The Swan Princess

Chapter 28: Out of Hand

Prince Siegfried

I beckon the nearest servant closer.

"Where can I find the biggest diamonds in the country?"

"Um... I'm more of a lady's maid, Your Highness."

"Useless. Go!" I wave her away. She scampers out of the room, souring my already negative mood.

"Sieg!" Annalise chides.

"Sister!" I imitate back, mimicking her high-pitched tone.

I throw her a stack of papers.

"Sign these for me."

She flips through them, then shifts her gaze to me with disbelief. "Shouldn't you be doing this important tithe work yourself?"

"I am otherwise pre-occupied."

She picks up the quill pen and begins signing. "You're lucky I learned how to feign your signature. What would you do without me?"

I move to the jewelry box, picking out the biggest jewels. "Do you think she would like these?"

"We're having two separate conversations."

"I have real work to do, sister."

"I know, brother, because I am currently doing it."

I turn my head back only long enough to glare. "Answer my question. You are a woman like Odette, are you not? Would she like these jewels?"

"I've never seen you like this," Annalise remarks, ignoring me again. I hate her sometimes, only because she is too much like myself.

"I have been slighted immensely," I reply.

Curse her. Curse me. Curse this damned curse. My entire body aches hurts after Odette's rejection. To make matters worse, the rose sits in front of me, taunting. Maybe I'll rip the last petals off myself, just out of spite. They've been falling this whole time, which means my actions aren't working. I will need to be more drastic.

"Faster!" I hiss at the servants folding the invitations.

"Be kind, brother!" Annalise chides.

The entire castle is in shambles, and it's all thanks to me.

White ribbons are being hung from ceilings. Invitations are being sent out. Servants are sprinting through the halls, rushing from one task to another.

If it's an elaborate proposal Odette wants, it is an elaborate proposal she shall receive.

***

Odette

"What do you think this special announcement will be about today?" Princess Edlyn asks me. We're seated in Princess Annalise's tearoom, and were told the prince and princess would be here soon. I am in Princess Insun's finest, sipping my flute of champagne. Today, we are expecting some kind of celebration, with decorations being hung at every corner.

"Perhaps it will be about how fine me and Sieg's kiss was the other day."

I choke on my drink, champagne bubbles spilling over my dress. "Kiss?"

"You call him Sieg? I thought only his close family was permitted to call him as such?" Edlyn asks. I pat my dress with a napkin. What a fine way to ruin a beautiful garment. Edlyn hands me her handkerchief, which I use once the napkin is soaked.

"We are very close. So close, in fact, that I suspect today's announcement will be a proposal."

"A proposal?" Excited voices of the other ladies chirp. "What makes you think it will be you, Odile? After all, you are not a princess?" Edlyn asks.

"Well, I think," she turns to me, "that after recent events, the prince would prefer to marry a woman who is local to this region to be his bride."

Unbeknownst to my sister, who is perpetually clueless, many of the visiting princesses narrow their eyes. Good. Our dislike of her is mutual.

"Besides," she goes on, "Look at these!" She moves to the side table, picking up engraved white napkins. "S&O!" she cries. "Siegfried and Odile."

S&O?

Siegfried and Odile?

I throw the handkerchief back at Edlyn, and unfold my crumpled, soaked napkin.

My heart drops to the floor.

S&O. It can't be Siegfried and Odette, because Odette told Lukas long ago that she wasn't interested in him. So if it's not me, then the only other girl here with an O name...

I raise my heavy head, only to see Odile's posse fawning over her.

Which means... all the work I put in as Insun was for nothing. Because despite how in lust he was with me at the lake, that's all it was. Infatuation, not love. Every interaction, every piece of banter, every conversation... was this all just a game, between Insun and Sieg? Wasn't it just a game to begin with? I knew my heart belonged to Lukas anyways. So why, then, do I feel so emotional about this rejection? I'm not even upset that Odile won. I'm upset that I... lost.

Lost Prince Siegfried.

"Excuse me," I mutter, standing. I need to leave. I'm going to be sick.

Edlyn's brows crease with worry. I can hear servants and princesses alike whispering over folded napkins, hiding their faces behind their fans and hands.

I straighten my spine and move away.

One step, and I'm the bigger person. Wounded, but leaving peacefully.

"Leaving so soon?" Odile taunts.

Another step, and I pick up my champagne glass, watching the liquid bubble over the surface — and hurl it at Odile's head with all the strength of a broken heart.

The glass flies through the air, past the faces of shocked royalty, past the entire tea room table — and slamms into the wall above Odile, raining broken glass onto her styled hair.

She screams, pushing her chair away from the broken shards.

Then I left the room, angry and hurt, jealous of the stationary — and of the life — that I'll never receive.