History Literature / Entwined

* HeroesWantRedheads: Azalea and Bramble for Lord Bradford and Lord Teddie, respectively.
** The King as well, considering it's noted that Azalea bears a striking resemblance to her mother.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: The Keeper seems ''really'' fixated on Azalea. It's not his looks that make him repulsive though ([[EvilIsSexy definitely not]]) but his empty eyes, his creepy attitude, and Azalea’s growing awareness that he's got ulterior motives.

* [[AlphabeticalThemeNaming Alphabetical Theme Naming]]/[[FloralThemeNaming Floral Theme Naming]]: Each princess is named after a plant, in alphabetical order of birth. Azalea, Bramble, Clover, Delphinium, Evening Primrose, Flora, Goldenrod, Hollyhock, Ivy, Jessmine, Kale, Lily.

* BloodMagic[=/=]BloodOath: The Keeper tells the story of how the High King drank a goblet of blood and made an oath on it to never truly die until he had murdered the Captain General. It turns out [[spoiler: he’s talking about himself.]]

* UnnamedParent: The Queen's first name is never reveale.
** It might be Kathryn, which is noted as being Azalea's middle name. It's a pretty common tradition.

* ArrangedMarriage: All the girls are resigned to the fact their husbands will probably be picked for them. Azalea most so, since when there are no male heirs, parliemtn ''elects'' who'll be the next king.

** The King as well, considering it's noted that Azalea bares a striking resemblance to her mother.

* InvisibilityCloak: Lord Bradford inherited one, called a “wraith cloak.” As in the original fairytale, he uses it to secretly discover where the princesses are going at night.

A 2011 retelling of the FairyTale TheTwelveDancingPrincesses, by Heather Dixon.

The Queen of Eathesbury [[DeathByChildBirth dies giving birth]] to her [[MassiveNumberedSiblings twelfth]] daughter, leaving the royal family distraught. As tradition dictates, they’re to spend the next year in mourning. This includes no dancing, which happens to be the princesses favorite past time. To make matters worse, at the time the girls need their father most, the King is pushing them away, leaving them to feel trapped and betrayed.

One night, Azalea, the eldest, discovers a secret passage in their bedroom fireplace that leads to an enchanted pavilion. The owner, who was magically imprisoned within the castle walls hundreds of years ago, known only as [[FauxAffablyEvil The Keeper]], invites them to dance there every night to their hearts content till mourning is over. But the Keeper isn’t doing it out of the goodness of his heart—he wants to be ''free'', and he's determined to make sure Azalea breaks the enchantment holding him there...

* [[AlphabeticalThemeNaming Alphabetical Theme Naming]]/[[FloralThemeNaming Floral Theme Naming]]: Each princess is named after a plant, in alphabetical order.
** Azalea, Bramble, Clover, Delphinium, Evening Primrose, Flora, Goldenrod, Hollyhock, Ivy, Jessmine, Kale, Lily.
* ArrangedMarriage: All the girls are resigned to the fact their husbands will probably be picked for them. Azalea most so, since ''parliament'' decides who the next king will be.

* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: Lily comes into the world as her mother leaves it. And to make matters worse, it's on ''Christmas''.

* {{Blackmail}}: Keeper steals the watch Bradford lent to the girls, as a way to push the girls into searching for the object that's imprisoning him. He later takes their mother's brooch in a similar way, in an attempt to get them more invested in the search. It doesn't work.
* [[BloodMagic Blood Magic]]/[[BloodOath Blood Oath]]: The Keeper tells the story of how the High King drank a goblet of blood and made an oath on it not to die until he had murdered the Captain General. It turns out [[spoiler: he’s talking about himself.]]

* ColdBloodedTorture: What the High King like to do to people, and what he wants to do to the girls if he gets out.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Rampant. Eathesbury's violent history involving Harold the First killing the High King is frequently talked about, making it not all that surprising [[spoiler: when the BigBad is the High King himself.]] Also, anything involving [[spoiler: silver.]]

* ExactWords: The High King, determined to see the end of his enemy, General Harold, swore a blood oath that he would never die until he had killed the Captain General. His promise and spirit survives long after Harold the First died of natural causes, since "Captain General" is a title that passes to each new king.
** [[InvisibilityCloak “Wraith cloaks”]] are briefly mentioned when talking about how the kingdom used to be full of magic. Guess what Lord Bradford uses to find out where the girls are going at night.

