Read The Wild Swans Online

Authors: K.M. Shea

Tags: #dpgroup.org, #Fluffer Nutter

The Wild Swans (21 page)

BOOK: The Wild Swans
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Elise squeezed her eye shut
, cutting off her tears. When she snapped her eyes open she arranged her legs beneath her and forced herself to stand. She faced King Torgen with every ounce of training she had, standing with perfect posture and her chin raised. She looked down at King Torgen as if he were her lesser,
because
he was her lesser.

The soldiers
were crowded around Elise, but the let go of her and were unable to keep themselves from bowing and murmuring apologies for manhandling her so.

K
ing Torgen met her gaze. “Look at the chit pretending to be—,” he cut himself when Elise smirked at him. It was the barest curling of her lips, but it was enough to make King Torgen shut his mouth with an audible click.

The Verglas K
ing glared daggers at Elise. He threw the last shirt on the fire and stalked off. “Witch,” he hissed as he passed Elise.

Elise lunged for the fireplace. She tried
to snatch the burning shirt from the flames, but the fire was too hot and blistering.

“Allow me
,” one of the soldiers said, putting a hand in front of Elise and scooping her aside before he used the end of his spear to fish the shirt out of the fire.

The soldier set it on the ground and stamped on the edges to put out the flames
, squashing it.

A
lmost half of the shirt was destroyed, but once it cooled off Elise gathered it up as if it was knitted gold.

She left the palace
, barefoot and her face smeared with tears, with the presence of a queen. The soldiers escorted her and her half shirt to the cottage.

“My Lady
,” they said, bowing deeply to her—the highest compliment they could pay and the only consolation they could offer—before they left.

Elise sat on her smooth rock and arranged her skirts around her. The
shirt sat on her lap like a beloved pet. Elise placed a hand on it and looked up when one of the swans left the lake water to approach her.

Unable to hold back her tears any longer
, Elise shook her head when the swan tilted his head at her. She unrolled the shirt, her fingers lingering on the burned spots as hot, painful tears crawled down on her cheeks.

The swan understood
, or at least understood that she was upset, and craned his neck to place his head on her shoulder.

Elise sucked in air
, strangling the sob that wanted to pour out of her throat. She buried her face in the swan’s soft, slick feathers and threw her arms around its body.

They
were still like that an hour later when Brida found them.


Fürstin? What happened—oh,” Brida said, catching sight of the mangled shirt. “Oh, Fürstin,” Brida said, her voice echoing Elise’s silent heartbreak.

The captain placed a hand on Elise’s shoulder
, but when Elise didn’t remove herself from her bird consoler, the captain disappeared.

By sunset
, Elise had some control over herself. She hadn’t cried in several hours, but her resolve crumbled as she watched her foster brothers splash their way out of the lake.

“Elise? What is wrong? What happened?” Rune asked
, the first to climb free of the cold water.

“They’re gone
, Rune.”

“What are gone?” Erick
said, just behind his younger brother.

“The
shirts. They’re gone. King Torgen burned all of them,” Elise said, nudging the rescued shirt to show the burned nettles.


Elise, I’m so sorry,” Rune said, wrapping his arms around her.

Elise cried into his chest
, letting the sobs she had held back all afternoon go.

Rune scooped her up and rocked her like a child as she vented her heartbreak
, anger, and misery.

When Elise
was done crying, her eyes were so puffy she could barely see. Rune carried her into cottage, and one of her foster-brothers brought the shirt with and hung it over a chair.

Gerhart
sat in the loft, his legs dangling over the side. Steffen and Erick stood together in one corner of the small cottage. Mikk and Nick were in the other, and Falk stalked back and forth in the open space like a snarling bear.

Everyone looked up when Brida entered the cottage
, carrying a small sack. “So you know?” she asked, observing their grim looks.

“More or less
,” Steffen said.

“From what we can tell
, King Torgen spoke to Elise and burned the shirts. We’re guessing she managed to fish that one out of the fire based on the singed patches,” Erick said, pointing to the remaining cape.

“Yes
, that’s roughly how it happened,” Elise said, her voice rough like gravel as she slipped from Rune’s grasp and sat in a free chair.

Steffen crouched down in front of her and put his hands on his knees. “We on
ly have a few minutes left before we change back, but we need to make something clear. Elise, you don’t need to do this again. In fact, you shouldn’t. It’s enough that you tried. We will wait for Angelique. We don’t want to cause you more pain over this. Do you understand?” Steffen asked.

Elise nodded.

“Thank you for trying, sister. Your devotion warms my heart, but now it is our turn to take care of you,” Steffen said, hugging Elise.

Nick paced. “Maybe we should leave this place. I thought King Torgen was mad
. I didn’t think he was
evil
.”

“As bad as Clotilde
,” Mikk said.

“Since Elise won’t need time to knit
, we could travel during the day,” Gerhart said.

“As swans? It
’s dangerous here, but it’s more dangerous in the wild,” Rune said.

“And we can’t leave Verglas. Angelique told us to stay here
,” Steffen added, his voice tired and weary.


It’s time,” Erick said.

Steffen nodded and led the way out of the cottage. Mikk and Gerhart
were hot on his heels.

