stepped forward and
interrupted Briar-Rose’s singsong. “Do you have the kiss back, my prince?”
They both nodded.
“Then by all means, seal your marriage with
a kiss,” she urged them.
And so they did. Summer and Bryar kissed.
And they kissed Briar-Rose’s cheeks too.
The priestess turned to the children and
the adult attendees and raised her hands in the air. “I present you with King
Summer, King Bryar and Princess Briar-Rose.”
The kings adopted Briar-Rose that same day
and she was the happiest child in the kingdom because she had found a family to
love her and care for her. And so every year, on Christmas Eve the royal family
would celebrate their love for one another by helping out around the kingdom,
always putting the happiness and safety of their people before theirs. And
because of them, they all lived happily ever after.
What a
wonderful story, thanks so much for sharing Rhys! And if you thought that was
awesome, then check out another reworked fairy tale by Mr. Ethan.
The classic tales you know, the characters with secrets you don't.
Synopsis:
White has
a secret. One he has shared with his family to no avail. When he meets the
Prince of his dreams, he decides he can no longer live a lie, but in order to
do so, he will have to face his worst nightmares.
Queerky Tales is a series of classic fairy tales retold with LGBT characters. Snow White & the Seven Angels is about fighting for your happy-ever-after, whatever shape it comes in.
For children and adults alike.
Queerky Tales is a series of classic fairy tales retold with LGBT characters. Snow White & the Seven Angels is about fighting for your happy-ever-after, whatever shape it comes in.
For children and adults alike.
Buy Links:
Paperback:
About the Author:
Thank you for the excerpt!
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