The Black Swan (40 page)

But not far. No, although she suffered a twinge of guilt over her actions, she paused in the deepest shadows just long enough to make herself invisible, then stole back to within listening distance.

Odette waited for the two men who approached her looking remarkably composed, the center of a half-circle of the others, who watched and waited with her. In the moonlight, they formed a remarkable tableau, looking every bit as magical as forest spirits in a tale. The prince looked a little surprised to see that she was not alone; Odile could not tell what the other man felt.

It was her intruder from this afternoon, though. Although he tried to remain expressionless, as he searched the group of girls, she wondered if he could be looking for her. If so, he didn't find her, and his expression as he examined Odette and her escort was full of wary suspicion. The maidens moved not a single muscle; the only movement was that of their diaphanous white gowns and the flowers and swan feathers ornamenting their hair, fluttering a little in the faint breeze.

Siegfried, looking completely confident and at his ease, bowed to Odette; she acknowledged his courtesy with a regal inclination of her head. If last night she had been the half-terrified, half-angry, fey spirit, tonight she was all queen, in command of herself, if not of her fate. After a dubious glance at his friend, the other young man did the same.

Benno von Drachheim,
Odile recalled.
But if
he's
a genuine landsknecht, I'm the Queen of Sheba. He's a knight, no doubt, but it's his father who's the landed one; he's just the heir, if he's anything. The title's no more than a courtesy for a son, assuming he didn't just appropriate it.

“I hope you will permit me to present my friend, Landsknecht Benno von Drachheim,” Siegfried said, with the same formality he would have used in a lofty hall. At least the young man hadn't claimed a title he didn't have. It should have been amusing, but Odile felt no inclination to laugh.

Odette slowly extended her hand for him to kiss, head held very high on her long and graceful neck, face marble-pale in the moonlight. Benno dropped a very perfunctory salute on the back of it before it was withdrawn. “I had not thought you would come as anything but alone,” she said to Siegfried, as if Benno weren't there—a nice little bit of byplay that clearly made Benno uneasy. “I hope you have not confided in anyone else; you could be creating danger for us. Not all hunters would hesitate to kill us. Some would think us creatures of the devil and think it their duty to remove us from the world.”

Siegfried only smiled. “My friend is concerned for me,” he replied, with a glance at Benno.

Odette turned a gaze on Benno so cold that it should have coated him with a rime of frost. “And what was it that made him concerned?” she asked icily. “Does
he
think we are unholy demons? Does he believe there is anything we could possibly do to harm you? Did he think my companions and I would fall upon you and tear you to pieces with our bare hands? Or did he suppose that we were the perpetrators of the curse we suffer under, and not the victims?”

Even in the moonlight, Odile saw Benno flush. Put that way, the young man's suspicions sounded both ridiculous and crass. Odile smiled; that was one score for Odette!
I never realized that she was this clever! She uses honesty and truth as any warrior would use a sword!

“So you
are
cursed!” Siegfried seized on that eagerly. “It was as I thought!” Abruptly he dropped to one knee before the startled maiden, and seized her hand before Odette could shrink back. “If there is a way that I can free you from it, tell me now! I swear I shall do so, no matter the cost!”

Be careful, Odette!
Odile warned, tense with worry.
Don't forget what the conditions are! Don't do anything yet!

From the appalled look on Benno's face, that was exactly what he had most feared the prince would say—but Odette gently took back her hand, and shook her head.

“Do not swear so rashly before you know what you swear to,” she replied, her voice faltering, just a little, as she looked down into the prince's eyes. “But if you truly wish to hear
all
of our story, I beg you, come apart with me. What I have to tell you is not for any ears but yours, for if you should change your mind, I would not wish any others to know what I have to tell you. They might not hold their tongues as you would.”

She glared at Benno now so that he winced—but then her expression softened, unexpectedly, and as she urged Siegfried back to his feet, she extended her hand to the chastened Benno.

“I can see that you are the true friend to your prince—and I must ask you to trust me long enough for him to hear me out. I swear to you, by whatever saint you ask, that I will not permit him to make any offers before he has heard all, both good and bad. Will you grant me that much trust?”

Odile gave Odette more points in the skirmish between herself and the prince's interfering friend. Put so graciously, how could a man who claimed to be a knight and a gentleman do anything other than acquiesce?

He did, and with better grace than Odile had expected. “I ask your leave to question your maidens, however,” he added, before Odette could draw Siegfried aside. “The one I met with this afternoon was singularly uncooperative, and did nothing to allay my mistrust.”

The corners of Odette's mouth actually twitched, but she gave no sign that she had already heard the tale from Odile. “So long as you make no threats, nor offer them any insult or harm,” she replied pointedly. “But if any of them feel you have done so, you must not be surprised if they choose to depart from your presence, however abruptly. We may have no weapons, and no strong hands to protect us, but the night is a friend to us, and will conceal us from those who would harm us.”

Before he could reply to that sally, she turned away from him and walked away. With her skirts trailing on the grass behind her, she moved swiftly and gracefully along the bank. She glanced back once, and Siegfried followed on behind her.

And final score to Odette,
Odile thought with great amusement, as she observed the crestfallen look Benno cast after them.
Check, and mate, in one move!

Then, obedient to her father's orders, she followed silently in their footsteps, leaving Benno to cool his heels and allay his suspicions among the other swans.

O
DETTE did not take Siegfried far from the clearing and his friend, just far enough that there was no chance that Benno would be able to overhear them
or
keep a watchful eye on them. She chose another, smaller clearing for her conference, one bordered by the lake so that moonlight flooded it completely. Odile followed at a discreet distance, and when they stopped, she tucked herself into the shadows and whispered a little spell that would bring every word they spoke to her ears. She should have done that last night, but she had been too surprised to think of it. Her father would want to know exactly what they said and did, and if she could not give him an accurate accounting, he would likely never trust her with anything again.

