"You look so beautiful in that gown, it will be a pity to take it off for our wedding night," he said as he wrapped his hands around his pole and plied it vigorously. The boat set off so abruptly that a wave of water splashed over the side, soaking her shoes. "Forgive me, Bianca. I am so eager to make you mine that I forgot myself."
She suspected that it was more likely he'd forgotten anything but himself and his own desires, but she forced herself to smile and say nothing.
His eagerness got them across the lake in record time. By the time they'd reached the island, the others had only made it halfway.
Bianca climbed out of the boat before Corbin could offer his hand, and just as she was congratulating herself on managing to keep him from touching her, she felt his arms close around her waist like the cinch of a saddle.
He inhaled deeply as his lips grazed her throat. "By all that's holy, you're beautiful. I can scarcely wait to find out what you taste like."
Ravens with red-stained beaks, dripping gobbets of flesh. Bianca gave a delicate shudder. He would never taste her, alive or dead.
She twisted out of his grasp, bit down hard on her lip, and vanished from sight.
Thirty-Five
For what Vasco knew was the thirteenth time, though it wouldn't be the last, he said, "I already told you. I've come to speak to the king. He offered a reward for anyone who can solve the mystery of the shoes danced to pieces, and I have his answer."
But the guards at the palace laughed, taunted him, or bluntly told him they'd heard nothing about any such thing, and that he would never be granted entry to the palace, let alone the king's court.
Worse, Vasco knew how crazy he sounded. Were he a guard, he would probably behave much like these men were doing. But that didn't change the fact that Bianca was in danger, and he needed to speak to the king in order to keep her safe. Nothing else mattered.
Finally, he gusted a huge, sorrowful sigh and thanked the guards for their patience. He trudged across the courtyard and rounded a corner where he figured he'd be out of their line of sight. In a practiced motion, he swung his cloak around his shoulders and fastened it, before bring the hood up over his head. A moment passed and he could see through the thick wool as if it didn't exist, yet he knew he was invisible to everyone else. Kun had used powerful magic when she cast the invisibility spell on this cloak. He wished he'd had a second one to give Bianca to keep her safe from those raven princes.
As it was, he needed to hurry. Time was of the essence.
He strode past the guards, then a second set, and a third. Though he had never been to the capital before, the king's court was the subject of legend – everyone knew it was in the highest hall, in the very heart of the palace. So up he went, sweeping past anyone who might have stopped him if they could see him, until he stood at bottom of the steps to the very doors themselves.
Which swung shut before he could set his foot on the first step.
"There will be no further audience with the king today. If you have a petition, return tomorrow," a guard in a fancy uniform shouted to the crowd.
People grumbled and slowly dispersed.
Vasco hesitated for a moment, but the thought of Bianca spurred him on. The king was her father. It was his responsibility, nay, his duty to keep her safe. The king would see him. And if there was no audience, then there would be no one to interrupt him before he told his tale.
His knee was stiff from riding and walking so far, so he laboured up the steps like an old man. When he reached the top, he had to push against the doors with his whole weight, for they were heavier than he'd thought. The stories about the doors were true, then – they were made of solid gold, or at least solid metal, for no timber was that heavy.
"I told you, no more petitioners!" a man roared from the opposite end of the huge hall that was the king's court. A look of puzzlement crossed his face as he rose from his ornate throne. This man was the king, and Bianca's father.
Vasco continued until he reached the foot of the dais that held the king's throne. Only then did he fall to one knee as he whipped off his cloak. "Forgive me, your majesty, but your daughters are in great danger."
The king jumped a foot off the ground. Given the man was wearing enough metal to make armour for three men, that was quite a feat. "Where did you come from?"
"The Summer Palace, where your daughter, Princess Bianca, bade me give you this." Vasco held out the ring he'd pulled from her finger. "Your steward has made a deal with demons, who even now are trying to seduce your daughters so that they might kill and eat them."
