Thirty-Five

 

"You can't go dancing tonight," Bianca insisted for what felt like the hundredth time. Her head had started to ache again, but this was too important to wait. When they listened to her, then she could ask the kitchen for some more willow tea to ease the pain.

"Of course we can, and we will," Brenna said smoothly. "Don't be silly. Tonight is too important to miss. Tonight, we shall be free." Her face glowed. "Do you think I should wear the white or the pink?" She held up both gowns.

Bianca shuddered. White bones and pink silk, as the raven princes pecked at a bloody corpse that had once been a man. "Neither. Don't you see? They will kill us and strip the flesh from our bones!"

"Who will?" Melania asked.

"The cursed princes, of course! By night, they look like handsome men, but in truth, they are carrion crows. I have seen them!" Bianca said.

Hazel patted her shoulder. "Just a dream, sister. You went to bed when we did, just before dawn, and I shook you awake myself not an hour ago. Whatever you thought you saw, it was a nightmare brought on by too much wine and excitement. Do not drink so much tonight, for you will not want to alarm your new husband on your wedding night."

The thought of a wedding night with Vasco sent blood rushing to Bianca's cheeks. But that would not be tonight, surely. He hadn't returned from the capital yet, but he should be there by now. Hopefully telling her father all about the princes and Efe. If all went well, he would return by this time tomorrow, and he'd choose her for his bride, surely. He'd barely noticed the other girls, but he'd watched her so closely he knew she'd stepped on Corbin's feet when they danced.

Corbin...wedding...Bianca's memory itched, but she'd had too little sleep to understand what it was trying to tell her.

"What dress are you wearing tonight?" Hazel asked, opening the chest that contained Bianca's clothes. "That blue you wore last night was so lovely."

"Black," Bianca said absently. What other colour could she wear when her thoughts were as dark as ravens' wings?

"Ooh, I love the embroidery on this one. You should wear your hair loose tonight, cascading over it," Hazel gushed, helping Bianca into the black gown. Her mother had embroidered it with fish in silver thread which seemed to move if they caught the light right. "Corbin won't be able to take his eyes off you."

Bianca didn't care what Corbin did. He wouldn't see her, because... "I'm not going," she said flatly.

Brenna stormed across the room and slapped Bianca's face hard. "What is wrong with you? Stop this madness!"

Bianca rubbed her cheek and glared back. "What is wrong with you? Don't you hear what I'm saying? The princes are cursed!"

"I told you about the curse last night," Brenna returned. "And how it could be broken, which is when you agreed to become Corbin's wife while the rest of us marry his brothers. Together, we will break the curse and we will all be free!"

"We will be dead!" Bianca insisted.

Brenna raised her hand to slap her again, but Bianca caught it this time before the blow could land.

"You're a fool if you think the princes have any love for us. They only want us to break the curse, and after that, we are expendable. You'll see," Bianca said. "I'll go with you to the island tonight. And I'll show you what they truly are."

"Princes who want to marry us!" Nera giggled.

Bianca gave up. While her sisters busied themselves about their toilette, she opened the trapdoor and headed down to the beach. She left her torch in a bracket at the bottom of the stairs, preferring to use just the moonlight to make her way to the lake. There was no need to pretend to stumble so that Vasco could catch up tonight – he had all the proof he needed.

The fog hadn't engulfed the lake yet, so when she heard a commotion by the boathouse, she could clearly see the little pleasure boats making their way out of it.

"You fool! You nearly capsized me. For that, you, Ronne and Guntram can take the food to the island. Set it up as quickly as you can, and hurry back. Our brides will be here soon, and everything must be perfect!"

Bianca recognised Corbin's voice from the previous night, but it hadn't sounded so imperious then. Was he the eldest of the raven princes? Had he led the attack against them this morning? Her blood froze in her veins at the thought that she'd let him touch her. A carrion-pecking crow. She would not allow him the same liberty tonight. The moment she reached the island, she would take her sisters to the cove full of corpses and show them the princes' handiwork. They might not believe her words, but they would believe their eyes. Better to see a corpse than to become one before your time, she thought grimly.

She hid behind a rock as the boats sailed past, headed for the island and the fog bank that only now crept over the lake, as if by some magical command. Yet there was no magic in it. If there was, she would sense it, she was sure of it.

The magic around the princes was there, though she'd been too busy to notice it last night. It was less noticeable on them when they were human – more concentrated when they were birds.

When the lake returned to its normal, glassy calm, showing no sign of the boats that had rippled its surface only moments before, Bianca heard the cheerful chatter of her sisters coming down the stairs to join her. If only they knew what awaited them tonight...but they hadn't listened, so they did not.

The boats arrived through the mist once more and they boarded them. Bianca managed to do so without Corbin's assistance, to her delight and his annoyance, though he smoothed his face back into a smile so quickly she almost doubted what she'd seen.

"You look so beautiful in that gown, it will be a pity to take it off for our wedding night," he said as he wrapped his hands around his pole and plied it vigorously. The boat set off so abruptly that a wave of water splashed over the side, soaking her shoes. "Forgive me, Bianca. I am so eager to make you mine that I forgot myself."

She suspected that it was more likely he'd forgotten anything but himself and his own desires, but she forced herself to smile and say nothing.

His eagerness got them across the lake in record time. By the time they'd reached the island, the others had only made it halfway.

Bianca climbed out of the boat before Corbin could offer his hand, and just as she was congratulating herself on managing to keep him from touching her, she felt his arms close around her waist like the cinch of a saddle.

He inhaled deeply as his lips grazed her throat. "By all that's holy, you're beautiful. I can scarcely wait to find out what you taste like."

Ravens with red-stained beaks, dripping gobbets of flesh. Bianca gave a delicate shudder. He would never taste her, alive or dead.

She twisted out of his grasp, bit down hard on her lip, and vanished from sight.