Is... the sun raining?
Beneath the blaring, yellow sky, sparkles rain down.
I come in and out, and flecks of gold and shimmer dot my vision.
My wings are broken, twisted at such a painful angle, I hesitate to move.
Stars. I had hoped a fall from that height would have killed me.
My eyes close. I'll just wait until the end, then.
Light as a piece of paper, something lands on my snout. Then my wing. My body. My foot. I ruffle, annoyed and exhausted. Can I not die uninterrupted?
I twist enough to glimpse through tired eyes. What is it?
The golden slip lands right beside my eye, mocking me.
Squinting, I make out faint cursive script on the label:
You'll always be my swan princess, no matter how far away you are.
Golden tickets fall from the vast expanse of sky. There must be thousands of carrier pigeons, darting through the clouds, dropping bundles of gold across the plain. Each with a different message:
I miss you, birdie. Return and harass me with books, this time. I will receive them all with excitement.
Come back to the lake. Either one. Every one. I will check them every day until your return.
Let's dance in disguise again - new ones, old ones, I don't care. Let me fall in love with you, all over again
They're all in his handwriting, which means he must have written them all by himself. Every little message among the millions, falling through the air and coating me in gold.
I can hear my breath heaving as I start to sob. He wrote all these...for me. An engaged man doesn't linger so deeply on a woman from his past.
I choose you. No matter what some mate bond says. I would still choose you, even if the entire world was against it.
My body glows faintly. Bones mold themselves back into place. My wings retreat back in. The webbing between my toes dissolves.
I pull my healed body back inward, waiting for the transformation to begin again. I'm wailing, collapsing, emotionally distraught...and I'm human.
I hold up my hand in front of me. My fingers splay out, completely ordinary. There's no transformation, only the sound of my wretched sobs over the barren plain. Why won't I shift?
I would love you no matter who or what you are
Return home, Swan Princess
I clutch the messages to my chest. He did this. Sieg. The physical pain is gone, and so is my swan.
I'm just...Odette.
The curse broke.
YOU ARE READING
The Swan Princess
RomanceA cursed peasant princess. A slighted prince of wolves. A prophecy that can only be broken with true love. Naïve Odette used to dream of finding true love organically, filling her days with masquerade balls, midnight meetups, and carefully arranged...
