daughter agreed that she would wed for love and that she would choose her own spouse. The daughter, who loved her father as dearly as he loved her and lacked for nothing in life, didn’t rush to make that choice. They were happy, each in their own way, and disinclined to make a change.
In that area, there was a family of swan shifters who were considered royal. A terrible plague had come upon the swan shifters and the eldest son of the swan-king was the last of his kind. He visited the king’s palace to see the wonders he’d heard described, hoping to diminish his loneliness. While he admired the many depictions of swans, it was the king’s daughter who stole his heart away. With one glimpse, he was smitten—but when he presented his proposal to the king, the king forbade the swan-prince to even speak to the princess. The king feared the mingling of their kinds and wished his daughter to wed a man, not a changeling. The swan-prince was disappointed, but true to his promise to the king, he neither spoke to the princess nor remained at the palace. He left and wandered, hoping to find another woman he could love somewhere in the world, but the memory of the princess burned bright in his heart.
There was a brigand on the king’s borders, though, one who grew increasingly bold with every passing year. This warrior was a thief and a killer, treacherous to his marrow, and disinterested in anything beyond his own desires. The first time he saw the king’s palace, he wanted it for his own. The first time he rode close to the king’s palace and glimpsed that man’s lovely daughter, he swore that she would belong to him. He sent word to the king of his demand, but the king declined even to speak with him.
This brigand was not a man to be put aside. He began to raid the villages on the borders of the kingdom, leaving only destruction and death in his wake. Each time he attacked, he sent his request to the king and, each time, the king refused to hear of such a marriage for his beloved daughter. The brigand used his stolen riches to hire mercenaries and his army swelled in numbers and power. He was a pestilence upon the king’s realm, slaughtering and stealing so that eventually there was only the palace left. The brigand made his demand again and was rebuffed for the last time. He besieged the castle, killing all who opposed him and forcibly seizing the princess. The king tried to defend her, but the brigand cut down the king before her very eyes. He then claimed the castle and kingdom, and married the princess by force. He consummated their match before all in attendance, then locked her into the king’s chambers, where only he could visit her. He went to her every night without fail, claiming her until she begged for mercy.
He told her that the price of mercy was a son.
The princess prayed that she would conceive the son of the monster who held her captive. She sent messages from her window to every wise woman she knew, asking for their council in the rapid conception of a son and heir. She endured her husband’s attentions, hoping that the ordeal would not last long.
Within two moons, she knew she was with child.
The mercenary, to her relief, considered the matter resolved. He left her locked in the chamber, forbade all to visit her, and vowed she would be released with the safe delivery of his son and heir. For nine months, the lady lived alone, had no maid to tend her and no friend with whom to converse. For nine months, her meals were surrendered to her through a hole cut in the door, a hole too small for her to use for escape. For nine months, she endured the restraints put upon her by her husband, knowing he pillaged the holdings of their neighbors, piled his ill-gotten gains in what had been her father’s treasury, and indulged his gluttony each night in her father’s hall. Her hatred of him distilled until it was as brittle and hard as an icicle, or a diamond forged in the core of the earth. And then, on midwinter’s eve, she delivered his son.
The boy was tall and strong, a robust babe who yelled with vigor when he entered the world. The brigand came to look upon his son