Entwined Chapter 14 Summary

  • Azalea teaches her sister the Entwine: a dance where the lady and gentleman each hold the ends of a sash, and the gentleman tries to "catch" the lady through a series of spins and twists, while she tries to evade him.
  • Bramble is going to play the part of the gentleman, but the Keeper steps in and asks for the dance—and when Flora asks if he knows the Entwine, he responds that he invented it.
  • He produces a sash to use instead of Azalea's mom's handkerchief, and Bramble holds the watch, since the Entwine lasts for three minutes. While they dance Azalea sees a hungry glint in Keeper's eyes, which frightens her; she drops the scarf, which is a disqualification.
  • Still flustered, Azalea mentions that they've never been properly introduced, and they know almost nothing about him.
  • Keeper says that he once knew a lady who could dance the Entwine nearly as well as Azalea. The girls clamor for the story, which goes like this: The High King wanted nothing more than to kill the Captain General who'd rebelled against him, so he swore an oath on blood to never die until he did. The blood belonged to the lady.
  • Well, that was… grisly. The girls run back to their room, frightened. Azalea knows the rest of the story, though, including how the High King had captured the Captain General's daughter, and sent her hand in a box to her father. Her ghost wandered the palace afterward.
  • Still though, Azalea tries to calm the girls, telling them that it's not true: Harold the First, the Captain General who'd rebelled against the High King, killed the High King and then died of old age.
  • The next morning, they discover that Lord Bradford's watch was left in the pavilion, so Azalea goes down there to look for it.
  • Keeper is hanging out… on the ceiling. Which is weird. Even weirder though, Azalea catches him with a stash of things belonging to all the girls: a glove, a pen, and so on.
  • Keeper confesses to drastic measures because he needs their help, and he offers to give her the watch if she does him a favor, because he's desperate after having been trapped for so long.
  • He needs an object from the palace—something magic—which is keeping him weak and trapped. The girls' period of mourning ends in three months, so hopefully they can find it by then.
  • Azalea tells the rest of the girls, and they discuss how to find the magic object, and what it might be. Clover admits to destroying the magic tea set with a fire poker, but the sugar teeth must've gotten away—so now the search is on.
  • Then one day the girls see an advertisement in the newspaper: young gentleman are encouraged to come to the palace to solve the riddle of where the twelve princesses dance each night.
  • The girls confront the King, and he admits that even while mourning, certain things must be accomplished… like getting Azalea to meet eligible young suitors. She's upset, but what can she do about it?