These words started an uproar among the crowd of people who remained in what Vasco realised wasn't an empty court after all.
The king held up his hands for silence. "Silence! I will hear what this man has to say!" he roared. In a slightly quieter tone, he added, "Where are my daughters now?"
"The Summer Palace still, I hope, but if the demons have succeeded, then they are on an island in the middle of the lake beside the palace. There is an underground chamber beneath the lake where – "
The king cut him off. "We will leave for the Summer Palace at once. No demon will steal my daughters from me." He snapped his fingers. "Have every soldier in the capital assembled on the training grounds outside the city before the sun sets. Let it be known that the man who kills the most demons may choose one of my daughters as his bride!"
Vasco had a vision of himself slaughtering every one of those raven princes, before asking the king for Bianca. He almost laughed at the vision.
"What is funny?" the king demanded. "Why do you smile so?"
Vasco lifted his gaze to meet that of the king. "No part of this is funny, your majesty. But the thought of killing demons to save your daughters brings a fierce joy to my breast that I cannot help but smile at. No demon can withstand the might you will bring to bear on them. They will be crushed, as they should be."
"Yes, they will," the king said darkly.
Thirty-Six
"Princess? Bianca, where are you?" Corbin called.
Pressed against the trunk of the nearest tree, Bianca suppressed the urge to shout back that she was out of reach, so he would never touch her again. She had first discovered her magical talents when playing hide and seek with her sisters. If she stayed still and made no sound, they would never find her.
Other boats landed on the beach, spilling out their passengers.
"Where is Bianca?" Hazel asked.
"I don't know," Corbin said. "One moment she was in my arms, begging for a kiss, and the next…she was stolen from me. I saw a shadow and then she just…disappeared. Whoever took her, I will hunt him down and make him pay!"
Liar, Bianca thought furiously. Corbin hadn't seen any shadow. With a chill, she realised his anger wasn't directed at some imagined captor, but at her. If he caught her, he intended to make her pay.
Never.
"She can't have left the island," one of the other princes said reasonably. "If we spread out and search, we will find her, and whoever has taken her."
"I'll take the princesses to the ballroom, where they will be safe. No need to risk losing anyone else this night," another man said.
"No." This time the voice was female – Brenna's. She continued, "Our sister is missing. She knows us, and will answer our calls. We can help you search, so that she will be found faster. The sooner she is found, the sooner we will all be married."
Bianca wasn't sure whether Brenna or her other sisters knew about her magical abilities. Her mother had insisted she keep it a secret in the harem, but in a place where secrets were the highest form of currency, even the most carefully whispered confidence could be betrayed.
A brief argument ensued between Corbin and Brenna, but when the other girls weighed in, the princes were forced to concede.
They didn't want to lose all their brides. One was bad enough, but a dozen rebellious princesses spelled disaster for their plot. Bianca couldn't have planned this better if she'd tried. If only she had a plan at
all.
"Fiachra, you search the ballroom. Cormac and Guntram, take the west thicket. Raban and Ronne…" Corbin divided them into six search parties that set off across the island. That left just him and Bianca on the beach.
"Where are you, princess?" he whispered. "I know you can't have gone far. You are dressed for a ball, not a walk in the woods. It will go easier if you show yourself. The longer I have to hunt for you, the worse it will be for you when I do find you. And I will. Of all my brothers, I have always been the best hunter. It is fitting that the curse that began with a hunt will end with the best one of all, for the sweetest quarry in the world is a woman."
He had done this before, Bianca realised in horror. The bleached bones on the beach…did some of them belong to women? Or did he mean he'd been cursed for hunting women in the woods for sport?
Not just him. His brothers, too. For they were all cursed, not just him.
She couldn't let him find her. She would die, as would all her sisters, and no one would ever know how it had happened. The princes could kill again, and again, and there would be no one to stop them.
Why hadn't her magic included fireballs or the ability to kill just by looking at someone? Then she could fight and defend her sisters, ending these wicked princes forever. Not hug trees and hide, which is all she could do with her invisibility.
