Welcome to stories from Among the Stars.

You're listening to The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean, narrated by Katie Eric.

Chapter 14 The Princess and the Ogre

Six years ago

The Princess was all alone again

To make matters worse, her father promised her hand in marriage to an ogre

who had agreed to give the king 50 wagons of silver

in return. The princess was horrified when she heard what her father had done, and begged him

to change his mind. But her father was determined to carry out his bargain. Charlotte Hook,

Princess Furball. There was a kind of peace in surrender, though it shamed her.

A part of Devon embraced the relief of simply giving up.

The only path back to her daughter was also the path of least resistance and so,

seven months after her failed escape, Devin did not fight when the fairweather ants came to

prepare her

for a second wedding.

"' Breathe in love,' Aunt Bueller said, fingers against her ribcage.

"'The marrying doesn't last forever. Stay strong and stand tall.'

Devin sucked in and stood straighter.

It was the same heavily embroidered Romanian dress that

she'd first been gifted more than four years ago, only now it was tight across the bosom and

hips, and they had to fight with the fabric a little. These things were to be expected. She was

older and had birthed a child. Her daughter, no, don't think of Salem.

...