Page 107 of Wilds of Wonder
All the air got sucked from the room, everyone going completely still. El’s expression revealed nothing.
Aron’s brows scrunched, an utterly perplexed look pasted across his face. “Lightning bolt?” He frowned at El, who looked away, her long black hair curtaining her face. So Aron hadn’t known, and I’d wager a guess that El felt guilty for not telling him.
Annalee’s lips pursed, and she looked as confused as Aron.
I nodded to Emory. “Emory and I went on a little stroll and stumbled across the bolt in your dungeons.”
“Holy fuck.” Driscoll straightened. “It’s here? Spirit Sky’s lightning bolt is here?”
“Spirit Sky?” Aron echoed. “I am not following.”
“Neither am I,” Annalee said, propping her chin in her hands.
The swans flapped their wings, feathers ruffling, and I followed Emory’s gaze as she stared at them with a parted mouth, then looked back at El, and then back at the swans. I knew that look. Her mind was working through something. Solving something. A puzzle of some sort.
“You’re the princess of the star court,” she said slowly, turning her wide eyes onto El.
I stiffened, while Aron’s brows furrowed, and Driscoll’s mouth dropped open.
El huffed and rolled her eyes, signing in quick succession. Aron translated for everyone, but his voice fell into the background as I watched El, reading her movements.
“Close,”she said to Emory.“But no. I’m not Shiraeth’s princess. She died with her brothers, her parents. Like I told you.”
My shoulders sank. It had been a good theory on Emory’s part, and it had made sense.
Emory leaned forward. “Okay, maybe I’m wrong about your exact identity, but I’m right about something. You’re connected to these swans...” She snapped her fingers. “The caretaker.”
El’s jaw locked, her impassive face still revealing nothing. She was hard to read. Had years of practice hiding her thoughts, I’d wager. But the question was why did she ever need to? What was she afraid of us finding out?
El glanced back at the swans, tears filling her eyes.“My father,”she finally signed, her movements slow and careful. Measured. She sniffed, and it was the most emotion I’d ever seen from her.“Caretaker of the castle swans.”
Emory had been right. My clever little rabbit.
El continued signing:“You’re wrong. About history. King didn’t buy swans. King stole swans. My father begged the king for them back. When the king refused, he begged for a job instead. As caretaker. King agreed. He loved the swans. He fed them, bred them, healed them. My older brothers grew up in castle. Helped father.”
El stood and walked to the creatures, kneeling at the edge of the pond and laying a hand on one. It bent its long neck into her touch. She looked back, fingers picking up speed in their movement.“When Spirit Shadow escaped his tomb, he ripped through everything. Everyone. Then the curse happened.”She gestured to the castle walls, to something far beyond the palace. “Everyone started transforming. Except Father and brothers. Father said they lucky. Hidden away. Protected. I was lucky too. Protected in my mother’s womb.”
That would have to be some kind of luck. Not only did El’s brothers and father live through Spirit Shadow’s attack, but on top of that, when this mysterious curse came and affected everyone else here, it somehow didn’t hurt them? I understood why El was protected, still in her mother’s womb. But the rest wasn’t adding up, and based on everyone else’s confused expressions as Aron translated, I wasn’t sure it made sense to them either.
“Mother was not so lucky,”El signed.“She turned to a creature. Forgot herself. Father kept her imprisoned until she gave birth to me. After she had me, she escaped. Now she tricks travelers who come to her forest. Clever cat.”
Emory met my gaze. Her mother was the cat woman I’d run into. I couldn’t imagine the pain of knowing your own mother was alive but no longer herself, no longer with her own mind or faculties. Maybe not even recognizing her own daughter.
“My father, brothers, me lived in the castle for ten years,”El signed.“A safe place. Untilshecame.”
I didn’t know whoshewas, but the haunted look in El’s eyes as she signed the word sent shivers down my spine.
“I never liked her, never trusted her, but my father fell in love. Like my mother never existed, like she wasn’t out there. It made no sense. My brothers were wary, confused, but they trusted my father.”
I watched El as she signed, trying to understand where this story was going.
“The woman was cruel to us. Mean. Kept our father away. Dangerous accidents happened to brothers, to me. One of us would take a tumble down the stairs. Were fed a poison berry. Involved in a wild animal attack.”
Emory and I exchanged concerned glances while Driscoll and Annalee did the same. Aron just sat back, translating in his calm voice for everyone else. Emerald ribbons lit up the room, casting their hue over everyone’s faces.
El still crouched by the pond, more swans gliding over to be near her.“Father was becoming a shell of himself. Like a ghost. Someone I no longer recognized. He was angry, temperamental, withdrawn.”
El paused, taking a shuddering breath that rippled through her body. No tears fell, but her eyes shone with them.
