The Princess Rebellion

By Susan Lyttek

“Forking Larkspur?” The Chairman asked for the third time, pacing in front of Corduroy and me.

“Yes.” I could hear my prince grinding his teeth. The Chairman’s anxiety was getting on our nerves. “Someone sent Trudy oodles of those flowers, and it interfered with her poison-sensing abilities.”

My best friend and fairy godmother, Amelia, had given me the gift of tasting and sensing poisons when we finished school a few months ago. But someone had found a way to circumvent my godmother-given ability. “I died.” I hated it when people couldn’t get to the point.

The Chairman, arguably the most powerful man in the Royal Kingdom, blanched. “This has gone too far.” He stopped pacing and stretched out his hands to each of us. “What I’m going to tell you never leaves this room.” He looked over each shoulder quickly and lowered his voice. “There’s this powerful group. It predates the Committee. Hell, some of our Committee are members. It’s a holdover from the days of one king.”

He leaned in closer, squeezing my hand until my fingers crossed each other. “They’re called the Knights of the Royal Spur. The forking larkspur, also known as Royal Knight’s spur, is their symbol. They announced their involvement in that spate of poisonings when they tried to kill you, Princess Trudy.”

My gut clenched. “Why? What purposes do their attacks serve?”

The Chairman released our hands and stepped back. He pulled up a chair opposite us. “I have hunches. I’ve done a bit of research. Everything I know boils down to two words: magical power.”

Corduroy walked to the jeweled window behind his throne and stared out. “But how? What are they after?”

The Chairman gave a one-shoulder shrug. “I’m not part of them, so I can’t say for sure. But every graduation, more and more girls are made into princesses. Somehow princess magic empowers them.” He donned his hat, preparing to head out. “I’ll ask around as carefully as I can. But I know, Corduroy, that your library is one of our best. Perhaps you and Trudy can find an answer there.”

Not only were these Royal Knights the ones who tried to kill me, they made me a princess in the first place. Since they knew enough about poisons to overrule my gifting, and were most likely the ones poisoning various royals, we had to uncover their agenda. Then Corduroy and I could continue to change things.

I took my prince’s hand. “Let’s find out all we can about these creeps.”

Unfortunately, these Knights had covered their tracks well. After several hours neck deep in books, we gave up tracking them by their formal name and started looking for any references to knights, larkspur, or even anything starting with the letter k.

When my eyes began to blear and I was convinced we’d be at the mercy of these mysterious knights forever, my prince lugged over an immense tome bound in cracked leather. He opened the book, covering most of the table. I squinted at the ornate flourishes. The words “one king,” “larkspur,” and “future” slowly appeared in the archaic script. Finally, we’d stumbled into some possibilities.

We pored over the book page by page. It contained the ancient history of the kingdom, almost like what we’d learned in school, except…

“Magic was dying at the end of King Henry’s reign? I never heard that.”

Corduroy turned a page and gasped. “It’s worse than that, Trudy.” He pointed to a passage.

As I read, heat rose in my cheeks. I punched the book so hard the table wobbled. “I’m going to stop this.”

“How? Please don’t tell me I’m going to lose you again.” His brow crinkled like it always did when he was troubled.

I kissed him right on the forehead. “Don’t worry, love. If our school had given out grades for troublemaking, I would’ve been the star pupil.” I smiled just like I had before I’d de-feathered our obnoxious peacock mascot. “I have a plan.”

I contacted my worthy classmates with the code princessdom, and they met me in the forest behind the gymnasium.

Amelia fluttered over with me. “What are we doing, Trudy?”

I couldn’t tell her or any of them what the Chairman had said, so I’d hauled the giant book with me. I flipped to a marked page and read aloud. “In order to increase the flow of magic into the world, Larkspur needs to increase the royal presence. Royal magicals, especially females, will build the magical essence in the world until we can harvest it. Key to this harvest is their acceptance of the roles they have been given.”

I watched Amelia and each of my friends, all females, read it.

“Do you mean,” asked Mary, “that we’re only princesses so they can steal our magic?” She kicked a rock down the slope.

I nodded. “Don’t you remember all the excess magic clauses we had to sign upon graduation?”

Soft-spoken Belle asked, “Do we have to stop being princesses? To stop their magic from building?” She’d spent her whole life as a princess, so that would be harder on her.

“Maybe? We might just have to renounce our titles.”

Belle and another girl shook their heads and walked away. Twelve of us remained. Hopefully that was enough.

Amelia, as our token fairy godmother, promised to do whatever she could to magically bolster our words.

We joined hands and spoke as one. “We refuse our roles as princesses!”

I think I expected an earthquake or magical fireworks or something. Instead, an elderly man materialized. “Finally!”

Mel and Katie fainted. Jamie screamed.

I swallowed and stepped forward. “Sir?”

“King Henry, actually.” He dusted off his clothes and straightened his crown. “Those idiot knights used your power to keep me out.” He took a deep breath. “About time to set this kingdom right.”

Hoo-boy. I pulled Amelia out of the air, needing my friend.

“Trudy, what have you done?”

Ouch.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Susan A. J. Lyttek, author of five novels, award-winning writer, blogger, wife and mother to two homeschool graduates has temporarily given up job-hunting and instead spends her days tutoring over Zoom and writing the strangest tales she can. Learn more at her website.

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