** Also, the entire pavilion. When Keeper no longer has need of it, it returns to being a storage room.

** The King as well, considering it's noted that Azalea bares a striking resemblance to her mother.
* [[IHaveYourWife I Have Your Mother]]: [[spoiler: Keeper reveals he's got the Queen's soul imprisoned, which he uses to blackmail Azalea into continuing her search for object binding him and to continue coming to the pavilion with her sisters.]]
* Human Sacrifice: Required for dark magic oaths. The High King ensnared General Harold's daughter in his magic garden and drank her blood from a goblet, while promising to never rest until he'd killed the Captain General.

* MagicallyBindingContract: There's an old magic known as “swearing on silver” in which [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin you swear on something silver]], making your promise unbreakable. Azalea discovers it after her mother makes her swear on a silver handkerchief to protect her sisters. The girls use it to make sure they never tell the King where they're dancing at night, which eventually comes back to bite them.
* MasqueradeBall: Keeper creates the illusion of a depraved one to torment Azalea after she refuses to dance with him.

* MayDecemberRomance: Fairweller, although his age isn't stated, has got to be ''at least'' ten years older than Clover. Justified, as the setting has Victorian sensibilities.

* OnceUponATime: Fairytales in Eathesbury start with “in a certain country”.
* PromotionToParent: Azalea.
* RapidAging: [[spoiler: The Keeper/High King, when he's fulfilled his oath by killing the King. Within seconds he's nothing but dust.]]
* RoyallyScrewedUp: The ancient High King of D'Eathe, [[spoiler: Keeper]]. He liked to abuse people, using magic to torture them and trap their souls after their bodies gave out. Not surprising, he was eventually overthrown and killed by the current royal family.

* ThemeNaming: All the girls are named after a plant and in alphabetical order of birth. Probably to make it easier for the reader to keep track of them.

* UnnamedParent: The Queen is never named.

* {{Glamour}}: It's implied that Keeper is putting one on. [[spoiler When the girls find a portrait of the High King in the attic he looks old and corpse-like, which is what Keeper reverts to after his blood oath is fulfilled.]]

* FauxAffablyEvil: Keeper is this trope incarnate.

** Averted with Azalea, who has auburn hair and rarely ever riled up.

* TallDarkAndHandsome: The Keeper, [[Glamour at least at first]].

* EvilAllAlong: [[spoiler:Keeper, to no one’s surprise.]]
* EvilIsDeathlyCold: [[spoiler: Keeper always has an ice cold touch.]]
* ExactWords: The High King, determined to see the end of his enemy, General Harold, swore a blood oath that he would never die until he had killed the Captain General. His promise and spirit survives long after Harold the First died of natural causes, since "Captain General" is a title that passes to each new king.

* Glamour: It's implied that Keeper is putting one on. [[spoiler When the girls find a portrait of the High King in the attic he looks old and corpse-like, which is what Keeper reverts to after his blood oath is fulfilled.]]

* ThemeNaming: All the girls are named after a plant and in alphabetical order of birth, probably to make it easier for the reader to keep track of them.

* WouldHurtAChild: [[Keeper.]]

The Queen of Eathsbury [[DeathByChildBirth dies giving birth]] to her [[MassiveNumberedSiblings twelfth]] daughter, leaving the royal family distraught. As tradition dictates, they’re to spend the next year in mourning. This includes no dancing, which happens to be the princesses favorite past time. To make matters worse, at the time the girls need their father most, the King is pushing them away, leaving them to feel trapped and betrayed.

One night, Azalea, the eldest, discovers a secret passage in their bedroom fireplace that leads to an enchanted pavilion. The owner, who was magically imprisoned within the castle walls hundreds of years ago, known only as the Keeper, invites them to dance there every night to their hearts content till mourning is over. But the Keeper isn’t doing it out of the goodness of his heart—he wants to be ''free'', and he's determined to make sure Azalea breaks the enchantment holding him there...

* {{Blackmail}}: Keeper steals the watch Bradford lent to the girls, as a way to get them to start looking for the object that's imprisioning him. He takes their mother's brooch in a similar way later, in an attempt to get them more invested in the search. It doesn't work.

