The Wild Swans (22 page)

Elise plac
ed a hand on her brother’s back. “You will see her again, Steffen. And I’m sure in the meantime she is doing her best to help our subjects in your place.”

“I don’t care about our subjects
. I care about
her
,” Steffen said. “Gabrielle,” the crown prince breathed as he stared up at the moon.

Gabrielle glanced at the moon
as she slid a second dagger up her right sleeve. “Almost ready,” she said as she tied her hair back with a leather cord.

The cat watched he
r, his eyes glowing in the dim light. “It is remarkable to me how easily you cast aside grandeur and silken clothes and return to looking
and
acting like a street urchin,” he complained. “It only goes to show that a pig dressed as a princess is still a pig.”

Gabrielle grinned an
d grabbed a paintbrush and a capped inkwell. “Disappointed?”

The cat shoved his pink nose in the air and made a “Humph
,” noise before he leaped off the windowsill and padded across the room. At the last moment, he turned around and said, “Of course not. You wouldn’t be half as fun if you were a stuffed doll like that. Come on. The Queen won’t be out of her chambers for long.”

Gabrielle grabbed the sword—Steffen’s smallest sword—and tied it to her belt. She rubbed the pommel as pain stabbed her heart. “Steffen would laugh himself sil
ly if he knew how badly I missed him, and then he would lecture me about duty and sacrifice, and how the country comes before me, blah, blah, blah,” she said.

“Stop moon
ing over your bumpkin-headed prince and get moving,” the cat called from the hallway.

Gabrielle
looked up at the moon again. For a moment the heartbreak she was holding back threatened to overtake her. Gabrielle grimly shook her head and pushed the feeling back before she placed a hand on her hip and smirked at the moon. “I’m taking such fabulous care of Arcainia. You will have nothing to complain and bemoan when you get back. Just you wait,” she promised before she was out of the room and moving down the hallway.

The cat
was just ahead of her, peering around a corner. “The hallway appears to be empty,” he said, leaping onto Gabrielle’s shoulder when she hunched over for him to do so. “I will cast invisibility on us, even though it isn’t necessary,” he said as Gabrielle felt the gelatinous sensation of invisibility cover her from head to toe. “If you paraded in front of a squad of soldiers with a four-piece band they would still tell Queen Clothead, with eyes as innocent as babes, that they haven’t seen the Crown Princess in months.”

“
That’s not something to complain about,” Gabrielle said as she padded down the hallway. “Besides, the invisibility allows them to stay truthful.”

“As you wish
, Mistress,” the cat said, crouching low on Gabrielle’s shoulders.

Gabrielle grinned at him
before she pushed open the unguarded doors to Queen Clotilde’s private quarters.

The cat jumped from Gabrielle’s shoulders
, breaking the invisibility spell. “Prince Mikkael’s sneaks haven’t reported anything of interest besides the besotted squad of soldiers, correct?”

“Yes
,” Gabrielle said as she snagged the Queen’s newest jewelry purchases and tucked them in a belt pouch. “No wonder the Treasury Department said the daily vault is draining—she’s spending a fortune on herself.”

“It would be worse if
Fürstin Elise did not have the key to the treasury. Such a smart girl,” the cat said in a rare bit of praise as he rolled on the queen’s pillows.

“What are you do
ing?” Gabrielle asked.

“The queen is allergic to cats
,” the cat said.

“So?”

“So, I’m being petty. It happens. Carry on! You will hawk the jewels to cover the deficit in the military budget?”

“Yes.
Has she left any nasty bits of her magic out?” Gabrielle asked.

“Not quite. She’s grown at least a little smarter and locked them up in this
armoire. Although I must say it’s about time. We’ve been destroying her charms and potions since the princes were turned into swans in spring,” the cat scoffed.

Gabrielle joined him
, standing in front of the armoire. “So, we can’t foil her?”

“I didn’t say
that. I merely said she’s locked them up,” the cat said before he set about cleaning his face with a white paw. The armoire clicked, and Gabrielle was able to swing the doors open. “An amateur’s work,” the cat scoffed before leaping into the armoire.

Gabrielle smiled at the feline
before she continued searching the room for jewelry and other valuables.

“She’s gett
ing stronger, you know,” the cat said, his voice muffled inside the armoire. “The dark artifacts she keeps on her grow more powerful, feeding off her hate and greed.”

There
was a crack of glass and a flash of light inside the armoire.

The cat cursed.

“Puss?” Gabrielle called.

