Princess of the Midnight Ball

In the kingdom of Westfalin, Queen Maude strikes a desperate bargain with the King Under Stone, an ancient sorcerer imprisoned centuries ago in a sunless underground realm by twelve magicians. Having already bargained with him for the ability to bear children, Maude agrees to dance in his underground court for twelve years in exchange for Westfalin's victory in its war against the neighboring nation of Analousia. The King Under Stone hints that Maude's daughters should join her at court to meet his twelve sons, all born to mortal women. Maude recoils, but the king notices she is pregnant with her eighth child and savors the prospect of twelve mortal princesses as future brides, brides who can walk in the daylight world he can never reach.

Years later, the war is over. Galen Werner, a soldier not yet nineteen who has spent most of his life on the battlefield, walks toward the capital city of Bruch. His mother died of lung sickness, his sister died in an accident, and his father was killed when Galen was fifteen. On the road, he shares his food with a mysterious old woman and gives her his wool scarf. In return, she gives him an invisibility cloak, a ball of black wool she says can bind like iron, and a ball of white wool that can protect like a swan. She calls Galen by name, though he never told it to her, and warns he will need these gifts at the palace.

In Bruch, Galen finds his mother's sister, Tante Liesel, whose husband, Reiner Orm, is head gardener of the palace's Queen's Garden. The family is mourning their son Heinrich, believed killed in the war. Galen proves his identity with his mother's silver crucifix and is given Heinrich's room and a position as under-gardener.

Princess Rose, the eldest of King Gregor's twelve daughters, bears the weight of the family's predicament. Every morning the princesses' dancing slippers are found worn to pieces, yet their father cannot discover how they leave their locked rooms at night. The princesses, including the second-eldest Lily and the devout Hyacinth, are physically unable to reveal their secret. Rose encounters Galen at the swan fountain, tumbles into the water, and he pulls her out, beginning an awkward but warm acquaintance.

Rose develops a severe chill that progresses toward pneumonia. Despite her illness, the curse compels the sisters to attend the Midnight Ball. Each night, Lily, the second eldest, traces a maze pattern on the sitting room rug, which transforms into a golden spiral staircase descending into darkness. The sisters pass through a gate of pearl-studded silver, walk through a forest of silver trees, cross a black lake in golden boats rowed by the King Under Stone's twelve sons, and dance in his black palace until dawn. As the princesses sicken one by one, King Gregor grows desperate. His physician, Dr. Kelling, proposes inviting foreign princes as suitors to discover the secret: If one succeeds, he may marry a princess and inherit the throne. Over several months, seven princes try and fail, overcome each night by a sleeping enchantment. All die in seemingly accidental ways afterward. Rose warns Galen the family is cursed and begs him to leave. Instead, he resolves to help.

Galen bonds with Walter Vogel, an elderly gardener with a wooden leg who has served the palace since Rose's birth and proves to be far more than he appears. One night, shadowy figures emerge from the garden. Rose identifies one as Rionin, one of the dark underground princes, and the sisters are forced to dance as punishment. The political crisis deepens when Prince Alfred of Breton, the latest failed suitor, dies shortly after departing. Foreign nations accuse Westfalin of assassinating the princes. The archbishop sends Bishop Angier, an ambitious emissary, to investigate charges of witchcraft. Angier arrests the princesses' governess, Anne, and places Westfalin under Interdict, a church decree forbidding all masses, marriages, christenings, and burials. The princesses are accused of witchcraft, and the city grows restless with fear.

Galen presents himself as a volunteer to solve the mystery. Walter gives him nightshade to resist enchantment and basil to ward off evil. King Gregor grants him three nights. On the first night, Galen feigns sleep, dons his invisibility cloak, and follows the princesses underground. He watches them dance without joy, observes the King Under Stone announcing that his sons will marry the princesses once Queen Maude's contract expires, and realizes the king feeds off the dancers' energy. He snaps two silver twigs as evidence. Between nights, Walter reveals he is one of the immortal magicians who originally imprisoned the King Under Stone, though now too diminished to confront him. Galen fashions the twigs into knitting needles and begins knitting a chain from the black wool. On the second night, he collects a silver goblet and touches Rose's hand; she smiles, sensing his invisible presence.

Using the cloak, Galen investigates further. He reads a confiscated history that reveals Under Stone's true name, Wolfram von Aue, the key to the original imprisonment spell. Maude's diary, also confiscated by Angier, confirms she was manipulated into binding her daughters as future brides. Galen prepares for the third night by having the black wool chain boiled with basil and nightshade, hardening it into something resembling felted steel. He etches Under Stone's true name on a silver twig. During the third night's ball, the King Under Stone senses Galen's presence and curses him to die before the month ends.

Galen wakes to find the princesses have not returned. The King Under Stone has kept them below, intending to marry them to his sons within a week. Below ground, Rose learns the king's ultimate aim: their future children will break open his prison and walk freely in the daylight world. In Bruch, Angier manipulates the crisis, pressing for King Gregor's abdication. Galen shouts the truth before the council, but Angier has him arrested. Galen escapes using the cloak, retrieves the hardened chain and his weapons, and descends the golden staircase alone. In the underground palace, Galen finds the princesses dancing in bruise-colored gowns. He and Rose coordinate an escape, sending the younger sisters out in stages. When the King Under Stone discovers them, Galen leaps onto the dais and stabs him through the heart with the silver twig bearing the name Wolfram von Aue. Under Stone's power drains into his eldest son, Illiken, who becomes the new King Under Stone. The princesses flee through the silver forest while Lily wounds a pursuing prince. At the pearl-and-silver gate, Illiken confronts them, declaring himself immune to mortal weapons. Galen wraps the boiled black wool chain through the gate's bars and around the gatepost, then drives his mother's silver crucifix into the knot. The chain transforms from wool to steel. Illiken screams and recoils, unable to pass. The princesses ascend the staircase, and Hyacinth seizes a lamp and sets the maze-patterned rug ablaze, destroying the entrance forever. Galen smothers the flames, then kisses Rose.

For the first time, Rose speaks openly about the King Under Stone, proving the curse is broken. In the council chamber, Bishop Schelker, Bruch's kind-hearted bishop, produces a letter from the archbishop revealing Angier exceeded his authority. Galen presents his evidence and explains Queen Maude's bargains, declaring Under Stone dead and his surviving sons bound forever. King Gregor is vindicated. The king offers Galen his choice of any princess and names him co-ruler and eventual heir. Galen chooses Rose. The Interdict is lifted, Anne is freed, and Angier is sent away in disgrace. At the spring wedding beside the swan fountain, Heinrich Orm returns alive, scarred and limping but in love with Lily. King Gregor approves a second match. During the reception, Galen glimpses the old crone seated beside Walter; both vanish a moment later. At the princesses' insistence, there is no dancing, but Galen slips off Rose's shoes and waltzes her barefoot across the soft lawn under the stars.