Princess of the Wild Swans
Page 14
Then Cullan asked Brigh formally for Riona’s hand, and presented her to Father, who received her as a daughter with a loving embrace. I hugged her too, saying, “You shall be my sister! At last, I will have someone to defend me against my brutish brothers!”
Riona squeezed me hard and laughed. “But I will have to take Cullan’s side when you disagree. You shall have to ask Liam to defend you then.”
Liam said, “I don’t think Meriel needs defending. In fact, I think it is her brothers, not she, who will need my help!” I swatted at him and he dodged out of the way, his blue eyes dancing.
Master Declan and his family departed when the cakes were all eaten. The rooms above their shop were still habitable, and Father assured them that he would have the shop rebuilt immediately, replacing the goods the queen had destroyed with plants from the castle’s own garden when spring came.
“Riona and I will grow the herbs you need,” I promised them. “You will have a supply of whatever you want from us, or from Brigh.” For Father had promised to build Brigh a cottage, too, to take the place of her burned home, and this one would be closer to the castle so Brigh could visit whenever she pleased, and Liam could tend the castle animals more easily.
I hugged them all and kissed Davina, who chirped, “May I visit you, Princess? May I come anytime I please? May I play with the toys when I come? Oh, do say yes!” I laughed and said yes, and we sent them home with a servant carrying food and another carrying clothes, and a third, at my direction, bearing a sack filled with dolls and costumes and balls and games of all sorts to keep Davina happy during the cold indoor days to come.
The rest of us drank spiced cider as the heat from the nursery fire made us drowsy. My brothers toasted me with their cups for my bravery, and I beamed and blushed with happiness, leaning against Father’s knee.
“How did you have the strength to do it, Daughter?” he marveled, stroking my hair tenderly.
“It was not my strength alone,” I replied. “It was Riona’s, and Liam’s, and Brigh’s, and the strength of the love that all the people of Tiramore bear you.” I described again how the townspeople had helped us, how Ogan the guard had come to our aid, how the cobbler and his wife had taken us in, how he and the blacksmith had braved the icy water to pull us to safety. Father vowed to reward them all with treasure and advancement. And then I said, “Truly, though, it was Mistress Tuileach’s wisdom that gave me my real power.”
“A wise woman indeed,” Father said, smiling at my governess. She reddened under his look, and all at once I realized something I had long been too blind to see. How could I not have known before? Why, Father should marry Mistress Tuileach!
Brigh, Riona, Liam, and Mistress Tuileach all turned to look at me, and I realized they had heard my thought. Mistress Tuileach was pink with embarrassment, but Liam grinned and nodded at me. I almost wished I had spoken aloud, for I feared that Mistress Tuileach was too duty bound and too proper, and Father too afraid to seek love again after his experience with Lady Orianna, for such a thing ever to come to pass. But I had learned a little from my weeks of enforced silence, and so I bit my tongue and managed to keep quiet.
Then Father, ignorant of our unspoken conversation, stretched and said, “To bed, all. It is late, and you have earned your rest. And we have a wedding to begin planning in the morning!”
We did indeed have a wedding, not many weeks later. It was to be a quiet ceremony, just Riona’s family and mine. Riona and I went to Tiramore to the draper’s shop, where we purchased a length of beautiful creamy satin, though Riona protested at first that linen would do well enough for her.
“Linen?” I scoffed. “You will be a princess, and wed in satin. I will allow no argument!” Stroking the smooth cloth, she quickly gave in. Mistress Tuileach designed the gown, and she and I sewed it, my stitches neat and small and even enough to meet with my governess’s approval. Mistress Tuileach embroidered the hem and sleeves with the flowers Riona loved, for it was too late in the year for her to carry a bouquet. The dress was simple but beautiful, nipped in at the bride’s slender waist and flowing to the floor in graceful folds. Riona was exquisite in it, her dark hair and blue eyes set off by the pale fabric. She marveled at the shoes the cobbler made for her—no wooden shoes these, but soft white satin with tiny curved heels.
Before the ceremony, I took Riona aside. “Will you wear this?” I asked her, holding out the sapphire stone Cullan had given me. I had restrung it on a narrow chain of gold. “It is something old, something borrowed, and something blue, to go with your new gown.”
Riona took it from me. “I would be honored,” she said in a low voice, gazing at the jewel. “I know you value it greatly, for you have never taken it off as long as I’ve known you. I will return it after I am wed.” I fastened it around her neck, and she embraced me, her face bright with happiness.
When the vows had been said and the couple toasted with sparkling wine, we threw open the heavy door of the forecourt and invited the townspeople in. Braziers heated the space. In the torchlight a small group of musicians from the town played lively dances for the tradespeople and merchants whom I had observed from the rooms above the apothecary’s shop, who had urged me on and hidden me and held me up when I most needed it.
Father’s old friends Sir Brion and Sir Paidin, Lord Osan and Lord Saran arrived with their wives. Master Declan and his family joined us, and we greeted them with great pleasure. Davina was thrilled to be able to stay up for her first grown-up party, and Ennis came with the tailor’s daughter, a pretty, high-spirited girl with dark curls who looked just a little like Riona. I watched them dance as I sat eating cake with Liam.
