New Adult Threesome Contest Entry #2

Title: NAMELESS

Genre: New Adult Fantasy (Fairytale Retelling)

Word Count: 60,000

Query:

Everyone knows his name. The soon to be king of Tasmar influences the lives of nobles and commoners alike, if not always for the best. Thinking only of himself and the perfect melodies he composes, the handsome, ambitious prince taxes his kingdom mercilessly to give himself a bit of privacy. Isolated in his forest castle, he learns just who holds the real power when he turns away an old woman—an Enchantress in disguise. Cursed to be the Beast that is the reflection of his soul, and believed dead by all who knew him, he is separated not only from his crown and shy bride-to-be, but his own identity. Refusing to associate his hideous form with his own name, the now Nameless prince has one year to earn true love, or he will die. If he can find his fiancé, Mirabelle, and help her see past the monster to the man beneath, he can be saved. However, when Mirabelle falls for another, Beast must learn not only how to let go of a love that was never meant to last, but how to find true love—if it exists.

My work has been featured in Stories for Children Magazine (2009), and Open Doors: Fractured Fairy Tales (Wayman Publishing, 2012). My short story, Sleepless Beauty (a retelling of Sleeping Beauty) will appear in the One More Day anthology (J. Taylor Publishing, 2013), and my story, Sweet Nothings has been accepted into The Chronicles of Alistair Gruff (Anassa Publications) set for a tentative 2014 publication.

First 250:

Everyone knows my name.

My guests, all two hundred of them, whisper it as I glide down the grand staircase into the golden ballroom. And why shouldn’t they know my name? I am their prince, the future king of Tasmar. Exactly one year from now when I turn nineteen, I will inherit the throne.

The crowds converge, skirts pressing around me as thick as a rose garden. Jewels twinkle on wrists and hands as they shake mine. I note the rare Tasmarian emeralds set in Meldovian gold—gold that has been rarer since our war with Meldova, and therefore, worth twice as much. It’s pathetic how everyone hides behind their gems. Do they think it will impress me?

My subjects drift left and right to reveal Mirabelle. She stands, exquisite, in an elegant red gown made from Banaternian silk. It hugs her slender waist before the skirts cascade in shimmering layers of scarlet and white. Her dripping lace sleeves ripple as she shakes them away to free her hand, which she extends to me. I take it, and kiss her slender fingers. As she laughs, my fingers entwine with hers.

“Everyone has been waiting.” Her free hand slides up to my shoulder. Fingering my matching red vest, she gazes at me coyly. “I assume by now you’ve finished exploring your new castle? How do you like your present to yourself, my prince?” Her fingers drift up to brush the foremost prong of my bronze crown, inset with perfectly cut emeralds, each the size of my thumb.