A Captive of Wing and Feather A Retelling of Swan Lake - Melanie Cellier Page 0,74

plead with him not to reveal my location.

“Yes, I think we must,” he said. “Although I’m loath to pitch my men against wolves and bears. I fear it will be a massacre on all sides, and no one the winner, given the beasts are no more interested in attacking us than we are in fighting them.”

The thought sickened me, but I didn’t see any other way. “But Leander must be stopped.”

“Yes, Leander must be stopped.” Gabe sighed. “And apparently we are not the ones to do it. I’ll send a message as soon as it’s light.”

Perhaps it was to aid in this task, or perhaps he merely wished to be away from me, but he only saw me to the door of the haven, saying he would spend the rest of the night at the inn after all. I didn’t protest. How could I? I had turned him down, and there was nothing left to say between us.

Chapter 22

I woke Wren and Audrey just before dawn to fill them in on the new developments. I didn’t mention Gabe’s proposal, but I could see the question reflected in their eyes when I told them of how this new curse could be broken. Even Audrey didn’t voice it, however—although I suspected that was due to a swift kick beneath the table from Wren.

“So we’re bringing in the cavalry,” Wren said quietly. “I must say, I’m relieved.”

Audrey didn’t look nearly so pleased about it—she shared too much of Gabe’s thirst for adventure and glory.

“How long will it take for them to get here?” she asked.

“I’m not sure.” I tried to work it out in my head. “I’m sure Gabe will pay someone to take the message express. He should probably have taken it himself, in truth, but—”

“He would never leave,” Wren finished for me, and I nodded.

“But will they get here before the party?” Audrey asked.

“I hope so,” I said. “There’s still the better part of four days.” Even with Gabe safely elsewhere, I didn’t like the idea of all of Brylee’s residents within Leander’s walls.

The sun rose then, cutting off our conversation by stealing my voice, and we busied ourselves over breakfast. Juniper wandered out sleepily, looking for her mother, but latched onto me instead.

“Lady! You’re here so early! Come and see what I made.” She started dragging me toward her small table, and Wren waved me away from the breakfast preparations with an amused smile.

As I played with Juniper, I attempted to calculate how long it might take Gabe to find and commission a reliable messenger. They would only have to make it to the closest royal way station where they could hand it over to a royal courier. Surely his task would be completed quickly.

But although I looked for Gabe all morning—alternately dreading and longing for his arrival—he didn’t appear at the haven until lunch. When he did, he smiled and laughed with everyone as if nothing had happened the night before, whispering to me when he got the opportunity that the messenger was sent. Only once did I catch him looking at me with something deeper in his eyes, a whisper of all that had been said between us. I turned hurriedly away from him, and the moment passed.

I expected to see Ash at some point with fresh rolls, but he hadn’t appeared by the time darkness fell. I sat with Wren and Audrey over a leisurely supper, long after everyone else had eaten and been settled for the night. It felt like a luxury, although we ate only bread and butter with a hearty stew.

“Ash didn’t come past today,” I said. “Is he already busy preparing the cakes for Lord Leander’s dance?”

Wren stood abruptly, taking her bowl to the pot for another ladle of stew. Audrey watched her go, a guilty expression on her face.

“Didn’t I tell you?” She looked back at me. “I guess we’ve been distracted. When you weren’t in the wagon, I panicked, and I’m afraid Ash ended up discovering what we’d done.”

“He was terrified,” Wren said shortly, “and rightly so.” She rejoined us, pointedly not looking at her sister. “You were still in there—captured, for all we knew—and with every chance Lord Leander would discover how you gained entry.”

I shook my head. “We can relieve his mind on that, at least. Leander thinks we got in by the escape passage.”

Wren’s face relaxed. “Well, that is a relief, at least. In fact, I think I might go to the bakery now to let him know.