If she weren't so clumsy, she might have moved to a better spot, but all it would take was one sound and Corbin would know where she was, invisible or not.
A shrill scream ripped through the air, before a second joined it.
Two of her sisters had found the black beach, Bianca guessed.
Corbin swore and dashed in the direction of the screams.
Bianca took her chance, climbing into the nearest boat. They were all drawn up on shore so close to one another that it was almost easy to move from one to the other without needing to touch the ground. Or leave footprints, which she knew would be her undoing. She chose a boat that was closest to the water, hemmed in by other vessels that the princes would have to climb over in order to reach her. That would take time, and hopefully allow her to get away if they found her. Not that she knew how to paddle a boat, but it hadn't looked that hard when Corbin did it. If only she could make the boat invisible the way she'd done with Vasco for a moment before she lost consciousness. Because it wasn't just the boat she had to make invisible. It was the boat and the surface of the water beneath it and…
"Take her down to the ballroom and make her drink some wine," one of the men said.
Bianca ducked low, so only her eyes were above the gunwale of the boat. One of the princes tramped past, carrying a woman in his arms. She thought it might be Aruna, who'd been wearing a golden dress. He was followed by another pair. Nera's eyes stared at nothing as she walked like a woman in a dream. The prince beside her gripped her arm, tugging her along like she was a dawdling child.
Bianca ached to help them, but if she revealed herself, there was little she could do. No, her strength lay in hiding. If she could hide until dawn, the princes would turn back into birds and then she could help her sisters escape. Until then…she had to stay concealed.
Bianca settled in the bottom of the boat, out of sight even if she wasn't invisible. She liked the way the waves lapped at the boat, rocking it. So soothing. One day, when all this was over, she'd like to sleep in a boat. She'd heard of an ancient queen who had a pleasure barge that she sailed up and down the river. Bianca didn't need a whole barge. Just a boat big enough for her to lie down in. Just let it drift…
"She's escaping in the boat!"
Jolted from sleep, Bianca sat up. How had she fallen asleep? She stretched, knowing the stiffness in her limbs and the lightening sky meant she'd slept for several hours. And while she'd slumbered, as if responding to her unspoken command, the boat had drifted away from the shore with her in it. Now, she floated halfway between the island and the shore. That meant only half the distance to pole, she thought to herself, searching for the long paddle she'd seen the princes use.
Only…it wasn't in the boat. No pole or paddle or anything. Just the empty boat with her in it, while the princes had all the others at their disposal. They would catch up to her in minutes, drag her back to the island, and force her to marry that hateful man.
Bianca peered at the island. Through the mist, she couldn't tell if they were following her or not. It looked like the boats were still pulled up on shore.
The sun peeked above the horizon, blinding her as it turned the mist into blazing gold.
Then out of the mist flew a murder of crows.
Thirty-Seven
The king maintained a slow but steady pace that drove Vasco mad. Every moment, Bianca could be in more danger, yet the king seemed to be in no hurry. More than once, Vasco found himself drifting off to sleep, but he knew he could not. Bianca depended on him to bring help, and he would. He rode with an army at his back and her father, the king…well, he didn't ride precisely at his side, for the king's personal guard surrounded him, but Vasco was still close.
Finally, Vasco started to recognise the trees along the way. He knew they were near the Summer Palace when they passed Kun's cottage. Night was draining away, as the predawn light began to illuminate their path. One by one, they extinguished their torches, but still they rode. There would be no stopping until they reached the Summer Palace and saved the princesses.
What the king would say when he saw the demons were merely ravens, Vasco did not know, but nor did he care. The king could do whatever he liked with him, as long as Bianca was safe.
The Summer Palace loomed into view, a shadow between them and the lake.
"Summon the Lord Steward," the king commanded. A squad of soldiers dismounted and marched toward the door.
