by K. M. Shea
Odette scrambled to the other end of the table, motioning for Alexsei to follow her so they wouldn’t be visible through the holes.
Rothbart turned around, murmured something, and flicked his hands at the creature, smacking it with a spell. When the spell hit, it made fire flare around the wyvern for several moments. “Be still,” he said.
The wyvern sneered at the sorcerer’s turned back, and opened and shut its jaws, making its teeth crunch.
Odette sucked in air between clenched teeth as bone-deep pain started to prod her. “We have to get out, now,” she whispered to Alexsei. She wiggled out the backside of the table—keeping the covered table between her and Rothbart. She peered around the corner to check Rothbart was occupied—he still tinkered at his worktable—then darted across the empty gap between the table she shared with Alexsei and the others.
“Odile,” she whispered.
Odile crawled out from underneath the table and held the canvas drop cloth up so Yakov, and Benno could scramble out as well. Her moth had to walk across the floor with its giant wings pressed tightly together to get free. “We can go while his back is turned.”
“What about the wyvern?” Benno mouthed.
“Stay clear of it,” Odile whispered grimly. “If we press up against the wall, it can’t reach us. I’ll go first.”
Odile pushed herself to her feet and shuffled so she stayed in the shadows. She followed the wall for about ten paces—as quiet as a mouse—then darted up the spiral staircase.
“Benno and Yakov, you next,” Odette said.
“It is cowardly to go next when a lady remains behind,” Yakov said.
Odette scowled. “If you argue with me over this, so help me—”
“Just go, Yakov,” Alexsei said.
Yakov frowned, but nodded. He and Benno copied Odile and pressed themselves tight against the wall.
While the wyvern hadn’t seemed to notice Odile, it certainly caught sight of Yakov and Benno. It thrashed, whipping its head back and forth, and fruitlessly reached for them with a wing.
The pair slipped into the stairway, and the wyvern snorted and slammed its head against the floor.
“Enough!” Rothbart thundered, and the dungeon shook and rumbled.
Alexsei offered Odette his hand. Odette took it, though her gaze was on the wyvern as they crept towards the staircase.
The wyvern hissed and spat, barely missing Odette as she and Alexsei abandoned the wall and made the dash for the stairs—their footsteps covered by the wyvern’s growls and snaps.
“I said enough!” Rothbart started to turn, just as they disappeared behind the bend in the stairwell. Odile, Benno, and Yakov were waiting several stairs up.
Rothbart shouted and cursed in anger, so Odette made the most of it. She motioned for them to hurry, and they tried to scramble up the stairs as quietly as possible—hoping Rothbart and the wyvern would drown out their escape.
Yakov threw himself against the door, making it burst open. He shut it after everyone fled the dungeon.
Odette—seeing the pink sky—hopped on a windowsill and held the frame for balance. “We make our exit here.”
Benno stared at her. “That is a jest, I hope?”
“We don’t have the time to get down any other way! Just get moving!” Odette said. She grabbed a thick vine of ivy that crawled up the side of the castle and jumped down to a bat-like gargoyle crouched below the window.
Yakov poked his head outside. “What of the hellhounds?”
Odette wanted to throttle him for his surprisingly logical questions that were wasting her precious time. She had to get out before her transformation! “Pray they were hungry and went to their dens for breakfast,” she snarled.
“Go, Yakov,” Alexsei said in a quiet but calm voice.
The older prince grumbled, but he followed Odette and deftly climbed down the side of the building without using the gargoyles.
Spurred on by the bright horizon, Odette jumped from the bat gargoyle to another stone sculpture that bore an uncomfortable resemblance to the wyvern and jumped to the ground. The landing was a little harder than she expected, and she banged her knee on the stone courtyard.
Benno and Alexsei eased out of the window and followed Odette’s path—the two brothers helping Benno make the jumps.
They were slower than she liked—she could almost feel her swan wings this close to dawn. Still, she squinted up at the window. “Thank you for your help, Odile!”
Odile waved and then disappeared into the shadows of the hall.