“I’m fine
; a charm was stronger than I thought it would be.”

“Do you need help?” Gabrielle asked.

“
NO
. I have told you before these petty things are nothing to a cat as magical and wonderful as I, but I do not want you anywhere near them,” the cat said, poking his black and white head out of the armoire to fix Gabrielle with a warning look before he disappeared back inside.

“Her charms and potions are gett
ing stronger, as well. Not because of any increased skill but because of the dark artifacts. The longer she goes unchallenged, the more dangerous she will be,” the cat said.

“
Angelique will help as soon as she can,” Gabrielle said, pocketing a gold bracelet.

“
That may not be soon enough.”

“What can we do? The princes are still cursed
; King Henrik won’t be waking from the stupor Clotilde has him in, and you and I make a fine pair of resistance fighters, but we cannot take her on ourselves,” Gabrielle said. “We don’t even know what the artifacts
are
.”

The cat leapt from the armoire. “All finished.
That should set her back another month.”

“Puss…what are we to do?” Gabrielle
said.

The handsome cat trotted across the room and jumped on to Gabrielle’s shoulder. “We do our best and wait for your
bumpkin-head to return. Have faith, Gabi. I did not make you the Marquise of Carabas and snag you a prince for you to die young and beautiful at the hands of an incompetent hag,” the cat said before he rubbed his head against Gabrielle’s and purred.

The sound soothed Gabrielle
, and some of the tension left her. “You are right.”

“I am
always
right. Now we had better make our exit.”

“Not yet
,” Gabrielle said, popping the stopper off the inkwell she carried before dipping her brush in it.

“Again? And you
were surprised that
I
was being petty?”

“I can’t help it. It’s the on
ly spot of fun I get. Besides, don’t you see how thick the paint is caked on? It obviously irritates her,” Gabrielle smiled as she stood before a huge portrait of Queen Clotilde.

“Carry on
, then. I am all for irritating the hag. But if you spill a drop of ink on my fur, I shall be forced to claw your hide.”

Gabrielle laughed and reached up to make the first brushstroke. “
Have faith in my skills, Puss.”

An hour later, Queen Clotilde returned to her room. She glanced at her portrait and shrieked. “NOOOOOO!”

Two guards reluctant
ly entered her chambers. “What is wrong, Queen?”

Queen Clotilde raised a hand and pointed to her ruined portrait. “
That brat!” she shouted. “Everyone tells me Princess Gabrielle is gone, but she’s struck again, and she’s
ruined
my portrait!”

The paint
ing of Queen Clotilde was defaced. The queen’s painted face was once serene and beautiful. Now it sported a mustache, ear hair, and several warts, all drawn on with black writing ink.

The soldiers maintained blank expressions. “How unfortunate
,” they parroted.

“It’s not unfortunate
—it’s a crime! I want her head on a platter. Muster the guards and call for the royal painter this instant!”

“Of course
, Queen.”

Chapter 11

Summer passed
, and Elise worked steadily. Her hands hurt worse than ever, but she knitted with renewed determination. By the last month of summer, she had four finished shirts, and worked on the fifth with great vigor.

Life remained the same. Prince Toril visited often
. Elise’s brothers did their best to spend their hour as humans to entertain her and relieve her pain. The days were, to be honest, boring and painful but not without little bits of joy.

Elise’s swan companion
was a constant. And when Elise was about halfway through with her fifth shirt, her curiosity grew to unbearable limits.

Previous
ly, Elise avoided wondering which prince her swan companion was. “They’re not my foster-brothers when they get their feathers and beak. They’re swans. They can’t possibly remember, much less realize, what they’re doing,” Elise explained one summer night during her hour of reprieve to Brida when the girls were washing together for a shared supper. “I know you think it is Falk, but I disagree. It could be any of my foster-brothers. Whatever prince it is probably doesn’t realize what he’s doing.”

“Of course
,” Brida said, unconvinced.

Elise stood by her words…until her conviction lessened.

Her swan companion acted too
human
.

If Elise happened to drop a small item
, like her whistle or one of her knitting needles, the swan clamped his beak around it and carried it for her. The swan ate whenever Elise ate rather than grazing all day long like his brothers, and he was watchful. Whenever a patrolling soldier passed, or even if Brida emerged from the woods for lunch, Elise’s companion swan watched.

What tickled Elise’s curiosity
was that whenever Prince Toril visited, the swan pinched, smacked, and burrowed his way into sitting between Elise and the prince.

