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Slowly, I rose, knowing I shouldn’t, that I was wasting precious time. That I would only panic more upon seeing Dade being thrown out of the castle gates and into the awaiting swarm of soldiers and citizens beyond.
He faltered, his clothing torn and blood smattering one side of his face, but he did not fall. He launched himself at the incoming weapons.
I closed my eyes and dropped to the floor. “Shit,” I cried low. “Shit, shit, shit.” My fingers trembled, slid over the leather hilt of the dagger, but I lifted it and kept going.
I couldn’t stop. There was nothing left to do but try. Nothing save for waiting and hoping for a fate I knew wouldn’t come—a fate I’d never dared hope for.
Until now.
Infused with it, those calculated steps he took as he neared me, my every breath measured and timed, the predatory way he’d tilt his head and study my facial expressions, the movement of my mouth. Those eyes of stormy seas and sun-bright skies—a glimpse at two futures should I have the nerve and heart to decide.
I pushed the blade harder, metal shaving and curling beneath it. My arms ached as I pushed my entire body into each glide and foolishly gripped the bar with one hand while sawing with the other to try to weaken it quicker with magic—with warmth.
After mere moments, my fingers began to pucker. Dropping the dagger, I pulled away, blowing on the small red welts that appeared.
And when I looked at the bent metal in the lowest rung of a square by the corner of the window, I smiled and pressed my fingers to it. Gritting my teeth against the immediate exposure to the iron, the cold ache that threatened, I willed my blood, my chaotic emotions, to obey and target.
With one shaken exhale, my power unspooled.
It unspooled and raced through every square, dark silver now a molten gold.
A wet laugh escaped, and I kicked at the corner, watched it crack, and kicked again.
Muffled questions at the door sounded, but I was already gone, pushing and kicking until the bolts in the moonstone came loose, and I could bend the metal open enough to squeeze through. My dress snagged and tore, as did my leg, but I didn’t have time to pay it any notice when the door to my parents’ rooms opened, and Elhn was cursing, slicing his way through the vines.
Behind me at the window within those correctly guessed seconds, he tried to shake the metal loose. He couldn’t fit through the gap, and I couldn’t wait around to see if he’d manage to haul the entire grate away from the window.
Upon the balcony, my blistered hands pressing into the moonstone wall, I tried to find Dade but could no longer see him amongst the herd moving in a slow line toward the market square.
My hair flew around my face, city-dwellers stopping with their daily business and closing up shop or following the commotion.
They’d known we were getting married.
Had they known my mother would try to kill my husband?
I supposed many of them had hoped for something like this, and I couldn’t blame them. I’d once hoped for his demise too.
Dade roared, soldiers flying and landing on rooftops and awnings and the hard ground as the crowd moved back a step.
He was still chained, but the king was no longer there. In his place was a giant, white-winged wolf, horns flicking a sword skyward when a daring soldier leaped forward.
I wasn’t sure what they were trying to do exactly. They were to capture and eventually kill him, I knew that much, but they were stalling, dodging deadly blows of his claws and teeth and those horns.
“Princess.” Elhn grabbed at a piece of my dress, tugging hard back toward the window.
I ignored him while looking him dead in the eye, and then allowed my blood to boil beyond return. Beak first, I plummeted from the wall toward the gardens, the muscle in my still-healing wings stiff and sore as I lifted them and twisted toward the nearest rooftop.
A whistle pierced, followed by, “A black swan!”
I kept low, unsure what I’d do once I’d reached him, and wove between moss-shrouded rooftops, chimneys puffing merrily in many as though there wasn’t a notorious wolf king within our midst.
I’d need to make a stand long enough for him to get away, but already, the eyes of those surrounding him were slowly turning toward the sky. I banked, sank low to fly around a half-emptied cart. A young boy seated upon the back waved a little gold and red flag while his father watched the commotion from the edge of the alleyway.
The male grunted and turned in a swift circle when my wings brushed him, the little boy laughing and pointing as I flew out into the street, rose over the many heads, and then squeaked as an arrow flew right at my chest.
I dropped, and it skimmed the feathers upon my back, soldiers torn between gazing at a nearing large black swan or the monstrous animal they’d surrounded to prod at like the wild beast he was.
Murmurings of, “Swan,” and “Stars,” and “Should we kill it?” came to me upon the breeze.
Before they could make a decision, the beast whirled, his large eyes pi
He knew I would do no such thing. I flapped my wings, soaring high toward the nearest building where I could wait and scan the ground surrounding my wolf for a place to land while Elhn hurried downhill to inform them not to kill me.
He was fast—I’d give him that much—but not fast enough as carriages ambled out of the chaos-strewn streets, seeking shelter, and people did, too. Dodging and circling and ru
I wondered if he’d had time to inform Mother dearest.
A cry dragged my attention back to Dade, who had a male pi
Dade whined then roared, spi
I rose, wings rustling, spreading open either side of me, and waddled toward the edge of the roof. He wasn’t fighting to kill.
Again and again, blades sliced pieces of fur from his side, sank into his flesh before he knocked them away, and he could have destroyed them. He might have died trying, but he’d kill a great many of our soldiers before that happened.
But it wouldn’t happen. It couldn’t.
It would, a nudge to my gut insisted.
It would because he was refusing to kill any who came at him.
Elhn closed in, hollering between cupped hands, “Princess, you must leave. Now.”
I nearly laughed, but the edged tone of his voice stopped me. I looked at him, noticed his gaze swing from me to the sky, and then I looked down to the square at Dade.
His teeth were bared, a low growl rumbling as soldiers peeled themselves away, one being dragged by his comrade, his leg bent at a disturbing angle.
They were retreating. Why were they retreating?
I looked back at Elhn. He pushed through the throng, talking in a rush, and a few soldiers glanced up.
I did, too, and then I gasped and leaped.
I plummeted toward the square with everything in me at a speed I’d never flown before—fast enough that when I landed, I would break something. Likely many somethings.
Dade whined, shifting to take the brunt of my impact, and I bounced into him.