“So his heart was not completely broken,” I observed, smiling as they spun on the smooth cobblestones.
“I’m glad,” Liam said, “for he is a good man, and he deserves happiness.”
“She is very nice indeed,” Davina piped up, hopping around us in her version of the dance. “She has taught me to sew!”
I laughed, thinking of my torturous hours spent over needle and thread. “A fine skill to have,” I told her wryly, passing her a thick slice of wedding cake. “But be sure you use linen to make your dresses—stay away from nettles!”
Liam nudged me and pointed. “Look at that!” he said. I looked, and saw that Father was leading Mistress Tuileach in a quadrille. Her face was flushed as much with delight as with the warmth from the braziers, and she looked as pretty as ever she had.
“Do you think . . . ?” I asked, wondering.
“It is not for you to say, Princess, though I’m sure you would like to,” Liam teased me. “Only time will tell.” I stuck out my tongue at him and he said, “Shall we join them? It looks like they need another couple for the dance.” And I put down my cake and whirled off with him across the cobblestones.
There were toasts and more dances. The boys from Tiramore laid a wooden barrel top on the ground and then competed to see who could perform the wildest sean-nós dance atop it, their feet tapping on the wood, their arms waving wildly. Then town couples danced a ceili in a long line as Baird played on his harp and the other guests stood around them in a circle, clapping and calling out the steps. It was a far cry from the formal dance Lady Orianna had hosted, and even from the balls Father had given in years past, but it was the most fun I had ever had. Liam and I joined in the ceili with great abandon, and of course Riona and Cullan danced too, though Cullan was clumsy with his wing and knocked over a dancer or two accidentally.
The newlyweds left for their wedding journey in a white carriage as snow began to fall gently. The party continued in the forecourt, but my brothers, Father, Liam, Brigh, and I stood by the lane and bade the happy couple farewell as they departed. Riona pressed a kiss onto my forehead and whispered, “I will be back before spring, Sister, and then we will plant our garden!” Once in the carriage she leaned out the window to wave good-bye, her smile radiant.
Cullan hugged us, me last of all, and climbed in after her, fo
lding his wing awkwardly as he sat. As the horses began to trot away, he leaned out the other side of the carriage and called to me, but I could not hear him. I picked up my skirts and ran after them, crying, “What? What is it?”
He shouted more loudly, and at last I heard him over the clatter of the horses’ hooves: “Behave yourself when I am gone, Meriel!”
His customary parting words brought tears of joy and sadness to my eyes, for all that had changed and all that still remained the same. And as the carriage jangled down the lane, I whispered back, in a voice that only I could hear, “And you too, my dearest brother!”
Acknowledgments
My grateful thanks to the following:
Maria Gomez and Barbara Lalicki, for their flawless editing
Shani Soloff, for being the ideal reader
Kathy Zahler, who created the perfect bookmarks
Stan and Jan Zahler, who have helped in every possible way
Ben Sicker, for believing in me (and putting me on Facebook!)
The members of Whine and Dine, whose support means more than I can say
About the Author
DIANE ZAHLER is the author of THE THIRTEENTH PRINCESS and A TRUE PRINCESS. Her books have been praised for their “delicious descriptions” (Kirkus Reviews) and their “gratifying depth” (Publishers Weekly). Diane lives with her husband and dog in New York’s Harlem Valley, in an old farmhouse held together by magic spells and duct tape. You can visit her online at www.dianezahler.com.
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Credits
Jacket art © 2012 by Laurel Long
Jacket design by Erin Fitzsimmons
Copyright
Poem on p. 84 from “Swans” by Sara Teasdale, in Sara Teasdale, Rivers to the Sea (New York: Macmillan, 1915), http://www.gutenberg.org/files/442/442.txt.
Poem on p. 100–101 based on “The Wild Swans at Coole” by William Butler Yeats, in The Wild Swans at Coole, and Other Poems (New York: Macmillan, 1919), http://www.bartleby.com/148/1.html.
Poem on p. 169 from “The Song of Wandering Aengus” by William Butler Yeats, in The Wind Among the Reeds (New York: J. Lane, 1899), http://www.bartleby.com/146/9.html.
Princess of the Wild Swans
Copyright © 2012 by Diane Zahler
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zahler, Diane.
Princess of the wild swans / Diane Zahler—1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Twelve-year old Princess Meriel must sew shirts from stinging nettles in order to rescue her five older brothers from their evil stepmother's spell lest they remain swans forever. Inspired by the Andersen fairy tale, "The Wild Swans."
ISBN 978-0-06-200492-5 (trade bdg.)
[1. Fairy tales. 2. Princesses—Fiction. 3. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 4. Witches—Fiction. 5. Stepmothers—Fiction. 6. Magic—Fiction.] I. Title
PZ8.Z17Pri 2012
[Fic]—dc22
2011019378
CIP
AC
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12 13 14 15 16 LP/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
EPub Edition © JANUARY 2012 ISBN: 9780062102027
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