A Captive of Wing and Feather A Retelling of Swan Lake - Melanie Cellier Page 0,27

too well to take any real fear from his words. The townsfolk seemed to feed on frightening rumors these days, although I couldn’t remember the last truly frightening thing to happen in the area.

Excluding Leander, of course. He was frightening enough to fill all my nightmares, but he was cloistered away in his Keep, and unlike me, the townsfolk knew no real reason to fear him. They resented that he no longer did business with Brylee, sourcing his supplies elsewhere, but the now-absent servants didn’t cause them great alarm. Those who served the local lord had never come from among the townsfolk—most of them had been born and raised at the Keep, taking over the roles of their parents before them.

Cora, however, took his words more seriously. She frowned and stepped even closer, dropping her voice low.

“What sort of rumors?”

“Not the good kind.” Ash threw me a look that suggested he was concerned about being more explicit.

I rolled my eyes and gave him a pointed look, and reluctantly he continued.

“There are fewer woodsmen than there used to be.” Once again, his eyes flicked sideways to Wren, but he didn’t stop. “Fewer men are willing to brave a solitary life in the forest. But those that remain have been telling strange stories in the tavern. Stories about animals behaving in odd ways. Ways that aren’t…natural.”

Cora pulled back slightly, her eyes going wide, while I tried to keep myself as still as stone, my face unmoving. An icy chill trickled down my spine.

Animals behaving in odd, unnatural ways? I knew some animals like that…and I could only imagine what the terrified townsfolk would make of them. Would they be frightened enough to finally be goaded into action? What if they sent a hunting party out into the forest?

It took all my self-control not to run to the lake to reassure myself my friends were unharmed. But I suppressed the foolish impulse. I needed more information.

Before I could sign my questions at Cora, she jumped in, asking them for me.

“Animals acting unnaturally? How so? What sort of animals?” She looked at me, and I could see Ash’s worry had taken root in her. “Dangerous ones?” I hated the thought that she would fret now when I left each evening.

I held my breath as I waited for Ash to answer. He seemed reluctant still about going into detail.

“I’m afraid so. I hear talk of wolves and bears and large packs of hounds that no one has claimed.”

Cora looked confused. “I thought we could all stop worrying about such animals coming across the border now that Palinar has been healed?”

I bit the inside of my cheek, still struggling to keep my expression calm, but no one looked at me this time. They had no reason to do so. The curse had already begun when I arrived in Brylee, and I had never wanted to draw attention to myself by owning up to being Palinaran.

“That’s the thing,” Ash said, finally warming to the topic. “They’re not coming from the border region. Most of the reports have been on the eastern side of the town.”

Cora and I shared a look. The border lay to the west of Brylee and the capital to the south. North was only uninhabitable mountains, and to the east lay two things: more forest and Leander’s Keep. Cora never complained, but I knew her dislike for Leander ran deep.

Unlike his father, he did nothing to care for his people, and the absence of the old lord’s gifts made the haven’s existence a struggle. Even worse, Leander had taken the Keep’s business away from Brylee, meaning that the whole town suffered, and fewer of the locals had excess supplies to send to the haven, either. Cora worked hard every day and never expected anything for herself, but she relied on the help of the community to keep the haven open. Without donated supplies, we wouldn’t be able to keep accepting those in need, and I knew the thought kept Cora awake at night. When Audrey disappeared to his castle, it had only deepened her existing dislike of the current lord.

But I knew something Cora did not. Every morning, seven swans behaved very strangely indeed in the woods to the east of the town. And it wouldn’t be the first time a story had been exaggerated as it spread—made more terrifying than had any basis in reality.

“Dr Jenkins’s housekeeper came into the bakery this morning,” Ash continued. “Yesterday the good doctor had to patch up