A Captive of Wing and Feather A Retelling of Swan Lake - Melanie Cellier Page 0,99
be an aunt?”
“Twice,” Dominic said with a smile, but Gabe laughed again.
“You might want to work on that hint of fear, as well. It’s not kingly.” He winked at me. “He’s just afraid he’ll get two small versions of himself. It would be enough to terrify the mightiest of men.”
“Very humorous,” Dominic said, eyeing Gabe.
How strange it was. Like old times—and yet different in so many ways. Dominic turned to me.
“I know Sophie will love you, and you will love her. And the babies will love to have their aunt around. I can’t wait to finally bring you home.”
“Ah. About that.” Gabe stepped sideways and wrapped an arm around my waist. “I’m afraid Adelaide has already agreed to make a new home here—with me.”
“So you’ve found her just to steal her away?” Dominic didn’t sound impressed.
Gabe, however, was undaunted. “You didn’t think it would happen any other way, did you? She’s altogether too lovable.”
He dropped a quick kiss against my hair, and the glare I was giving him softened.
“No one is stealing me,” I said sternly to them both. “I choose my own home.” I gave Dominic an exasperated look. “And don’t even pretend you’re going to withhold your blessing. We both know the crown prince of Talinos is a worthy alliance—even for the king of Palinar.”
“I don’t care about alliances,” Dominic said. “I only care about you.”
I blinked and then smiled. He had changed indeed.
“How fortunate,” Gabe said. “I feel precisely the same way.” He turned to me, shutting Dominic from the conversation. “So, tell me, my love. Where exactly do you choose to make your home?”
I drew close, letting him pull me into his arms. “With you, of course. My home is with you.”
And then his lips were on mine, while the swans bugled from the lake behind us, and my brother awkwardly cleared his throat. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to laugh or cry from happiness, so I settled for kissing my prince instead.
Epilogue
Once again the courtyard of the Keep had been covered with greenery, soft fabric, and lights and filled with all the inhabitants of Brylee. But this time the children from the haven ran merrily between the adults’ legs, laughing and calling to each other.
“It’s perfect,” sighed Audrey, beside me. “I just wish it was a double wedding.” She grinned cheekily at me.
“So does Gabe,” I said with a chuckle. “But just remember, this way you get to be an attendant twice—and you get a trip to the capital as well.”
She brightened immediately before shrieking and rushing off to stop Juniper from throwing herself into a patch of mud, white dress and all. Part of me wished it was my wedding day, as well, but I couldn’t get married without my brother by my side. And the price of being a princess was that I couldn’t get married in a remote location in the middle of the forest, either.
Dominic and Gabe’s parents had fought over which capital would host our wedding, and King Clarence and Queen Sapphira had only won because of Gabe’s status as crown prince. But my new sister-in-law, Sophie, had sworn that she would find a way to get herself there—regardless of how enormous she had become by that point. When I left Palinar to return to Talinos for Wren and Ash’s wedding, she and Dominic had still been debating whether a boat or a well-sprung carriage would provide a softer journey.
A month in their company had been more than enough to convince me that my brother had truly changed. And it hadn’t taken more than a day to know that I would love my new sister just as well as Dominic had claimed.
But neither would I forget the sisters of my heart. Wren had already promised that she would join Audrey as one of my attendants. Ash’s assistant was going to be taking charge of the bakery during their short wedding trip, so Wren had convinced Ash to leave his store for a little longer and take the whole family to the capital to join me.
“The Keep has shined up nicely for the occasion, I think,” Cora said proudly from beside me.
I turned to smile at her. “It looks completely magical. Wren is going to be delighted.”
“Well, it was the only way,” Cora said with a snort. “It was hard enough moving all the oldsters out here in the first place, I wasn’t carting them all back into Brylee for a wedding.”