A Captive of Wing and Feather A Retelling of Swan Lake - Melanie Cellier Page 0,16

I spent so many years living with Teddy and Millie in Trione—as King Edward and Queen Juliette’s ward—that sometimes I wonder if I was just oblivious as a child. I’ve been back for less than three years, and I find myself visiting my friends in other kingdoms all too often. Here in Talinos, even my own family make me want to kick down a door, jump on the nearest horse, and go do something reckless.”

He grinned. “Their caution is like a red rag to a bull where I’m concerned, I’m afraid.”

I rolled my eyes, but I was too interested in what he was saying to comment on his irresponsible nature.

“You mean it’s not just Brylee? It’s the whole kingdom?” My eyes widened. “Is that why the whole army massed at the border with Palinar and then just sat there for years? The locals seemed to think it only logical, but I could never understand such a strange course of action.”

Gabe’s face turned serious.

“It’s a course of action that nearly ruined Talinos. So many men sitting idle for so long? Our production nearly ground to a halt, and paying them was emptying the royal coffers. If things hadn’t changed in Palinar—and if I hadn’t finally managed to convince my parents to disperse the soldiers and set them to more useful tasks around the kingdom…” He shook his head. “It was like no one could think of anything but their fear of what might cross the border—and yet no one could take any positive action either. Surely Talinos cannot have been going on in such a manner for my whole life without my noticing.”

“No, indeed…” I said slowly. “I don’t think…” I looked up at him. “What of your brother, Percy? He was only a year younger than me, so he must be seventeen by now. Surely he is not equally timid?”

Gabe’s face twisted. “He’s as bad as anyone.”

“Then it must be new,” I said with conviction. “He’s closer in age to many of us younger princesses than he is to you older boys, but he was always determined to keep up with you. Do you remember when he was seven, and he broke his arm trying to—”

“Oh yes. Now that you mention it, I do remember that,” Gabe said quickly, cutting me off. “Although, to be fair, I broke my arm as well.” He shook his head ruefully. “I was no doubt a terrible role model for a brother three years younger.”

It didn’t seem polite to agree with him, so I said nothing. A thoughtful expression crept over his face.

“You know, I spent a lot of hours loitering around the town waiting for you yesterday. It did seem particularly bad here—more so than back in the capital.”

“Perhaps because we’re near the border?” I asked. “Ever since my parents…” My words faltered, and I couldn’t bring myself to refer to their deaths out loud. Just as I had feared, Gabe’s presence was bringing back a part of my life that I had put away for good.

I could feel a crawling sensation from my scalp down my spine as I remembered the face of the servant who brought the news to my mother—my father and Dominic’s trip had resulted in the murder of an entire village. Everyone had fled before him after that, except for her. My mother loved our people too much not to protest such an atrocity. But, selfishly, I wished she had stayed in her rooms that day.

Watching my father send my mother tumbling down the stairs to her death had been traumatic enough without the shocks that followed. I saw them now, racing through my memory. My godmother’s pronouncement of a curse on our kingdom. My father attacking her, only for her to step back into thin air leaving him to fall to his own death. Dominic rejecting the godmother’s call to free our people, instead roaming the palace full of pride and anger. My own repeated attempts to speak to him, and his continued rejection.

Whatever rage had gripped him, it had left no room for the love I had always believed he bore for me. Sometimes I even wondered if he had been aware enough to see me in those horrifying days. It was like he had forgotten I even existed, no thought in his mind for anyone other than himself.

No immediate danger threatened me now, but still I felt the panic of those days when I found myself alone at thirteen in the vast empty palace of