Odette nervously bit her lip as she watched their progress—which seemed to take ages. She was so close to transforming into a swan, the magic of the curse prickled her scalp. As soon as Benno’s feet touched the ground, Odette sprinted across the courtyard. “This way!”
Weaving around the castle keep, she darted for the rusted-over drainage grate at the back wall. She dove into the inlet and removed the grille, scrambling through. “Go, go, go!”
“Why the rush? Aren’t we safe?” Yakov asked as he came through the hole on his hands and knees. He wasn’t going fast enough, so Odette yanked him through, making room for Benno and Alexsei.
“The sun is about to rise.” Odette glanced at the horizon; rays of sunlight played in the sky.
“Don’t you change back no matter where you are?” Benno asked.
Alexsei, the last one through, cleared the hole, and Odette scurried forward to secure the grate again.
Her heart pounded twice as fast when the first few sparks of the curse’s activation magic flickered around her. “I do, but the change hurts if it happens outside of water—you get pummeled with clods of dirt and shrapnel. Moreover, as I’ve said every time we meet, you aren’t safe until you leave Swan Lake. Now run!”
Deciding it was their own fault if they could not safely find their way to the lake, Odette rushed to the front of their party and jumped from jutting rock to rock. She reached the edge of the island and leaped, hitting the water with a tremendous splash just as the sun peeked over the horizon.
Water churned around her, combining with light to create a cocoon. Her boots slid off her feet, and she clawed her way towards the surface of the lake—needing air—but the pain of the transformation made it hard as her bones and muscles shifted and adjusted.
When she finally broke through it was with white feathers and flapping wings. Once again a swan, Odette floated on the lake surface and tried to calm her pounding bird heart.
Pyotr—also a swan, paddled silently around the white boat.
Not bad. We all made it out alive—even His Imperial-pain-in-the-tail-feathers, though not for lack of trying on his part. She had lost another pair of boots—but that was why she bought them in bulk.
Yakov was first to reach the sandy beach, and he waded into the water and vaulted into the row boat.
Alexsei was a moment behind him, but he stopped to regard Pyotr on his way to the boat. “Thank you.”
Pyotr nodded in acknowledgement.
Benno skidded down the steep incline, wincing when she hit the beach with a jostled hop. “I will never go on another adventure with the two of you again.”
“That was a bit more of an adventure than we planned for,” Alexsei admitted as he helped her into the boat. “I don’t believe we would have made it out unharmed as we did, if not for Odette and Odile.”
“Indeed! We thank you for your help, Swan Queen,” Yakov added as he readied the oars.
Odette did her best version of a hiss, but as Rothbart had been particularly cruel and made them all mute swans, the best noise she could produce was something that sounded like a fat man blowing his nose and chortling at the same time.
Yakov laughed at her, making Odette smack the water with her large white wings. She could have cried with frustration. What a brute! Didn’t he realize how irritating this was?
“Yakov, enough.” Alexsei spoke in a soothing tone and glanced at Odette.
Yakov snorted. “Didn
’t you hear her? She sounds ridiculous!”
Odette wiggled her tail feathers and paddled away.
Then, she swiveled around and took careful aim. Benno, seeing her move, crouched low in the boat.
Odette flapped her wings to gain a little altitude, and she zoomed across the water surface. When she collided with Yakov in a mess of feathers and momentum, the impact tossed the Imperial Prince over the side of the boat and into the lake.
The tremendous splash he made soothed Odette’s hurt pride.
Sputtering, Yakov surfaced. “W-what was that for?”
“I don’t blame her. You were being quite rude,” Alexsei said in a reproachful voice.
“He was being downright cruel.” Benno, unsympathetic to Yakov’s plight, watched with the same look of longsuffering mothers often wear as he angrily thrashed in the lake. “Yakov, stop being a cad and get in the boat. If you continue acting in this manner, I’ll push you out myself.”
Pyotr joined Odette, and together, they floated nearby.
As Yakov—sopping wet—hefted himself back in the boat, Pyotr and Odette started to make their way across the lake.
