Rapunzel and the Griffin Prince Read online

  Rapunzel and the Griffin Prince

  An Adult Fairytale Romance

  Vivienne Savage

  Payne & Taylor

  Contents

  Rapunzel and the Griffin Prince

  Connect With Vivienne Savage

  Map of the World

  Once Upon a Time…

  1. Chapter

  2. Chapter

  3. Chapter

  4. Chapter

  5. Chapter

  6. Chapter

  7. Chapter

  8. Chapter

  9. Chapter

  10. Chapter

  11. Chapter

  12. Chapter

  13. Chapter

  14. Chapter

  15. Chapter

  16. Chapter

  17. Chapter

  18. Chapter

  19. Chapter

  20. Chapter

  21. Chapter

  22. Chapter

  23. Chapter

  24. Chapter

  …Happily Ever After

  Other Books by Vivienne

  The Hidden Court by Vivienne Savage

  About the Author

  Rapunzel and the Griffin Prince

  By Vivienne Savage

  All material contained herein is Copyrighted © Vivienne Savage 2018. All rights reserved.

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  Princess Rapunzel languishes in her tower as a prisoner, but the entire kingdom believes her to be a madwoman overcome by grief. With her magical powers bound by trickery and the servants closest to her fearing reprisal, there is no escape.

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  Muir is a griffin in mourning. When duty becomes the only balm to soothe his heartache, he travels as an emissary tasked by his king and queen to unearth the truth about Eisland’s slave trade. He finds no slaves, but he does discover a country divided by its wealth—the poor are starving, the indifferent nobility are frivolous, and there is a charming secret in the castle’s west tower. Liberating a forgotten princess may not be part of Muir’s mission, but rescuing her is the only way to save himself and the kingdom from ruin.

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  Don’t be a stranger!

  Map of the Eastern Hemisphere of the Realm of Terraina

  Once Upon a Time…

  10 Years Ago

  Rapunzel hadn’t been able to rest all night, perpetually plagued by bad dreams. Over two years had passed since James sailed away from Eisland and out of her life to pursue a career of piracy on the Viridian Sea.

  Two years since he’d walked away from their engagement, humiliated her, and abandoned their kingdom.

  In those two years, she’d had little interest in any of her suitors, always comparing each man who courted her with the figurative ghost of Captain James Hook, a man so handsome and charming he’d wiggled his way into the royal family despite his lack of noble blood. Even her father had loved him.

  Her mother was another matter, apathetic about all matters concerning her children. Nothing interested the queen these days if it wasn’t on an embroidery tambour or in a bottle.

  Not that she openly drank. No. A true lady did not reveal her vices. Her mother concealed her alcoholism by pouring liquor in her small teacups, but Rapunzel had located most of her stashes already. A bottle behind library books, beneath couch cushions in the sitting room, inside a never-used music box, and concealed amidst the overflowing leaves of a potted plant. She could visit her mother’s private garden and pluck bottles of wine from the soft soil like flowers.

  Perhaps it was for the best that James had abandoned her. Years of observing an unhappy marriage between her parents made it easier to believe she was better off without him. And then there were nights like tonight when she was haunted by memories of the past and how happy he’d made her whenever his ship sailed into port. She’d been among the first to greet him, waiting with the royal entourage.

  Damn the man for turning to crime. Hadn’t she been enough for him?

  Another hour of restless tossing and turning passed before she left her room and visited the palace gardens at the foot of her tower. The frost roses her kingdom was famed for grew in abundance, filling the air with their crisp, sweet scent. The white and silver blossoms twined over the ivory trellis crawling up the tower stonework and filled carefully tended plots throughout the garden.

  As beautiful as they were, they weren’t her favorite. She passed the roses and crossed toward the bushes of untamed rapunzel growing beside a bench at the back fringe of the garden. Her mother hated them and called them weeds, but Rapunzel loved the flower for which she’d been named by her father. She sat among them for a while, stroking a silky trumpet with pale lavender petals.

  James had won her over by presenting her with a bouquet of them for her birthday five years ago. While everyone else had brought roses, jewels, and empty platitudes, he’d given her a simple but heartfelt gift along with his family’s most recent vintage.

  The reminder soured her mood and drove her from the bench. With the mind to raid the kitchen for tea, scones, and the quiet company of the kitchen hearth and resident mouser, Rapunzel made her way inside. At this hour, no one stirred in the palace, except for a few guards who nodded in passing.

  Amber light and soft voices spilled past a door leading to her father’s study. Curious, she tiptoed down the carpeted hall and peeked inside. She rarely saw her father up so late, for he was a man who enjoyed retiring early and waking with the dawn. A peek through the cracked doorway revealed her father and Admiral Teach standing together near the desk and staring down at something stretched across it.

