Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey

Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey
                     A Retelling of "Sleeping Beauty"
186 pages

    Princess Aurore is cursed to prick her finger and die when she is born. Her parents won't let her sew or go outside. When she turns sixteen, she goes off to meet her fate so her people will not suffer. On the way, she meets a prince who says he is searching for the legendary sleeping princess. Is he really looking for her, or is there some other girl under the same curse?


    "There is another course of action we might pursue. Though I fear, Majesties, it will be even less to you liking. . . ."
    At these words, a silence fell upon us. A terrible silence, like a blight.
    I knew what the soothsayer meant. We all did. If the spells spoken over me in my cradle were fulfilled, the calamities which threatened to destroy us all would stop. All it would take was the prick of a finger. Followed by one bright drop of my life's blood.
    I heard a rustle of garments as my father moved to stand beside my mother. "I want you to go back to your room and get a good night's sleep, Aurore. Don't let the ramlings of frightened fools keep you awake. In the morning, we will decide what must be done."
    And though he turned away swiftly, he was not swift enough, for I saw the thing that was in his heart.
    Grief.
    For his own fate. But even more, for mine.