Breaking the Curse: Raven's Royal Mate E-Book

AJ Tipton

• Herausgeber: AJ Tipton
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

A terrible curse goes erotically right. 

In a magical kingdom far away, there lived cursed princes, warrior women, and mighty magic. Breaking the Curse is a sexy gender swapped Sleeping Beauty retelling where the heroes have become heroines, the heroines have become heroes, and nothing is as it seems. 

Handsome Prince Nathan is doomed. Cursed at infancy to plunge into an eternal slumber on his twentieth birthday, he believes a short, isolated life is all he can ever hope for. With so little time left, he only wants to have fun with his best friend, a talking bird named Raven. 

Raven is not what she seems. A mischievous temptress, Raven is the henchwomen of the same malevolent sorcerer who damned Nathan as an infant. Cursed to be a woman-by-night, bird-by-day, Raven still thinks she has everything she needs: a handsome semi-evil lover, a charming best friend, and an unending supply of pranks. 

When one of her schemes puts Nathan’s life at risk, she’ll have to expose her true feelings for him to save the day. Will Raven change her wily ways? Or are they both out of time? 

This naughty adult retelling of Sleeping Beauty involves light bondage, drunken sorcerers, and a love strong enough to defy even the strongest curse.

This STANDALONE novella is part of the "Sexy Gender Swapped Fairy Tale" series which can be read in any order. There are no cliffhangers, and each short ends as it should: happily ever after.

Leseprobe

Breaking the Curse: Raven's Royal Mate

An Adult Sleeping Beauty Retelling

AJ Tipton

Illustrated byLydiaChai

Copyright © AJ Tipton 2015 The right of AJ Tipton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (or other similar law, depending on your country). All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author, except in cases of brief quotations embodied in reviews or articles. It may not be edited, amended, lent, resold, hired out, distributed or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s written permission. Permission can be obtained from [email protected]

This book is for sale to adult audiences only. It contains substantial sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which may be considered offensive by some readers.

This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and incidents appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is purely coincidental.

All sexually active characters in this work are 18 years of age or older.

Cover art photos provided by BigStock.com, Morgue Files, Flickr.com, and Upsplash.com.

Created with Vellum

Well, this is awkward. Raven sighed.

Raven’s stiletto heels clicked on the marble floor of the palace’s grand ballroom as she followed her boss though the quickly-parting crowd. Mal—the kingdom’s resident evil sorcerer—had drunkenly barreled through several layers of palace security and finally bested the heavy ballroom double doors with a fireball. Cool night air rushed into the ballroom, making the celebratory banners hanging from the ceiling flap and crack.

Raven resisted the urge to take advantage of the fireball’s settling smoke to blend in with the assembled crowd. Her new dress of layered purple silks sweeping out from a flattering black corset could help her easily disappear among the nobility gathered to witness the baby prince’s christening. It was tempting to pretend she had no association whatsoever with the gin-soaked drama queen stumbling his way through the staring crowd.

“Well, well, well.” Mal swayed slightly as he made his way to the royal family.

Ah, crap, he’s going to pass out before he even gets to the good bit. Raven cringed. Trying to look menacing, Raven sashayed forward to stand behind Mal, her small top hat not quite reaching his shoulder. He leaned onto her and she struggled to hold him upright, trying not to gag as the stink of cheap alcohol seeped from his pores.

The king and queen sat regally on a raised circular platform in the center of the room. Great for the view, but terrible for security. Amateurs.

King Rodney radiated rage as Mal approached, one large vein throbbing in the ruler’s forehead. He rose from his throne, unsheathing a sword Raven knew from a glance was more ceremonial than functional. What’s he going to do with that? Raven shook her head at the idiocy. Poke at a pissed off magic user?

Queen Samantha held the newly-christened Prince Nathan tightly against her chest, looking around desperately for a savior, or at least a path away from Mal’s wrath. She found neither.

“Lovely shindig you’ve got going on here,” Mal belched. “I can only assume my invitation was lost in the mail.”

“How dare you threaten my family, sorcerer!” The king moved with the speed of a much younger man, swinging the ruby-encrusted sword at Mal’s throat.

Shit like this is why we never get invited to things. Raven stepped back to give Mal some space and to avoid the inevitable.

With a flick of his wrist and a cloud of smoke, Mal magicked the sword into his own hand. He began to twirl it absent-mindedly, reminding Raven of a small child playing with a stick.