Erick paused to place a hand on Elise’s head. “Be well
, and please talk during the day,” he said.

“Yeah
, I agree with Erick,” Nick said, affectionately ruffling Elise’s hair.

“As you should
. I am the chancellor of a college,” Erick said.

“Hoo
, someone’s got an attitude considering he spends his day eating minnows and cracked corn,” Nick said as they left the cottage.

Rune slid his fingertips under Elise’s chin. “Rest well
,” he said. “I am sorry for your heartbreak,” he added, kissing the top of her head.

Elise would
have blushed if her face wasn’t so swollen from all the crying. She looked around. Falk and Brida were the only ones in the cottage. Falk was staring at Elise’s feet, mashing his lips together. “Falk?” Elise cautiously asked.

Falk
threw his arms around Elise. It wasn’t the secure, familiar hug Rune gave her. In fact, it was quite awkward and a little uncomfortable, but as he held her to his chest, Elise could hear the quick thud of Falk’s heartbeat and the unsteady heave of his lungs.

Elise smiled
, touched that Falk was so upset on her behalf.

He let her go as abrupt
ly as he embraced her before he hurried out of the cottage, without speaking.

Elise joined Brida at the door and watched the princes grumble as they waded into the cold water.

“Are those knitting needles?” Elise asked Brida.

“Yes
,” Brida said, turning the sack around in her hands.

“Thank you
,” Elise said, holding out a hand.

“You still intend to make the
shirts? Even after your brothers said not to?” Brida asked, passing the small bag to Elise.

Elise snorted as her hand closed around the bag. “
My brothers are not
always
right. Besides, do I seem like a quitter to you?” she said before she went back into the cottage.

Brida
had a small smile on her lips. “No, you do not, Fürstin.”

When
Elise’s swan companion realized the following day that Elise was knitting, he complained all day long. There was hardly a moment when he was not peering over her shoulder, grunting in displeasure or climbing into her lap and getting in the way.

When
all of her foster-brothers transformed that evening, they tried to talk her out of it. They begged Elise to give up, pleaded with her, and Mikk even threatened her that when they returned to Arcainia, she would never be without a full security detail.

Elise ignored it all
. After a week, the brothers gave up trying to convince the hard-headed princess that she didn’t need to break their curse, and instead spent most of their time assigning blame.

“This is Steffen’s fault. She learned how to be a stubborn mule from him
,” Nick said.

“I blame
that wretched Prince Toril. Elise can’t leave this place as long as we’re swans, but if she breaks the curse, we are home free. I know
I
wouldn’t want to spend one day longer with him than I would have to,” Gerhart said.

“I am more inclined to say we share the blame equal
ly. She will not give up not because of her temperament, but because of her affection for us,” Erick said. A mischievous glint lit up his eyes. “That is not to say that perhaps she loves some of us differently. Falk, Rune, do either of you care to take the lion’s share of blame?”

“I will find out
,” Mikk promised.

Nick
clapped. “With Mikk on the case, we’ll soon learn who our darling sister favors.”

“I’ve already told you I don’t favor anyone
,” Elise said, setting aside the first few loops of her new shirt. (She spent all week repairing the badly burned shirt, and judging by the fact that it was green and holding together, Elise was confident it worked.) “Where is Steffen?”

“Outside
,” Rune said, glancing out the window. “Perhaps it is your fault, Erick. You always press her about duties.”

“Yes
, but I was also the one who taught her about the uselessness in doing a task that is too taxing for the payoff,” Erick said.

Elise nodded to Brida—who
was chopping roots with Falk on the rickety table—before she slipped out of the cottage.

Steffen
was standing in the lake, up to his knees in water. Elise could only see his back, but his head was tilted up to stare at the moon.

Elise joined him
, wincing when she stepped into the cold water. When she stood next to Steffen, she smothered a surprised gasp.

Steffen
had a hand over his heart. His fingers were clenched, digging into the fabric of his shirt and his skin like claws. The wind ruffled his hair and made him look picturesque, but his blue eyes were soft with heartbreak, like an injured animal or a dying man.

Never
before had Elise seen Steffen wear an expression of such pain—and she had seen him wounded and bleeding everywhere after a skirmish with a goblin.

Elise ducked back to give him privacy
, but Steffen spoke. “I miss her, Elise,” he said before he took a shuddering breath. “I miss her so badly it hurts. My heart, my whole being
aches
. I never thought I would be one of those whipped men who whimper whenever they’re separated from their loved one,” he said after a bark of laughter.

“You love her
, Steffen. There is no shame in that,” Elise said.

Steffen
nodded. “In my pain, I have become nothing but a hopeless romantic. I want to see her so badly that I stare at the moon, hoping she will glance at it, and for a moment we will look at the same thing.”

He shook his head
, and tears slipped down his cheeks. “I feel so wretched. I cannot even count on the curse to take my memories. As a swan, I feel like I am missing a part of myself, and lately I have begun to remember her as I float on the lake. I cannot even remember that I am cursed when I am a swan, but her I recall,” Steffen cut himself off and dug his fingers deeper into his chest.

BOOK: The Wild Swans
9.27Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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