Elise tried to nonchalant
ly watch her companion swan when he hurried back to the lake to transform, but the wily bird always made sure to dart in between a few of his brothers, and Elise lost sight of him every time. Once Elise wove a crown of flowers and linked it around the base of the swan’s neck, but he ripped it off by the time sunset came.

Her curiosity aroused
, Elise was not going to give in easily.

This called for d
rastic measures.

“Sunset is almost upon us. I’m go
ing to stoke the fire,” Brida said.

Elise nodded
but kept her eyes glued to her swan companion, who was snacking on grass.

“…Princess?”

Elise gave Brida a thumbs up and pulled her legs to her chest so she could rest her chin on her knees.

Brida hesitated
before she leaned over and whispered, “Are you finally determined enough to confirm his identity?”

Elise nodded.

Brida smiled. “Good luck, Fürstin,” she said before she climbed the slope to the cottage and disappeared inside.

As the last rays of the sun disappeared over the horizon
, Elise’s swan companion stood.

Elise threw herself to her feet and scrambled after him.

When the swan reached the water, he tried to paddle away, but Elise braved the cool waters and plunged in after him, grabbing his tail feathers before he could scoot away.

She chased the swan until she
was up to her chest in the water. The swan slipped from her grip then and started to paddle away.

Elise sighed
, her shoulders drooping. The swan paused and paddled back to her side. It tipped its head back and forth, studying her face. Whatever he was looking for, he must have seen, for he settled in next to Elise as the sun disappeared on the horizon.

See
ing the transformation up close was a new experience for Elise.

As usual
, the water grew choppy, and the swan princes extended their wings into the air before they were surrounded by a white light.

The white light
had a musical quality to it. It sounded like magic, Elise supposed. It was laughter and raindrops on a lake. It had the chime of an ice crystal clinked on a frosty day and the deep toll of a cathedral bell. It was the wind singing on a mountainside, smiles, sunshine, and stardust.

Elise held her hand out to se
e if she could catch a bit of the light—it fell from the transforming princes like fire shedding sparks and embers—but when the light touched her skin, it bounced off and disappeared, fading like a dying flame.

Disappointed
, but still curious, Elise looked up just as the white feathers were shed and the Arcainian princes dropped in the water, fully transformed.

Brida was right.

“
Falk
,” Elise said, her voice revealing her disbelief. In the weeks before Brida had all but said it was him, but Elise doubted a man who could spit out nicknames like “
Dewdrop
” as if they were poison could be sensitive enough to follow Elise like a faithful companion. It showed just how little she understood him.

Falk
, looking chagrined, brought his hand out of the cold lake water to push his goldenrod hair out of his face. “So sorry to disappoint.”

“Hah-hah
, told you she would be,” Nick said as he climbed out of the lake, his twin right behind him.

“
But I’m not, I’m not,” Elise said, first to Nick and then to Falk. “I’m just…surprised.”

“And why would you be surprised?” Falk asked
, his eyebrows furrowed as he stared Elise down.

He
was waiting for Elise to say because she didn’t believe he loved her. Elise could read his frustration and hurt in his dark eyes.

Elise
had underestimated him, and in a way she belittled his feelings, just as Brida predicted. She had yet to acknowledge either he or Rune, and she still acted as if she suspected he secretly hated her.

It
was unfair of her. Since Falk became a swan, he was nothing but helpful. Falk acted in her best interest through the entire trial. He was the one who organized the brothers the first night at the new pond. He found food for Elise and Brida, and he went out of his way to find plants and make salves to lessen Elise’s pain.

And all Elise did in return
was eye him and thoughtlessly declare she didn’t believe in his feelings.

“I’
m sorry,” Elise said, surprising them both.

Falk shifted in the water. “For?”

“For being unworthy of your feelings for me.”

“
But you are,” Falk said, his expression earnest.

Elise chuckled
, which turned into a shiver from the cold water they were still standing in. “Why, Falk?” she asked.

“What?”

“Why me?”

“I know I am not Rune
,” Falk started.

“
That’s not what I’m asking,” Elise cut him off. “Why do
you
love me? What is it about me that would make you tolerate your older brothers’ teasing and intimidate your little brother?” Elise asked, drawing closer until she was less than an arm’s length from him.

Falk
was very still, as if he feared he would startle Elise and make her run away. “Because you are fearless.”

“I’m what?”

“I mean…you arm yourself with whatever is necessary to overcome your enemy, whether it be knitting needles or a horse bridle. And I love the way claw at others for money,” Falk said.