* EveryoneLovesBlondes: Clover, who's regarded as the most beautiful of the sisters and has a lot of potential suitors eyeing her up, happens to be blonde.

* ExactWords: The High King, determined to see the end of his enemy, Captain General Harold, swore a blood oath that he would never die until he had killed the Captain General. His promise and spirit survives long after Harold the First dies of natural causes, since "Captain General" is a title that passes to each new king.

* Foreshadowing: Rampant. Eathesbury's violent history involving Harold the First killing the High King is frequently talked about, making it not all that surprising [[spoiler: when the BigBad is the High King himself.]] Also, anything involving [[spoiler: silver.]]

* FourthDateMarriage: Bramble, and Azalea, and Clover are all in love and engaged after a relatively short time.

** Also, the entire pavilion. [[spoiler: When Keeper no longer has need of it, it returns to being a storage room.]]

* Human Sacrifice: Required for dark magic oaths. The High King ensared Captain General Harold's daughter in his magic garden and drank her blood from a goblet, while promising to never rest until he'd killed the Captain General.

* SoulJar: The entire castle is one of these, trapping Keeper/[[spoiler:The High King]] within the very walls.

* TallDarkAndHandsome: The Keeper, [[spoiler: Glamour at least at first.]]

* ThemeNaming: All the girls are named after a plant of some kind and in alphabetical order, probably to make it easier for the reader to keep track of them.

A 2011 FairyTale retelling of TheTwelveDancingPrincesses by Heather Dixon

The Queen of Eathsbury dies giving birth to her twelfth daughter, leaving the royal family distraught. As tradition dictates, they’re to spend the next year in mourning. This includes no dancing, which happens to be the princesses favourite past time. To make matters worse, at the time the girls need their father most, the King is pushing them away, leaving them to feel stifled and betrayed.

* AlphabeticalThemeNaming / FloralThemeNaming: Each princess is named after a plant, in alphabetical order.
** Azalea, Bramble, Clover, Delphinium, Evening Primrose, Flora, Goldenrod, Hollyhock, Ivy, Jessmine, Kale, Lily.

* Blackmail:
* BloodMagic / BloodOath: The Keeper tells the story of how the High King drank a goblet of blood and made an oath on it not to die until he had murdered the Captain General. It turns out [[spoiler: he’s talking about himself.]]

* ExactWords: The High King, determined to see the end of his enemy, Harold the First, swore a blood oath that he would never die until he had killed the Captain General. Since Captain General is a title that gets passed to each king

* [[IHaveYourWife I Have Your Mother]]: Keeper reveals he's got the Queen's soul imprisoned, which he uses to blackmail Azalea into continuing to look for the magic object imprisoning him and to continue coming to the pavilion.

* ArrangedMarriage: All the girls are resigned to the fact their husbands will probably be picked for them. Azalea most so, since ‘’parliament’’ decides who the next king will be.

* BlackEyesOfEvil: [[spoiler: Keeper]], although it takes some time for the Princesses to notice them.
* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: The sisters run the full spectrum of hair color, but it's most notable in the three eldest. Clover is blonde, Azalea is auburn, and Bramble is dark red.

* EvilAllAlong: [[Keeper, to no one’s surprise.]]

* ExactWords: The High King, determined to see the end of his enemy Harold the First, swore a blood oath that he would never die until he has killed his enemy, the Captain General.

* Foreshadowing: Rampant. Eathesbury's violent history involving Harold the First killing the High King is frequently talked about, making it not all that surprising [[when the BigBad is the High King himself.]] Also, anything involving [[spoiler: silver.]]

** Also, the entire pavilion. [[spoiler: When Keeper no longer has need of it, it's nothing but an old storage room.]]

* MagicallyBindingContract: There's an old magic known as “swearing on silver” in which [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin you swear on something silver]], making your promise unbreakable. Azalea discovers it after her mother makes her swear in a silver

* RoyallyScrewedUp: The ancient High King of D'Eathe, [[spoiler: Keeper.]] He liked to abuse people, using magic to torture them and trap their souls after their bodies gave out. Not surprising, he was eventually overthrown and killed by the current royal family.

* TallDarkAndHandsome: The Keeper, [[Glamour at least at first.]]