A Captive of Wing and Feather A Retelling of Swan Lake - Melanie Cellier Page 0,48

Leander never knows anything about it,” Audrey countered. “And even if something went wrong, you’re the crown prince. Ash can just say that you ordered him to do it.”

I worried at my lip. It had been my idea, but I kept thinking of ways it might go wrong.

Audrey paused for a moment, her eyes trained on the opposite wall, before turning and giving me a grin.

“I might have an idea about that. I think this idea could work, but…” She trailed off, giving me an apologetic look.

My heart sank.

“I’m going to have to tell Wren the truth,” Audrey continued, just as I feared. “Because I’ll need her to help me.”

I took a slow breath. Everything was unraveling, but it was far too late to try to stop things now.

“There’s no time,” Gabe interrupted. “If you still intend to accompany me, we need to leave now.”

“I think it might be better coming from me, anyway,” Audrey said. “And it will give me a chance to tell her why I really went to the Keep—something she should really hear from me.”

I didn’t like it, but I also couldn’t deny that the sisters should have a chance to speak in private. And Gabe had already crossed over to the door, eagerness to be gone clinging to him. Reluctantly I nodded my agreement.

Audrey and I joined Gabe at the door, and he gave her a list of supplies he needed. While she explained where he could purchase more arrows, I thought about what I wanted to take for myself.

They split, Gabe going out for the arrows with a promise that he would be back to collect me and the rest of the supplies Audrey had promised to gather. If it wasn’t for the supplies, I might have suspected him of meaning to slip away without me. But I couldn’t shadow Gabe—I had something of my own I needed to take.

Everything Gabe had requested fit into a single sturdy bag, and I was waiting out the front of the haven for him when he returned. Only when he actually appeared did I realize that suspicion about his intentions had still been lingering in the back of my mind.

For his own part, Gabe wasn’t entirely pleased with my appearance.

“Is that a sword?” he asked.

I had hoped he wouldn’t notice it beneath my cloak, but it wasn’t the easiest object to conceal, especially since I had strapped it firmly around my waist. I met his gaze squarely. I wasn’t going to face wolves without a weapon.

He frowned, and the many objections my father would have made to the sword ran through my head: that it was beneath my dignity, unladylike, unbefitting my station, and an insult to Palinar to suggest that its princess would ever need to lift a finger to defend herself.

And it had been true, in a way. The only time I had ever needed to defend myself had been against him—and someone else had stepped in to do it for me.

I strode over to Gabe’s side, handing over the bag when he reached to take it from me. He took one look at my face, sighed, and led the way out of town. But clearly he wasn’t quite willing to let the matter drop.

“Weapons can be extremely dangerous in unskilled hands. If you don’t know how to use it, it can end up doing more harm than good.”

I had intended to ignore any arguments he put forth, maintaining silence rather than getting into a ridiculous paper argument. But his unexpectedly reasonable objection surprised me enough to deserve a response. As soon as we entered the forest, I paused to quickly write a sentence on the paper I carried with me.

Gabe looked a little surprised, but he accepted my competence without further question and made no more objections to the weapon. My swans flew above us, urging us to continue on the road, so we did, moving as fast as we comfortably could.

As we walked, I watched Gabe out of the corner of my eye. He had looked surprised to hear that my brother taught me such a thing, and I couldn’t blame him. Dominic had always been haughty and arrogant, especially to outsiders—he didn’t seem the type to bend the rules and take the role of