“Excuse me?”

Falk continued, “When you were first posted to the Treasury Department, you listened to me give an hour-long lecture about grain production in a department meeting. You were the only person who never yawned and who never looked away. You listened with absolute attention and when I was finished, you asked questions.”

Elise
was not terribly impressed or moved. Falk must have picked up on her mood because he pulled at his goldenrod colored hair.

“
You don’t understand what I’m trying to say. You have a big heart, and you would never stop loving us. You are more elegant and lovely than every lady in Arcainia. I love your intelligence, and I love
you.
And… I love that you are warm and affectionate,” he finished, a note of longing in his voice.

“The nicknames?” Elise said, her voice cracking.

“What?”

“The ridiculous names you call me:
Fawn
,
Snowflake
,
Honey Cake
,” Elise said.

“Yes, what of them?” Falk said.

“What do you mean what of them?”

“I was under the impression those are terms of endearment,” Falk said.
“Father said they were.”

“They are,” Elise said.

“Then I don’t understand your confusion.”

“The way you said them…”

“Yes?” Falk said.

Elise hesitated, “…You really meant them?”

“Of course,” Falk said, his sincerity shining in his eyes.

Elise bit her lower lip.

She had been wrong about Falk. She thought he couldn’t possibly love her, not the real her. It had to be the “perfect princess” she pretended to be that he loved. But now, even Elise couldn’t pretend Falk didn’t see the real her.

Perhaps what was
more thought provoking, was the way Elise had treated Falk in the previous months and years. Yes, he tended to sneer words, but even Rune said Falk accidentally insulted Elise whenever he meant to compliment her. How much had Falk said, and how much had Elise ignored?

“Elise?”
Falk reached out to touch a loose coil of hair that had fallen from the ponytail Elise pulled her hair back in. “All I’m asking for is the chance for you to love me.”

Elise licked her lips and almost bit her tongue when her teeth started chatter
ing. “Okay.”

Falk froze. “Okay?”

“Yes,” Elise said, making the water gush when she lunged forward to hug him.

Falk took a shudder
ing breath and eased his arms around her. Elise could feel his heart pounding a mile a minute under her cheek as she linked her arms around his neck.

Falk leaned his head against hers. “Thank you
,” he whispered.

On shore
, rocks cracked as Nick and Mikk held Rune back. “You’ve gotten your moment with her, Rune-y,” Nick said.

“Several
moments,” Mikk said.

“Now be a fair sportsmen
, and let Falk have his,” Nick said.

Elise shivered in Falk
’s arms and squealed in surprise when Falk hunched over and slipped an arm under her knees. “This water is freezing. We should get to shore,” he said, carrying her out of lake.

Elise clung to Falk’s neck as water cascaded from them. “You could put me down
,” she said when the water was up to Falk’s shins.

“Not a chance
,” Falk said, leaving the water and starting up the path to the cottage. He passed Nick, Mikk, and a glowering Rune.

Erick
waited at the cottage door. “Oh,” he said, pushing his eyebrows up. “Is the dark horse taking the lead now?” he asked, speaking more to Nick and Mikk than to Falk or Elise.

“Hard to tell
,” Nick said.

Mikk held his thumb and pointer figure an inch apart. “Just a bit.”

Erick laughed heartily, and Falk edged past them to carry Elise into the cottage.

Brida
was waiting with towels, which she wrapped around Elise the instant Falk set her down.

“What
were you thinking, keeping her in the icy water?” Steffen scolded Falk before he threw a towel at him, hitting the younger prince in the face.

“
I thought you didn’t particularly want her to marry Rune?” Falk asked after removing the towel from his face.

“I don’t
, but I don’t particularly want her to marry you either,” Steffen said

“Who
, then, is she supposed to marry?”

“No one. Elise i
s too cute to marry a brute. She can stay unmarried for life,” Steffen said, patting the top of Elise’s head.

“Steffen
, I’m not a dog,” Elise said.

“Fine
, but you cannot court anyone until you are at least 40, or married,” Steffen said.

“How is
that supposed to work?” Falk asked.

“It’s not.
That’s the beauty of it,” Steffen said.

Rune broke his way inside
, sending Mikk and Nick toppling over like wooden dolls. “Are you warm enough, Elise? Should I go find some more firewood?”

Falk glanced outside. “I
have enough light to search for some dandelions. I should make a paste for your hands again,” he said once he finished drying off.