Vasco shook his head. The Lord Steward didn't matter. It was the princes who were the problem. "They will be on the lake," he said, directing his horse on a different path that led to the beach, or so he thought. Instead, he emerged beside the deserted archery range.
A single boat drifted into view, ominously empty.
Vasco heard shouts, but he wasn't sure whether they came from the island or the army behind him. He didn't care.
A chill breeze rippled the water of the lake, sending the boat in a lazy circle.
Shivering, Vasco pulled his cloak around him.
He glimpsed movement and then, a figure rose from the boat. Though he could only see her head and shoulders, he would know Bianca's pale hair anywhere. She was alive and unharmed. He was not too late.
Dawn kissed the horizon, setting her hair ablaze and turning the mist behind her into a glorious halo.
Yet in the light, there were shadows. First one, then two, then a dozen crows came flying out of the mist, arrowing straight for her.
No.
Vasco reached for his bow and strung it like a man in a dream. Nock, draw, aim, loose, the wind seemed to whisper, and he obeyed, like the good soldier he was.
"That's impossible!"
"It must be five hundred feet!"
"No one can shoot that far."
"Why is he shooting birds on an empty boat?"
Vasco paid no heed to the men behind him. His first arrow hit its target, a bird extending its talons toward Bianca's face. The bird flipped over and over before landing in the water with a splash.
All at once, a great wind ruffled the water, making it rise up in waves that carried the boat away from the stricken bird.
The ravens converged on their injured fellow, hiding it from sight for a moment before they rose up in one flock, flying over the lake and away across the forest. The body of the bird Vasco had shot had vanished.
Vasco paid no attention to the birds. His gaze was fixed on the boat making its way steadily to shore. It grounded on the bank just below him, and he ran to meet it, catching the edge of it so that the boat would not drift away again, no matter how the waves sucked at it.
Huddled in the bottom, her arms covered with cuts as th
ey shielded her head, was Bianca.
Gently, Vasco reached for her, wrapping her in his cloak as he lifted her from the boat. "You're safe, princess," he murmured.
Bianca blinked. "Vasco?" She bit her lip, then seemed to shimmer like sun on the water.
"He has one of the princesses! She was hiding in the boat!" A great shout went up, carried by a multitude of throats.
"But where are the others?"
"Underground." Bianca cleared her throat, then tried again, louder this time. "They are in a chamber under the island. They needed all of us to break the curse. But they didn't get me. I'll show you where they are."
Vasco's arms tightened around her. "No. I will show them. You will stay here in the palace, safe under your father's care." There were few men he trusted, but the king was Bianca's father. If anyone could keep her safe, he could.
Reluctantly, he surrendered the woman he loved to her father, and set off to save her sisters.
Thirty-Eight
By the time the sun had burned away the mist, Bianca stood with her sisters beside the archery range. No other space was big enough to hold all of the warriors the king had brought with him. She'd never seen so many men in one place, but she had eyes only for one. Vasco stood beside the king, looking as tired as she felt, but none of that mattered. Sleep could wait, for her future hung in the balance. Hers, and Vasco's.
Efe lay at her father's feet in chains, shouting about liars and traitors and all manner of insults that Bianca had never heard of, but they evidently offended someone, because one of the men guarding him pounded him with the butt of his spear until the steward fell silent.
"You spoke of demons, but my men have found none. My steward says you imprisoned my daughters, but you insist upon blaming these demons. I will have the truth!" the king boomed.
Brenna stumbled forward. Her pink dress was smudged with black, as though she had fallen on the black beach. "The demons looked like men, claiming to be handsome princes who were our rightful bridegrooms, but they were beset by a terrible curse. By night, they danced and laughed and seduced us with lies. And by day…they turned into great black birds that ate corpses. I saw the bodies of those they had killed. And I saw with my own eyes as the sun rose…the men turned into birds and flew away."
Revel: Twelve Dancing Princesses Retold (Romance a Medieval Fairytale Book 4) Page 11