A demon’s rival. Natalie Yacobson

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      She had already decided that if she didn’t find a suitable suitor, she would spend the coins on a house in the capital of Ivilor or a farm in its suburbs. She didn’t want to go back home to her parents. Her father was a good man, but she could not bear her mother’s whims any longer. If Samantha couldn’t marry favorably, her ambitious mother would reprimand her every day. Therefore, it is better not to spoil her nerves and do not go back to the native estate. Let the dwarf king settle there. He and Samantha’s father would probably become friends and find common topics of conversation at night.

      The coins in the bundle were enough to buy a decent house and live well into old age. And if she went to that marvelous field again, she could get rich. Samantha wished she had planted an amber earring or even a diamond ring in the black field. Then she’d have a whole bag of gems right now. Ivilor’s jewelers were willing to pay a good price for large gemstones. Samantha had loved haggling with them when she pawned the jewelry she had inherited from her great-grandmother. Alas, her family estate had fallen into such disrepair that some of the rarities in the family collection had to be parted with. That’s not surprising! After all, while his father sat in the library and engaged in science, mom spent money left and right.

      «Probably the best thing would be if my mother were a fairy,» Samantha thought aloud. «One can only dream of a magical mother! What a pity my father didn’t choose a fairy as his wife!»

      «Don’t regret it, sweetie! Fairies are scum!» hissed a husky, nasal voice from somewhere above.

      Samantha shuddered. It seemed to be the same voice she had heard before near the king. It was unpleasant and malicious, as if coming from hell.

      A paw with black claws reached for the king’s handkerchief left on the dressing table.

      «Give it back! That’s mine!» Samantha cried out, but the demonic creature’s paw slipped into the darkness, taking the priceless handkerchief with it.

      «You are thief!»

      Samantha feared incurring the demon’s wrath, but screamed and cried anyway. The vanished handkerchief seemed to symbolize that she could not have Serpin. It was nothing to even dream about!

      Curious, where did the demon’s paw come from? Could it have come straight from the round mirror on the dressing table? Samantha tapped on it. The mirror, as it turned out, was rotating and spinning vigorously. It seemed to reflect some kind of horror.

      The window shutter creaked. It seemed that some black animal had scurried across the window sill with a crumpled royal handkerchief in its paws. Samantha rushed to the window. Alas, there was a tall chestnut tree outside the window. The animal had jumped right onto its branches. Now we’d have to catch it in the garden. At least everything was back to normal. There was no demon in her bedroom. The handkerchief was stolen by a stupid monkey.

      «Well, I’ll show it!» Samantha ran into the garden, forgetting the risk of running into the crazy princess. «How could anyone be such a thief? Even a monkey who was put in the royal palace needs to have some manners!»

      The monkey didn’t hear her. There was no one in the garden except squirrels and peacocks. Even Florimonda had gone somewhere. Samantha examined the chestnut tree that grew just below her window. The fluff was falling from it, but there was no monkey in the branches.

      «Would you like a chestnut fruit?» A squeaky voice came from behind her.

      Samantha turned around and shrieked. A green face with bulging yellow eyes was staring back at her. It was exactly how swamp witches were described. Except it’s not every night you meet a swamp witch where there is no swamp. Samantha looked back at the pond. The witch must have gotten into the castle through it. Swamp slime dripped from her green rags and stained the edge of the pond green.

      «And you look like a fairy!» A hooked hand with green claws reached for the girl’s face. Samantha recoiled in fear. She knew that swamp witches could give her dangerous swamp fever, which turned her skin green and made her hair and teeth fall out.

      «Just don’t touch me!»

      «Don’t worry!» The witch took her hand away resentfully. «I came to collect old debts from the king, not from you.»

      «Did the young King Serpin owe you a debt?»

      «Actually, it wasn’t him who owed me, but his late father,» the witch confessed with embarrassment, «but I thought that since his son was doing well, I might as well remember the debt.»