The thought of going home and being confined to the estate again was suddenly unbearable; she thought that she would be willing to sacrifice a great deal for the sake of this new freedom she had tasted. It was even worth the guilt she felt for playing the spy.

And I made no pledges or promises to Odette that I would keep my distance,
she consoled herself.
I am simply making certain that she adheres to the conditions Father set for her. Surely she expects that he will have some sort of watcher on her!

“In a way, your friend is right; I am not what you think.” Turning to face Siegfried, Odette broke the silence abruptly, and with a curiously unadorned choice of words. When Siegfried made as if to reply, she quieted him with a shake of her head. “No, Siegfried, you must hear me out without interrupting, or I will never be able to tell you everything that I must. Yes, I and the others are spellbound; cursed to be swans by day and our own selves again only by moonlight. And yes, the spell was placed upon us against our will. But our captor believes that we all deserve this curse by our own actions, and I, at least, cannot deny that I deserve
some
punishment, though I wonder if any man, even the most severe critic, would say it should be as harsh as this. We think him cruel and even evil—but in his own eyes, he is surely executing a just and proper retribution upon us. There may even be some who would agree with him. You may be one of them, once you have heard me out.”

Odile nodded, and mentally congratulated Odette for her complete honesty, and for being scrupulously fair to von Rothbart.
Good for you, Odette! Fair, even-handed, there is nothing anyone could object to in what you've told him. But you can't leave it at that—you have to tell him everything!

“You—” Siegfried began in a tone of protest.

Odette again silenced Siegfried with a look. “Hear me, and judge my crimes, for crimes they are, for yourself. I broke the betrothal contract my father had made for me, I deceived one of his squires into believing that I was in love with
him
so that he would help me to run away. I intended to go to the Emperor's court and petition for redress, and while I was there, find a husband to
my
taste. So, I broke a holy vow, I betrayed my father once by running and twice by subverting his man, and I betrayed the young squire in his turn. For this, I have been cursed. Now, say what you will, and judge me for yourself.”

Odile wanted to cheer for the princess.
Oh, most excellent! Surely even Father would admit that you have exceeded his conditions!
Odette had given no reasons for her actions, and no excuses; as a prince himself, Siegfried was well aware that duty came before all else, and that the vows a prince—or princess—made, were the foundation upon which the throne stood. Odette had made it even harder to win him now—and if she succeeded, no one could cry “foul.”

Odile's heart leaped and pounded, and she waited breathlessly for Siegfried's reply.

“You must have had your reasons,” Siegfried said quietly, as Odette also waited, her chin up, staring into his face to read what might be written there. “Why did you break the betrothal contract?”

“It was made without my knowledge or consent, and when I was told of it, I would not agree to it, even when Father raged at me. Father himself vowed to Mother as she lay dying that he would never force me to wed anyone I had not chosen.” Odette seemed to relax a little; whatever she saw in the prince's expression must have reassured her. “He broke his vow first, and although that does not excuse my actions in the least, he also betrayed his trust to me. That is the main reason. As for my other—” She hesitated. “It was my conviction, not held by my father, that the man he wished to wed me to would in his turn betray us both and seize Father's crown at the first excuse.”

Odile held her breath, hoping for an encouraging sign, as the prince nodded slowly. “The Most Holy Father himself has said that a vow made
for
someone else is not valid unless it is consented to. This is only common sense! You did not give consent; you were not even consulted, and you refused consent when you were asked. The vow of betrothal was not valid from the beginning.” He said nothing about Odette's other reason, but she seemed content enough with that. “Now—what of your father's squire?”

Now she hung her head, and there was no mistaking the regret and shame in her voice. “For that, I have no excuse or reason of any kind. It was selfish, petty, and cruel. I wanted to take something from Father as he tried to take my freedom from me. I could have attempted escape alone, in the guise of a page. I could have hired a mercenary to protect me, using the jewels given me by my mother. I did neither. I caused the young man to break
his
sacred vow of fealty, and I used him shamelessly.”

“And you have done neither more nor less than many women before you, and many who will come after you.” Siegfried's voice sounded calm. “You must know that the Church holds that women are weak of will and inclined to sin by their nature.” He paused, then chuckled. “All of which has always sounded rather specious to me, coming as it does from priests who keep mistresses and live as any noble.”

Odette looked up, startled, and moonlight glinted from the tears on her cheeks.

No, that is not feigned, I would take an oath on it!
Odile's heart ached for Odette, and yet she was nearly bursting with hope and pride. Von Rothbart had always told Odile that the only way the maidens would be worthy of release was if they showed true repentance, and if those were not tears of shame—

Then I will eat my slippers without sauce!
Odile didn't think she would be dining on silk and leather any time soon.

“It was wrong of me, and I made an innocent suffer,” Odette protested weakly. “That is a terrible sin, worse I think than breaking any vow.”

Siegfried shook his head. “If he was the squire to a king, he was fully old enough to know his duty and take responsibility for his
own
actions. Lady, forgive me for playing the devil's advocate, but
I
am a man, and you are not, and I know full well how a man thinks. It was possible that he had designs upon you that you were too innocent to think of. If he had a dishonest hedge-priest in his pay, he could easily have overcome you and carried you off to the altar, thus securing your hand and dower for himself! If he used you shamefully beforehand, you would have been forced to wed him! Can you vow that this was not the case?”