“Odette,” Alexsei called.
She bobbed in the water and let it turn her around to face him.
“Thank you for coming for us,” he said. “We wouldn’t have gotten out alive if not for you.”
What am I supposed to say—or do—in reply to that? At a loss, she jerkily nodded.
When she began paddling again, Pyotr joined her and gave her several side looks. The infuriating swan didn’t let up. She angrily snapped her beak open and shut several times and increased her pace. Until Alexsei, Benno, and Yakov safely crossed and stowed the boat, she floated in the middle of the lake. When they left, she finally allowed herself to doze, draping her long neck on her body and resting her beak in her feathers.
Chapter 6
Imperial Introductions
“I cannot believe her!” Yakov stormed.
Alexsei yawned and listened while he flipped through a book. Three days later, and Yakov was still sore about getting tossed into the lake.
“When you act like this, I can understand with complete clarity why she did such a thing,” Benno said. She didn’t look up from the handkerchief she was embroidering. “In fact, I think it is a credit to her spirit.”
“You would.” Yakov sat down next to Alexsei on the settee. “I wouldn’t be so mad if she would give one indication of how she feels about me.”
Alexsei turned a page in his book. “I believe the lady in question has made it perfectly clear how she feels about you.” He wasn’t able to keep all the glee out of his voice, so Benno gazed at him with a quirked eyebrow.
Yakov was used to getting whatever girl he wanted. But Odette is…special.
Yakov, however, missed it entirely. “Yes, but that can’t be how she really feels.”
Alexsei’s mirth left. “Why not?”
“Because, because…” Yakov frowned as he thought.
“All females are your deepest admirers?” Benno asked.
Yakov beamed. “Exactly!”
“If you take a step over here, I will stab you through with my needle,” Benno said.
Yakov leaped to his feet and resumed pacing. “You both know what I mean. I’ve never had a problem with women, besides Benno.”
“Amen,” Benno muttered as she picked out a stitch.
“So why doesn’t she like me? What must I do to earn her affection?”
“Given that she is under a spell, I would imagine breaking it would be your best starting point,” Benno said.
“But it is impossible for me to break her curse.”
Alexsei shrugged. “Then give up. She’ll never fawn over you, Yakov. She’s not the type.”
“Yes, but every female longs to fall in love.”
Is he being willfully obtuse, or does he honestly not see it?
Benno narrowed her eyes as she inspected her handkerchief. “I do hope you say that to her face. I would so love to watch her break your nose.”
Yakov groaned. “Benno!”
“If you say stupid things, I see no reason why you shouldn’t be punished,” she said.
“Yakov, why don’t you move on?” Alexsei set down his book. “It isn’t as if every girl in the world has to fall in love with you.” Just most of them, it seems.
“No, the thrill of the chase is on. I don’t give up so easily,” Yakov said.
A muscle twitched in Alexsei’s cheek. “Odette deserves more than to be the prize of a game.”
Benno studied Alexsei with an odd light in her eyes. “Oh? What do you think she deserves?”
“She’s lived with a curse, bartered with a sorcerer we could never face, and has served as the leader of her band for four years.” He stood. “What doesn’t she deserve?” Alexsei couldn’t keep the passion from his voice. “She should be wooed—not hunted.”
“You’re right, Lexsei. I apologize. Leave it to you to think of that. You are the most respectable royal to grace our family in at least three generations.” Yakov stopped pacing and peered at Alexsei—a rare expression of understanding dawning on his face. “Unless…do you like her?”
Alexsei sat back down, caught off guard. He did like her. She sees me, and she still chooses me over Yakov—and not merely to tease him. However, if he was being honest he hadn’t allowed himself to grow much more than glowing feelings for her. He would like more—he’d like everything if possible—but Odette was preoccupied with her spell and her people and—Alexsei wouldn’t push her.
“Lexsei?” Yakov prompted.
“I, I…” he floundered.
