Rapunzel’s strange circumstances led to her being a housing for energy, her parentage made her a princess. With the fate of the next Xefar queen in her hands, Rapunzel must go on a journey with a strange Duke who’s interest in her hair sparks a reciprocal fascination. Arnolth is unlike any man she has ever spent time with…but that would make sense with her being raised underground in an ant colony.

Excerpt:

Their path took them directly to the queen and Rapunzel folded her arms against her body while lowering her head.

“What may I do for you, my queen, mother of us all?”

The small box at her neck converted her speech into the clicks and whistles that the Xefar spoke. Rapunzel had tried to learn the language as a child, but her accent was atrocious.

The queen raised her head and spoke, her huge abdomen anchoring her to the royal chamber.

“My dearest child, you are needed to obtain the strands for the next queen.”

Rapunzel looked up and met the multi-faceted gaze of her adoptive parent.

“

I thought they were supposed to have sent that to you last week?”

“

They were. The Jarok family has not responded to my queries. It seems a more direct approach is required.”

Rapunzel made her affirmation click. The one noise that didn

’t irritate the queen. “When do I leave?”

“

Now. Pack up whatever clothing you require for decency and find out what is delaying my strands.”

The tone of the clicks was frenzied and Rapunzel knew why.

Twenty-five years and nine months earlier, the leman of the youngest prince of the Jarok family had crept into the kitchen and found the heap of golden strands that were reserved for the young Xefar queen.

Tempted beyond reason, the woman fell upon the strands and consumed them, the high hormone spike imparted by the strands sent her into a frenzy and she had found her provider and kept him in his quarters for five days.

When the leman left her lord, he was exhausted and she was pregnant. Apologies were sent to the queen of the Xefar and in return for forgiveness, she demanded that the child born of the strand coupling be given to her when it could be separated from its mother.

The leman died in labour, the energy she was carrying within far too much for her human frame. Rapunzel had been offered to her father, but with his favourite companion dead, he rejected her after acknowledging her as the child of that frenzied union.

With a wet nurse, she was sent to the Xefar and from there she remained in a safe nursery until she was able to articulate that she was not edible.

Becoming a princess of the Xefar involved the queen

’s heavy musk mixed with Rapunzel’s own scent being placed in the far reaches of the underground city. Her golden hair was embedded in the walls, glowing in a quiet pronouncement of her status.

“

Of course, dearest mother. I will be gone within the hour. Will I receive a guide?” She kept her arms folded tightly against her body, her feet together. It was a basic sign of respect for the deadly mandibles that the queen wielded.

“

We have arranged a soft escort for you.”