The Spinner and the Slipper by Camryn Lockhart Read Free Book Online

the room.
    “So you’re here,” said a strange voice. Not a particularly loud voice, but it bore that certain quality that fills the room and obliges all hearers to turn to it with attention. Elaina turned now and beheld a face she inexplicably recognized. After blinking three times she realized why she recognized it—it was the same face she had seen printed on copper coins for as long as she could remember. That beard, that long mustache, that brow—all were unmistakable.
    She stood in the presence of the king!
    In her effort to curtsy, she fell to her knees and could not find the strength to stand up again.
    King Hendry looked upon the girl before him with her dirty clothes and loose, messy hair, her bare feet, her dirty fingers. If this wasn’t a proper peasant maiden, he didn’t know what was! Surely she must be possessed of magical powers, because that’s how these things worked. At least that’s how these things worked in Greer, and if they could work so nicely in Greer, well, so help him . . .
    “Your mother boasted of your impressive skills,” he said, scowling down at the trembling girl, his arms folded over his chest, “and report of you reached my ear. The time has come to prove your mettle. Spin these bales of straw into gold by tomorrow morning. If you do not, you will die for your mother’s lie.”
    Eliana’s eyes opened so wide, they took up most of her face. She stared at the king, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly. He saw the horror in her face, and a terrible suspicion rooted in his stomach: suspicion that he had been foolish to believe these rumors. Suspicion that he had been wrong to make such an implacable decree. Suspicion that he would only embarrass himself and needlessly end this innocent maiden’s life.
    But he hardened himself against these thoughts, blocking them out like enemies at the gate. “You know what you must do,” he said, and backed out of the room. The door slammed shut.
    Eliana bowed her head and sobbed .

    At some point in the afternoon, Eliana fell asleep. The sheer exhaustion of her own terror overwhelmed her, and she put her head down on one of the straw bales, oblivious to the tickling and prickling of the coarse grasses, and lost herself to troubling dreams.
    She woke with a start and a gasp. Through the one window she saw stars and realized that she had slept well into the evening. Her face was swollen and puffy from weeping, and the sleep had not brought her rest.
    Rising stiffly, she made her way to the window, kicking straw with her bare feet with each step. She peered out, hoping for some glimpse of the country beyond the palace walls, beyond the city. Some glimpse of land she recognized, some hint of home.
    Instead, she saw the gallows standing ready in the courtyard below.
    She gasped and drew back, tears filling her eyes once more. She looked round at the spinning wheel. What was it the king had said? Straw into gold?
    “Stepmother, what have you done?” she whispered. How could Mistress Carlyn have made such a ridiculous boast? And how could the king have heard about it, much less believed it? She closed her eyes, struggling to fight the tide of fear and nausea welling up inside her.
    “Maiden, why do you weep?”
    Eliana whirled around, her heart leaping to her throat. Her widened eyes saw a shadow in the corner, but it was too dark to see more than an impression. “Who’s there?” she demanded.
    Suddenly the starlight seemed to brighten until the room was filled with silvery light as brilliant as day. Eliana clearly beheld a lean, strong man wearing clothes unlike anything she had ever before seen, as if the browns and greens of a forest had been woven together into cloth. But what struck Eliana more profoundly than his attire were his brilliant, spring-green eyes.
    “You’re too pretty to be crying,” the stranger said, smiling gently. “I always thought King Hendry a fool, but I did not think he was cruel.”
    Everything about this