Excerpt: The Lost Children

She gave birth to three children that night inside her small cabin and, fearful for their lives, ordered her servant to take them far away into another land where they would be free from the king's blade and the crone's debt. As the servant was preparing for his journey with the young children, the queen took one into her arms and whispered into his ear the story of how his life came to be what it was, and kissed him gently on the forehead, begging him to never forget the tale.