A Captive of Wing and Feather A Retelling of Swan Lake - Melanie Cellier Page 0,56

type of princess. But I didn’t have that luxury.

This. This was why I had been happy to leave that life and all its luxuries behind. It was no easy burden bearing the responsibility for a kingdom, and I had seen firsthand what happened when that responsibility wasn’t respected.

I’m sorry, I signed, but she had already turned away and hurried from the room.

“Wren!” cried Audrey, hurrying after her with an apologetic look thrown over her shoulder at me.

I turned to Cora, who sighed.

“Give her time. I don’t know what else to say.”

I hesitated. I wanted to ask her why Wren was so upset—or at least, why Cora wasn’t equally angry—but I didn’t quite know how to phrase it.

Cora must have seen the questions on my face, though. “If you’re wondering about me, I’m far too old and tired to muster up the necessary righteous indignation.”

I rolled my eyes at that, and she chuckled.

“Or maybe I just have the wisdom not to waste my indignation on the foolishness of youth.” She gave me a sterner look. “And yes, I do consider it the foolishness of youth. Anyone with an ounce of experience would have foreseen that entrusting such a secret to Audrey—and Audrey alone—would lead to disaster. Wren is hurt because you let her believe for all those months that she was the one who drove Audrey to the Keep—but I think her pride is hurt a little also. You were always Audrey’s friend, but Wren considers you a friend as well. And I don’t think she likes that apparently you couldn’t see how different she is from her sister. She wouldn’t have run heedlessly into danger like Audrey. You could have trusted her.”

I looked down into my lap. She was right about letting Wren believe she had driven Audrey away with their fight—that had been wrong of me. I would apologize again as soon as I had the opportunity.

But as for everything else…the last six months of anxiety was more proof than I needed that I had been right to keep my curse to myself.

Chapter 17

When I went looking for Wren to reiterate my apology, she was nowhere in sight among the children. Audrey extricated herself from Juniper’s grip, however, and hurried over to me.

“She’s already gone to speak to Ash. I’m watching the children until she gets back. But then we need to talk.” She peered over my shoulder. “Is Gabe here yet?”

I shook my head at her casual way of addressing him and reminded myself to be grateful for it. The same attitude that led her to treat him as if he was another Brylee boy—rather than her crown prince—was the one that had kept her from reacting like Wren when she found out the truth about me. Still, she was fortunate she had never attempted to address my brother as she did Gabe.

Or maybe I had that the wrong way around. Maybe discovering she had spent years living and working alongside a princess had reduced the awe and respect Audrey might otherwise have felt for royalty. I was only glad she seemed to have had the good sense to keep her head down at the Keep. I couldn’t imagine Leander would have appreciated her particular brand of irreverence.

With nothing to do but wait for Wren’s return, I stayed to help Audrey with the children. The older ones clustered around Frank and Selena—no doubt well aware that Audrey didn’t have the patience to be of much use to them in their studies. The younger children, however, swarmed toward me, led by Juniper.

I lifted Junie up and swung her wildly around while she screamed in delight. Naturally I then had to perform the same service for each of the others. And once they had all had a turn, I had to submit to being the villain in their latest imaginary game. My presence appeared to give great satisfaction, and Audrey whispered that before my arrival they had been involved in an argument over who was to play the unappealing role.

I secured myself a comfortable seat and decreed that the villain watched over everything from the top of her mountain. The children seemed happy enough to accept my self-serving storytelling, and my poor, aching body appreciated the opportunity to rest.

At least an hour disappeared while the children wove me into their fairly nonsensical story. At one point, part way in, I looked up and spotted Gabe lingering in the doorway. To my frustration, I flushed at the sight of him, but