The Thirteenth Princess, by Diane Zahler
For years, a certain king hoped for a son to inherit his crown. As each successive daughter is born, the king became angrier with his wife for her failure to produce an heir. The queen dies when Zita, the thirteenth daughter, is born.
Unable to bear the child’s presence, the king sends her to live with the house servants. One day, when Zita is seven, Cook lets it slip that Zita is a princess. After this, Zita pays close attention to her father and her twelve sisters who know who she really is. When the princesses discover a hidden dumbwaiter that leads from their bedroom to the kitchen’s pantry, Zita spends every Sunday night with her sisters in their room. After a while, Zita notices her sisters’ tattered dancing slippers. For some reason, the princesses have become so exhausted that, one-by-one, they fall ill.
One night at midnight, Breckin, the king’s stable boy, and Milek, Breckin’s soldier brother, help Zita follow the twelve sisters down the dumbwaiter into the bowels of the castle. They find an enchanted world where the princesses are forced to dance for hours. This unrelenting scene repeats itself every night.
In desperation, Zita, Breckin, and Milek turn to an old witch, who lives in an enchanted cottage in the king’s forest, for help.