  “I received a report that the Vampire’s Touch went down here, close to the Demon Shoals.” The admiral touched his finger to the map. “It was Hook. He ran them aground and took the cargo.”

  “All of them?”

  “Every last man, woman, and child you purchased.”

  Her father struck his fist against the desk and swore under his breath, but it wasn’t his unusual behavior that shocked her most.

  Cargo? He paid for people?

  Her mind turned away from the implications. Certain she must have misunderstood, she remained in place and hoped to learn more. James was the slave-dealing pirate, not her beloved father.

  “We need those bodies for the vineyards. Winter is upon us, and we lose the most workers during this time of year.”

  Admiral Teach spread his hands. “Push the bodies we already have and consider their loss an acceptable risk. We can get more slaves, Your Highness. Ridaeron has no shortage of people for us.”

  “And where do you suggest I get the gold? I’ve already lost a costly sum to that traitor.”

  “Is not the tax season upon us?” Teach suggested.

  Rapunzel had never seen her father smile so cruelly before. Her stomach flipped, and she struggled to draw in a breath through her tight throat.

  “I’ll make the arrangements at f
irst light. We’ll have the gold in a few days. I’d like you to collect my next bounty, Admiral.”

  “Of course. I’ll take my leave and make preparations to sail within the week.”

  “Good, good.” The king moved around his desk and took a seat. Once settled, he rolled up the map and stowed it away. “Leave by the servants’ entrance. It wouldn’t do to have people seeing you here so late.”

  Admiral Teach bowed and exited through a door disguised as a panel on the opposite end of the room. Rapunzel pushed through the doorway the moment he left and stalked across the ivory carpet, footfalls silent.

  “Father, you told me James was dealing in slaves. Not rescuing them from Admiral Teach.”

  Her father didn’t look up from his ledgers. “It’s impolite to eavesdrop, Rapunzel. A princess should know better.”

  She stared at him. The fact that he offered no denials to her accusations stabbed sharper than a knife twisting between her ribs. “Is that all you have to say? Father, you lied to me. Worse, you’re dealing in slaves!”

  “A good ruler must make decisions to benefit the kingdom. That is what I have done.”

  “How could you do such a thing? It’s treason, Father. If the council knew, they’d force you to abdicate the throne.” A chill danced over her spine, and an iron fist closed around her heart. They’d do more than that. “They’d hold you to our laws. There’s only one punishment for treason.” Her father would be stripped of his crown and executed, her family possibly evicted from the castle to live in exile. Tears sprang to her eyes at the thought of losing him, their home, and all that they loved.

  The king set aside his quill and rose. When he finally looked at her, his eyes were hard and cold. When had he changed so much from the man who once doted upon her? “Look around you, Rapunzel. Our kingdom is built on our vineyards, yet they are costly and dangerous. I have done this so our people no longer fear the loss of a limb. So we may enrich our kingdom and surpass our southern allies.”

  “I don’t care what prosperity it brings to Eisland. Enslavement is and will always be the wrong way to go about things.”

  “So naive. All our recent successes are due to my innovations.”

  His words made her pause, and an icy tingle crawled up her spine. “How long has this been going on?”

  He shrugged his slim shoulders. He’d lost weight over the years, and his hair thinned over his crown where it had once been thick and full, no longer the same pale shade as her thigh-length silver hair—dry, white, and brittle now. He wore a wig during daylight. “Two years, give or take a month. Does it matter?”

  She did the math in her head, considering the time James left on his final voyage and never returned. She’d been heartbroken when a longboat of sailors from the Jolly Roger returned to port with tales of James sailing away with a boatload of slaves. “It’s the true reason James defected from the navy, isn’t it? He discovered your plans with Admiral Teach and parted ways with Eisland. So you branded him a traitor.”

  “He is a traitor. He has stolen our finest ship and sunk others. He has killed Eislander men and women without any reservation and attacked our trade partners from Ridaeron.”

  “Since when do we deal with Ridaeron?”

  “Since I have deemed it necessary and prudent to enhance the future of our nation.”

  Rapunzel stiffened. “Then I’ll tell Joren and hope he can talk sense into you. I can’t imagine that he or Mother knows what you’re doing. And… and if he can’t make you see what’s right, perhaps we’ll even take it to Chancellor Nevans.”

  She spun on her heel and stalked from the room. Something had to be done before he brought ruin upon them all. And if it cost their family the throne, then so be it. But first, she had to hope that she and her brother could force her father to see reason.