“You don’t...” Mal dropped the sword, apparently unable to handle the strain of both talking and moving at once. “You didn’t invite me to your baby party and so,”—Mal took a swig from his flask—“your baby is my enemy now!” He sneered at the infant squirming in his mother's arms.

The baby blew a spit bubble and giggled.

Do I have to do everything? Raven inwardly sighed.

Raven stepped onto the raised platform, hoping to bring some dignity to the situation. She spread her arms dramatically, stretching the silky black fabric of her cape wide like wings, trying to appear intimidating as she addressed the room.

“You have dared to incur the wrath of the greatest sorcerer of our time.” Some of the nobles began to inch fearfully towards the exits and she heard a few gasps. Good. If they’re not scared, I’m not doing my job.

“His magics could have been wielded for your benefit, had you reached out in friendship. But such insults cannot stand!” Raven grabbed a tall staff from an ogling priest, nearly knocking him over as she tore the rod from his hands, and brought the staff down hard on the platform floor. The boom echoed through the terrified room.

“All warmed up for you, boss,” she whispered to Mal as she stepped down from the platform.

“This baby....jerk baby, who is the worst!” Mal started.

Oh lord. Raven tried to keep her face appropriately awed and evil—the standard facial expression for a henchwoman—as Mal drunkenly blathered on. Just curse the damn kid and let’s get out of here.

“Is gonna be cursed!” Mal said with a flourish, sending red sparks in the air from his fingertips. He stepped down to Raven’s side, slurring and mumbling so low no one else could hear, “He’ll put his...whatchacallit...his prick in a spin...spinster when he’s sixteen, wait, that’s no good. Twenty,”—he struggled for a downside to all this—“he will sleep forever!” He giggled so hard spittle sprayed over the top of her hat.

Raven dutifully made a note in her small notebook. “Adding to the curse file, boss: he's going to bang a spinster when he turns twenty, then coma,” she said quietly. Taking a look at the curse’s wording, she whispered urgently, “Do we want a True Love Kiss out clause?”

“Yesh. How about a like, ‘really dig someone kiss’ clause? True Love is so...overused.” Mal's eyes were bloodshot and he looked about to pass out. “You go tell them. I’m going home.” He hiccupped and disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

Raven turned around to address the crowd. Striking an intimidating pose with the staff raised above her head, she paused.

What I have here is a unique opportunity to fuck with these idiots. Remembering some of the especially bitchy girls from spinning class, she began, “Our great sorcerer has cursed this child!” Gasps and whispers broke out among the gathered people. Why are they all surprised? What did they think he was going to do? She slammed the staff down twice, silencing the room. “On his twentieth birthday, he will prick his finger on a spinning wheel and fall into an eternal slumber.”

The queen let out a scream, clutching the baby as it started to wail.

“Despair! Your prince is lost!” She spun slowly, casting an evil smile around the entire ballroom.

The crowd screamed and huddled together in fear, crying out for a miracle to save the heir to the throne.

They completely blocked Raven's way out.

Shit. That would have been a great exit line. Raven threw the staff back at the terrified priest and made her way slowly toward the door, mumbling,

“Excuse me. Pardon.”

The arrow whizzed through the air and buried itself in a tree. The unscathed rabbit disappeared into its burrow, its white tail a tiny “fuck you” flag waving from its ass.

“Shit,” Nate muttered.

“Hahahahaaaaa,” Raven cackled, landing on the branch next to his head. Morning light glinted off her glossy black feathers and reflected from the sheen on her pointed beak.

“I would have had him if you didn’t distract me!” he cried. He started walking toward the stream, looking around for any new tracks. His guardians were probably already freaking out about how long he’d been gone today, but they’d give him the look if he came home empty handed.

“Excuses, excuses,” she said with a tsk. “Next you’re going to say the sun was in your eyes, or you’ve got a stick shoved up your ass.”

If I get a stick shoved up my ass, it’s probably because you put it there, Nate thought.

Raven had been Nate’s companion as long as he could remember, flying to see him most mornings, and staying with him until twilight dimmed behind the mountains. When he was a boy and his three fae guardians scared him with stories of vengeful sorcerers who would curse him a second time if he didn’t finish his vegetables, he’d beg Raven to stay with him through the night and protect him. But she never had, although she once brought him a teddy bear named Wiffles to watch over him at night.