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IN THE FOLLOWING DAYS and years, the kingdom of Rhone was once more alive. The rest of King Stefanos’ reign was marked with Rose’s love for life and for her people. Together, with her noble knight, Sir Theo, they cleaned up the Magdust trade and reestablished good relations with the fairies who lived in Rhone, as well as Aragon, despite her uncle’s bitterness.
The kingdom continued to grow in contentment, even as Stefanos fell ever more deeply into madness. He abdicated a few years after Rose defeated Magdalina, but the queen was always at his side, tenderly helping him through the worst of it. The king died, peacefully, in his sleep, a few months after meeting his first grandchild, Princess Honora, the newest crown princess of Rhone.
As he promised, Theo did write down the adventures of Princess Aurora, the one who preferred to go by Rose among her friends. He frequently used the tales as bedtime stories for his children, and even sometimes Isra and Philip’s; all this would happen while his wife tenderly watched over them from the doorway and listened herself, unable to resist the voice of the man who had loved her so ardently and so willingly. Once he was done with story time, Rose would sing to her children, and kiss all of them goodnight, sometimes staying late. She would watch them as they felling into dreaming, each of them sleeping beauties in their own right, marveling at the wonder of her own life.
More often than not, she would glance over to see Theo watching her, and then she could only smile.
On some level, Rose knew she should not have been surprised that everything turned out so well in the end.
After all, Theo still made sure he said his prayers.
C. S. Johnson is the author of several young adult sci-fi and fantasy novels, including The Starlight Chronicles series, the Once Upon a Princess saga, and the Divine Space Pirates trilogy. She currently lives in Atlanta with her family.
AUTHOR’S NOTE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Dear Reader,
It is over, and I am so happy, because I love happy endings, and I am so sad, because it is the end of a story, and this time, the end of a saga as well. It’s a complicated, joyful kind of feeling. But, much like the other romances that bloom up in my work, I take great comfort in the fact that Rose and Theo have a bright future together, one that will go on even though I have stopped writing their story.
When I first started out writing this novella series, I really wanted to “fix” the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. As much as I adored the story when I was younger, and the movie besides, I have never bought the idea that the princess would not figure out the truth about her curse. And, if someone had told her, don’t you think she would have avoided a lot of her problems, or at least had a better chance of making her own life?
Maybe that was the driving force behind wanting to update the fairy tale. Well, that and to leave my own twist in place. Who, after all, would have suspected that Theo was the real title character in the end? Despite his own struggles, Theo’s constancy is the sacrificial love that characterizes all real beauty in the end. It is a seeming paradox that true love endures such ugly things, yet becomes more beautiful because of it.
One of the greatest joys of writing this (besides all the fun parts where I get to feel clever) is that I can see more than ever how stories, even when they are completely made up, show us the truest parts of life. I have often told my students that fairy tales are often the most real stories we have, because of how, in the face of reality, they show us the simple truths of our lives. The necessity of love, the importance of truth, the complication of trust and trying to do the right thing, even when we are unsure of ourselves—these are all things that only add to the human experience.
While I doubt I will end up cursed like Rose, I aspire to have her courage and determination when I am faced with my own demons. In the past, I have learned the value of that courage, and I can only hope I will have it when I need it—but it is a lesson worth repeating, several times over.
It is a great miracle that we can take the stories we hear and the stories that shape us, and make them our own.
Thank you for joining me throughout this saga’s journey, and I hope to see you again in my other work. And please, be sure to check out the work of my fellow authors from Dire Wolf Books!
Until We Meet Again,
C. S. Johnson
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