  * * *

  Rapunzel’s maid, Sebille, arrived in the morning with an invitation to breakfast and tea with her father. She remained quiet as she dressed, too busy turning over the night’s occurrence in her mind to bother with her usual friendly banter.

  “Is all well, Your Highness?”

  “Hmm? Oh, yes, Sebille. Sorry. I was just wondering when Joren will be home again.”

  “He’s not due for another few weeks, if I recall. Isn’t he courting that noblewoman in Creag Morden?”

  “Ah, yes. You’re right.”

  Poor Joren. He’d made a lousy first impression on Princess Anastasia. In his letters, he wrote that he’d known he put his foot in his mouth the moment he spoke of Eisland’s ironclad traditions regarding women and magic. Female magicians were not to learn dangerous spells, for their monthly cycles made them unpredictable with sorcery.

  Apparently, the safety of the kingdom could be placed in her hands, but gods forbid she used a fireball.

  Rapunzel rolled her eyes. While she’d had a daily tutor for most of her life teaching her in the magical art of healing, her brother had been her secret instructor, bringing her lessons from the academy and instructing her for years. While he excelled at fire and water spells, she had become proficient with ice and wind. He’d blown through all his trials and become a distinguished battle mage at the Collegium of Arthras.

  Joren was the pride of the family, even if he wasn’t the heir and first in line to rule. That honor had gone to Rapunzel as the eldest and first born from their mother’s womb, much to their parents’ disappointment. Her parents had even asked her to decline the throne, claiming it would make her brother appear all the more enviable a suitor to any young princess across the many kingdoms.

  But she wouldn’t. As much as she loved her brother, the throne was hers, and he didn’t want it anyway. What he wanted most was to attain the coveted title of archmage from the collegium and graduate with honors before going on to captain his own naval ship.

  “I suppose I shouldn’t keep Father waiting. Will you do me a favor, Sebille, and have Gretchen brought down from the rookery while I’m with him? I’d like to send a message to Joren.” She trusted her hawk to make the long journey.

  “Of course.”

  She determined that this talk with her father would dictate what she sent to her brother, but one way or the other, she had to let him know the truth about James. Joren had been as devastated as she by the man’s betrayal, perhaps more so if only because James had hurt her.

  She paused outside the library where they traditionally took their tea and steeled her nerves. Somehow she had to convince him to set aside his horrifying schemes and see reason. If they could free the slaves and set things to rights, no one would ever need to know what her father had done.

  Confident in her plan, Rapunzel stepped inside, only to freeze on the spot. The usual tea and breakfast had been replaced by a sumptuous display of sweets and delicacies reserved for dining with visiting dignitaries or special occasions with the family. She smelled a floral fragrance in the air and barely restrained herself from clapping with glee.

  Frostenrose Tea was the most precious commodity Eisland produced next to their wines, and it was produced in such small quantities that they rarely exported it. The blend of frost rose petals, jasmine nectar, and yellow tea buds from the Emerald Valley was her absolute favorite thing in the world.

  “What is this?”

  “An attempt to make amends, my dear, and speak as adults do. With civility.”

  Her father served her tea exactly as she liked it, with spiced sugar and cream. Gods, she hadn’t sat for tea with her father, or even her mother, since she was a little girl, although Joren sometimes indulged her whenever he visited from the academy. He’d always been her best friend.

  “Bribing me with my favorite sweets won’t change the fact that slavery is wrong, Father.” She ignored the delicate cakes and sugar-dusted soufflé but sipped her tea to quench her thirst and ease the ache in her tight throat.

  “It’s not a bribe. More like a peace offering. I only wish to talk and come to an understanding.”

  “How can there be an u
nderstanding when you’ve lied to me these past two years? You drove James away.”

  “No, I didn’t. James Hook could have declined the job Admiral Teach offered him. He could have come home at any time and passed the job to another. Instead, he chose to attack our countrymen and live a life of plunder upon the Viridian Sea.”

  She took another drink and tugged the collar of her dress. It seemed too warm and her skin itched. “He’s freeing slaves. Slaves you bought.”

  Her father’s lips pressed together in a thin line. “Have you been to our vineyards?”

  “Yes, of course I have. You know that.”

  “Then you know how many lose fingers and hands in those orchards.”

  “If you used the money to buy them protection, we wouldn’t have the issue—”

  “And we’d produce slower than ever. These slaves are criminals, Rapunzel. Men and women sentenced to die in their kingdoms. I’m simply giving them an opportunity to buy their freedom.”

  “Or die in the process.”

  “They would have died anyway.”

  After her next sip, her fingers shook. The cup clattered against the saucer balanced on her lap as she tried to set it down, and the last little bit sloshed over onto her skirts.