Yakov grinned. “I’m just giving you a hard time. Of course you don’t like her.” He stretched his arms over his head and—his impatience seemingly gone—sprawled his brawny body across a vacant settee. “She’s not your type.”
Alexsei frowned. “What exactly is my type?”
Yakov folded his hands behind his head. “I don’t know. Truthfully, I have never pictured you with anyone.”
Alexsei clenched his jaw. “What?”
“You’ve never been sweet on any girl—believe me, I would know—and you’ve never shown any interest in them, though you’re still plenty kind.”
Benno looked up from her embroidery. “Alexsei, if you break his nose, I will vouch for you to your mother.”
Yakov sat up and protested. “Don’t blame me that Alexsei has no romantic inclinations!”
A rare flicker of anger pulsed in Alexsei. Didn’t Yakov know? Wasn’t he aware that Alexsei was cursed to stand in his shadow, that it wasn’t his choice but his lot in life?
Stiff with anger, Alexsei set his book aside and got up.
“Where are you going?” Yakov asked.
“Out.”
“Of course, but where?”
“Just out!” Alexsei growled. He exited the study and, using all his self-control, shut the door quietly.
Though the door was closed, he could still hear Yakov say in great bewilderment, “What caused that reaction?”
“You,” Benno said, “are an idiot.”
Odette was taking a rare nap on shore. She meant to continue watching Rothbart’s castle for any sign of the sorcerer. She had taken up the post yesterday after seeing the noble trio off, for if Rothbart found evidence of their break-in, there would be a loud explosion. However, the warm sunlight and the long nights caught up with her, and her eyes began to close.
She dreamt of her parents, of playing with her little brothers, and of planting seeds and tending to crops while the sun kissed her human skin. Father…Mother…
Footfalls on the pebble-strewn shore awakened her. Odette opened her eyes—her body was too heavy and lethargic to raise her head—and watched with curious confusion as Alexsei stomped across the beach. I wonder what happened; he seems angry. Moreover, why is he here? We have several hours until sunset.
He scanned the other swans that nested on shore or fl
oated on the lake. When his gaze rested on her, he turned in her direction and trudged up to her. “Odette?”
Odette expended all her energy and raised her head in a jerky nod. She then settled back into place, spreading her wings a little to get more sunshine. I wonder how he knew it was me.
Alexsei sat down near her and rested his back against a tree. His handsome face lacked its usual kind expression. Instead, he clenched his jaw, and a tightness around his eyes made him appear tense.
Surprised by this unusual change, Odette kept her eyes open instead of drifting off to sleep again.
“Yakov likes you,” Alexsei said abruptly.
Odette blinked, but she wasn’t completely surprised. That fool likes anything with a skirt. But that doesn’t explain why you are upset.
Unaware of her thoughts, Alexsei picked up a pebble and tossed it back and forth. “He has nearly every eligible female at the palace under his sway, but it’s not enough. He wants you as well.” Alexsei laughed, a harsh sound. “I shouldn’t be telling you this—he is my brother, and he does fancy you—but why? Why does he have to like you?”
Odette eyed him with suspicion. Is that an insult?
He tipped his head back so it rested against the tree and dropped the pebble. “I like you,” he said. “But whenever Yakov is near…”
I see what this is. Hadn’t I noticed it from the first day? Alexsei—compassionate, kind, wonderful Alexsei—thought he stood in his brother’s shadow. It would be hard to be Yakov’s younger sibling. Odette hissed a whistling sigh and made the great sacrifice of standing up. She walked over to Alexsei and bumped him with her wing.
He kept staring at the sky.
What a goose. Odette stretched her neck and clamped her beak around the collar of his shirt—which she used to steady herself as she climbed up the side of his leg and stood on his lap.
As swans were large birds, she naturally took up quite a bit of space and blocked Alexsei’s view.
He blinked at her.
Good boy. Odette wiggled her tail feathers and then crouched on his lap, settling into place. Instead of draping her neck and head over the puff of her body, she placed her head on his shoulder—greedily soaking up his warmth in addition to the sunshine.