Story Saturday: An Enchanted Engagement

"An Enchanted Engagement"

Once upon a time, there was a princess named Violet who was tied up in a marriage alliance to a prince named Broderick. She had tried time and again to explain to her parents why Prince Broderick would make a poor leader for her kingdom, but none of her explanations of his tyrranical nature had enough hard evidence until she enlisted the help of the royal sorcerer, Henrik. Henrik was the son of her family's previous sorcerer and was close to Violet in age. Her parents had little respect for him, believing he could never live up to his father, which meant that the princess had to hide her secret romance with him until the time was right.

With the help of his ferret familiar, Henrik overheard a conversation between Prince Broderick and one of his knights about overthrowing Violet's kingdom as soon as their marriage was complete. He had a secret document prepared for Violet's parents to sign at the wedding that would ensure everything they owned went to him. With a wave of his wand, Henrik transported the document right out of the prince's hands and into his own, where he presented it to the king. With this evidence, the king and queen agreed to call off Violet's engagement to Prince Broderick.

Drawing inspiration from their victory, Violet thought this was the perfect time to tell them her parents about her feelings for Henrik. To her disappointment, though her father was impressed with Henrik's discovery of the coup, he still wanted his daughter to marry a successor of royal blood.

Violet blamed herself. She ran to the stone steps leading to Henrik's sorcery lab and wept. If only she had picked a better time to ask her parents, maybe all of this could have turned out differently. Henrik saw her crying on the stairs and gently helped her to her feet, telling her that he had a gift for her in his lab that might make her feel better.

Violet followed him down the stairs where she was presented with a small beautifully wrapped box tied with a sparkling pink ribbon. For a moment, she forgot all of her troubles as she untied the box to reveal a beautiful ring with a crystal pink butterfly on it.

"Oh Henrik," she breathed. "It's beautiful. Thank you."

She wrapped her arms around him and took comfort in his billowing robes. The sorcerer returned her embrace for only a moment before explaining the ring's magical properties.

"This is a Centopian finder ring," he said. "It's incredibly rare. If you are ever in any sort of danger, you must tap the ring three times and say my name. The butterfly will find me and bring me to you no matter where you are. No matter what you parents say, I will always protect you, my love."

The princess tested the ring and watched in awe as the butterfly flew to Henrik across the room with a trail of sparkling pink glitter behind it. When it retuned to its perch on the ring, she placed it daintily on her left ring finger as an act of defiance toward her parents. Though Henrik took notice of the gesture, he said nothing, not wanting to ruin the moment.

"I will treasure it always," she said, leaving him with a gentle kiss on his lips.

That night, the princess was violently awakened in her sleep by a man in a dark mask who placed a hand over her mouth and tied her wrists and ankles together. She struggled to escape his grasp, but she had been awoken so unexpectedly that she didn't have any time to react. He carried her outside into the night and threw her in the back of a wagon without letting go until the wagon began moving. Though her hands were tied together, she managed to grope for the magical butterfly ring with her right index finger and tapped it three times.

"Henrik will never let you get away with this," she spat at her kidnapper, making sure to say his name at just the right time.

The bandit removed the mask to reveal himself as Prince Broderick, which did not surprise her at all.

"That second-rate sorcerer won't even notice you're missing until it's too late. You will be mine, Princess, and so will your kingdom."

Henrik woke up to a tingle of pink sparkles that dripped onto his face. As soon as he saw the butterfly, he raced into action, knowing that his precious Violet was in danger. He ransacked the first horse he could find in the royal stable and raced after the butterfl, hot on the trail of the wagon where Violet was being held captive.

The wagon stopped at a tower in Broderick's kingdom. Violet felt comforting vibration on her finger when the butterfly returned, hoping it meant what she thought it did. She heard a horse galloping in the distance and knew Henrik had found her.

"You could have had the life of a queen," said Broderick, as he thrust Violet out of the carriage, "but now you will be forced to spend your days alone in a tower. Your little schemes prevented nothing. We will still be married as planned."

"Not after what I'm about to do to you!" shouted an all-too-familiar voice in the distance.

Before Broderick even had a chance to react, his voice began to croak, and the world around him grew larger. Violet's eyes widened with delight as her captor's skin shifted in color, and his body shrunk down to her feet. Within seconds, a croaking frog hopped helplessly around her. In the next moment, Henrick was untying her bounds, and she was wrapped up in his robe, leaning into his chest, comforted by the sound of his heartbeat.

"Did he harm you, my love?" he asked.

"I'm all right. You came just in time."

Henrik scooped up the prince-turned-frog in a fluid motion before it could hop away.

"What should we do with him?"

"I have an idea," said Violet.

The frog was tied up and brought before the king and queen as Violet told them the story of the enchanted ring that Henrik gave her and how he had saved her life that very night. After flinging the frog into the dungeon, Henrik transformed him back into the prince where his angry ranting confirmed their story.

"My dear daughter," said the king, "Clearly, I was wrong about who you should marry. Henrik has proven his loyalty and devotion to you. He may not be royal by blood, but he is a proper prince in all the ways that matter."

The princess involuntarily clutched her enchanted ring that had now become her engagement ring officially and spent the rest of her days in wedded bliss at Henrik's side.