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THE RED QUEEN’S DAUGHTER
by Jacqueline Kolosov
Hardcover
Hyperion Books for Children
ISBN: 9781423107972
416 pages
Author Biography |
Excerpt
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-- ABOUT THE BOOK --
Young Mary Seymour believes that love is for fools. Vowing never to fall in love herself, she instead follows a different path, studying to become a white magician in Queen Elizabeth's court.
As Mary moves toward her chosen destiny, she soon finds herself attracted to a most dangerous man --- Edmund Seymour, embroiled in a plot to overthrow the Queen. Forced to choose between her heart and her beliefs Mary enters a twisted game that will define her true calling.
-- AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY --
Jacqueline Kolosov is a professor of creative writing. She has published a book of poems for adults, entitled VAGO, as well as fiction for children, including THE RED QUEEN’S DAUGHTER and GRACE FROM CHINA. She lives in Texas with her family.
-- EXCERPT --
When the newcomer placed her hand on the small of my back, I rolled over to face her. I felt I knew her instantly. Breathing in the fragrance of her skin, so like the cool dark of a forest in spring, I said, “You’ve come for me, haven’t you?”
“Yes. I am Lady Strange.” Her violet eyes glinted in the firelight, and the sapphire at the base of her throat seemed to radiate an energy that filled me with calm. “You are to live with me from now on. I will raise and protect you as my own daughter.”
A sort of trembling, like the dancing of new leaves, overtook me.
“You may not know it,” Lady Strange said, “but you were born when Mars, symbol of power and potency, was in Scorpio, the most secret of all the water signs.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means, my dear girl, you have a destiny.”
This word was new to me. Nevertheless, I liked the sound of it. I knew that destiny must mean something marvelous.
…
“Who is the virgin queen? Please, tell me the name of the one I will serve.”
“Very well, the time has come. Think, Mary, of the opal, which contains within it the properties of the ruby, the emerald, the amethyst, and the sapphire. But think, too, of the opal as possessing the milky whiteness of a pearl of great price. And pearls, as we both know, are both the creation of an oyster and the tears of heaven.”
“Yes,” I added, feeling a strong current deep with me, “and pearls are supposed to render their wearer pure and noble.”
“Very good. So when the time comes, you will serve a virgin queen who will favor the milky pearl above every other jewel.”
“But who is she?” I asked, almost believing that the indigo and red-throated songbirds, too, hung on Lady Strange’s words, so silent did the air suddenly become.
“Who is Henry the Eighth’s least likely heir to the throne?” Lady Strange asked, answering my question with one of her own.
“The Princess Elizabeth?” --- That same tingling --- “But how can that be when her half sister is queen?”
“Have I not told you that all things are possible?” Lady Strange’s cheeks instantly became as rosy as the finch’s crown.
“You have.”
“Well, then.” Lady Strange stood, and I followed her to the far end of the garden, where a hundred varieties of roses thrived. “Very soon there will come a great change. Then it will be Princess Elizabeth’s turn to rule.”
“But won’t Elizabeth marry, like her sister?” I asked, reminded of the way Queen Mary’s hopeless passion for her husband made her painfully eager to do his will. “And then won’t Elizabeth’s strength be siphoned by her husband?”
Lady Strange picked a white rose and plucked a single petal from its frilly blossom. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the words inscribed on the tree, Mary.”
The current grew stronger, and suddenly it was as if I again stood deep in that wood: School her will in the white magician’s wisdom so that she may go forth into the world and fulfill her calling when the virgin queen ascends the throne.
Lady Strange’s eyes held my own, and I felt almost as if the sapphire at her throat were making a connection with the opal. I touched my stone.
“So you understand,” Lady Strange said. “Unlike her half sister, when Elizabeth inherits the throne, she will not take a husband. She will be England’s first ruling female monarch. At least she will begin that way. It will be up to you to ensure that the virgin queen overturns the terrible precedent of her father’s court. Henry the Eighth unleashed chaos into the world. He surrounded himself with soft-spined people who would not contradict his will. The brave, the outspoken, he banished or put to death. Now his daughter Elizabeth has been sent to order that chaos….But she cannot do it alone.”
With these words, the familiar fiery warmth I had come to associate with Elizabeth burned more strongly.
…
“If I am to be so grand, then I shall have little time to stand about and make loose conversation.” It took all of my self-control to refrain from covering the necklace from Edmund’s invasive eyes.
Before I could pull away, he seized my hand and pressed my palm to his lips. The sapphire on his own finger seemed to blind me with its light.
“Let go of my hand,” I demanded.
Edmund Seymour spoke gallantly, but he did not loose his hold. “My dear cousin,” he purred, “you are to be so grand as to have all the time in the world, for you will soon be one of the richest, as well as one of the most comely young women in all England. When that occurs, I hope you will waste your time with me alone. In fact, I intend to make that my vocation.”
Sweat prickled the back of my neck as I found myself disturbingly reminded of my father’s own self-interest in my mother.
Edmund took a step closer, and the peaty, burnt-leaf smell I had breathed in earlier intensified. I could hear my heart pounding, and the same humiliating heat rose up from deep within me, so that my limbs grew heavy, and although I knew this was all terribly wrong, my traitorous skin now craved a caress.
Edmund was about to say something more when Perseus butted his head against my cousin’s legs, causing him to let go.
“Quite a protector you have in your dog,” he said, scrutinizing Perseus in the dim light.
“Yes,” I replied, regaining, or at least feigning, composure. “Dogs, unlike men, are absolutely loyal.”
Excerpted from THE RED QUEEN'S DAUGHTER © Copyright 2007 by Jacqueline Kolosov. Reprinted with permission by Hyperion Books for Children, Inc. All rights reserved.
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