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Indeed, behind him amongst the tall grass and wildflowers, a few of them clambered over what appeared to be a castle fashioned out of slippers and boots and leather dress shoes. The latter were few, and they would be, being that they were worn mostly by human males in Errin.
Ignoring the impulse to walk closer and inspect the laughing children, the windows cut out of soles, and the battlement made from the rubbery base of a rainboot, I asked, “And hair?”
“Oh,” the female said, dragging my eyes back to her as she prepared the tray of tea, “that is merely to cast misfortune on the darker souls, the rotten ones who wished harm to befall us.”
I found myself following her request to sit when she gestured to the empty grass behind me and smoothed out my tattered skirts over my knees as I did. “How does one do that?”
A ti
“Fink,” hissed who I guessed was her mother. “Give the princess her space.”
But I found myself returning the youngling’s smile and offering my hand.
Her mother gasped when her daughter, delighted, climbed on, latching onto my fingers as I lifted her to my leg. There, she sat, watching me receive the tea I was sure to finish in two sips from the white-haired female. “And what’s your name?”
“My mama’s name is Beshal,” informed Fink, who then pointed at the white-bearded male and said, “and that is my papa, Harro, and that is my uncle and aunt, Gretz and Pilon.”
I nodded their way, still smiling as Fink introduced me to more of those gathered nearby. Most returned it, some of the young scuttled behind their parents’ legs, peeking out from behind them every so often with shy smiles.
The tea, although barely there, was divine—a mixture of bergamot and sunshine that warmed my chest and relaxed my shoulders. I was offered more and found I could not refuse when Beshal scowled.
“No one tells that female no,” Harro, who I’d guessed was her spouse, laughed jovially.
“Why are you here?” asked Fink. “You belong in storybooks, in tales told before sleep.”
I raised a brow at that. “I’m not that old.”
Fink laughed, but Beshal said, “The black swan has not been seen for many a year and has long thought to have been bled from your bloodline forevermore.”
I nodded. “I know.” Unsure of what else to say, I shrugged, laughing weakly. “Well, here I am. Another one.”
“And in the king’s clutches, no less,” griped Harro, his bushy brows covering his beady chocolate eyes. “So yes, what brings you here?”
“He stole me,” I said simply, for it was true and the last thing I’d ever do was protect the likes of Dade Volkahn.
No one spoke for a minute, the only sound the trilling of birds and the sea in the distance, crashing below the cliffs.
“But you are outside the keep. You could fly home at any moment.”
“Don’t be foolish.” Beshal glowered at her spouse. “The king of wolves would find her, hunt her until her final days.” She looked back at me, her eyes twinkling with knowing. “No, she is exactly where she ought to be.”
I smiled and sipped my tea.