Thirty-Seven

 

"Princess? Bianca, where are you?" Corbin called.

Pressed against the trunk of the nearest tree, Bianca suppressed the urge to shout back that she was out of reach, so he would never touch her again. She had first discovered her magical talents when playing hide and seek with her sisters. If she stayed still and made no sound, they would never find her.

Other boats landed on the beach, spilling out their passengers.

"Where is Bianca?" Hazel asked.

"I don't know," Corbin said. "One moment she was in my arms, begging for a kiss, and the next...she was stolen from me. I saw a shadow and then she just...disappeared. Whoever took her, I will hunt him down and make him pay!"

Liar, Bianca thought furiously. Corbin hadn't seen any shadow. With a chill, she realised his anger wasn't directed at some imagined captor, but at her. If he caught her, he intended to make her pay.

Never.

"She can't have left the island," one of the other princes said reasonably. "If we spread out and search, we will find her, and whoever has taken her."

"I'll take the princesses to the ballroom, where they will be safe. No need to risk losing anyone else this night," another man said.

"No." This time the voice was female – Brenna's. She continued, "Our sister is missing. She knows us, and will answer our calls. We can help you search, so that she will be found faster. The sooner she is found, the sooner we will all be married."

Bianca wasn't sure whether Brenna or her other sisters knew about her magical abilities. Her mother had insisted she keep it a secret in the harem, but in a place where secrets were the highest form of currency, even the most carefully whispered confidence could be betrayed.

A brief argument ensued between Corbin and Brenna, but when the other girls weighed in, the princes were forced to concede.

They didn't want to lose all their brides. One was bad enough, but a dozen rebellious princesses spelled disaster for their plot. Bianca couldn't have planned this better if she'd tried. If only she had a plan at all.

"Fiachra, you search the ballroom. Cormac and Guntram, take the west thicket. Raban and Ronne..." Corbin divided them into six search parties that set off across the island. That left just him and Bianca on the beach.

"Where are you, princess?" he whispered. "I know you can't have gone far. You are dressed for a ball, not a walk in the woods. It will go easier if you show yourself. The longer I have to hunt for you, the worse it will be for you when I do find you. And I will. Of all my brothers, I have always been the best hunter. It is fitting that the curse that began with a hunt will end with the best one of all, for the sweetest quarry in the world is a woman."

He had done this before, Bianca realised in horror. The bleached bones on the beach...did some of them belong to women? Or did he mean he'd been cursed for hunting women in the woods for sport?

Not just him. His brothers, too. For they were all cursed, not just him.

She couldn't let him find her. She would die, as would all her sisters, and no one would ever know how it had happened. The princes could kill again, and again, and there would be no one to stop them.

Why hadn't her magic included fireballs or the ability to kill just by looking at someone? Then she could fight and defend her sisters, ending these wicked princes forever. Not hug trees and hide, which is all she could do with her invisibility.

If she weren't so clumsy, she might have moved to a better spot, but all it would take was one sound and Corbin would know where she was, invisible or not.

A shrill scream ripped through the air, before a second joined it.

Two of her sisters had found the black beach, Bianca guessed.

Corbin swore and dashed in the direction of the screams.

Bianca took her chance, climbing into the nearest boat. They were all drawn up on shore so close to one another that it was almost easy to move from one to the other without needing to touch the ground. Or leave footprints, which she knew would be her undoing. She chose a boat that was closest to the water, hemmed in by other vessels that the princes would have to climb over in order to reach her. That would take time, and hopefully allow her to get away if they found her. Not that she knew how to paddle a boat, but it hadn't looked that hard when Corbin did it. If only she could make the boat invisible the way she'd done with Vasco for a moment before she lost consciousness. Because it wasn't just the boat she had to make invisible. It was the boat and the surface of the water beneath it and...

"Take her down to the ballroom and make her drink some wine," one of the men said.

Bianca ducked low, so only her eyes were above the gunwale of the boat. One of the princes tramped past, carrying a woman in his arms. She thought it might be Aruna, who'd been wearing a golden dress. He was followed by another pair. Nera's eyes stared at nothing as she walked like a woman in a dream. The prince beside her gripped her arm, tugging her along like she was a dawdling child.

Bianca ached to help them, but if she revealed herself, there was little she could do. No, her strength lay in hiding. If she could hide until dawn, the princes would turn back into birds and then she could help her sisters escape. Until then...she had to stay concealed.

Bianca settled in the bottom of the boat, out of sight even if she wasn't invisible. She liked the way the waves lapped at the boat, rocking it. So soothing. One day, when all this was over, she'd like to sleep in a boat. She'd heard of an ancient queen who had a pleasure barge that she sailed up and down the river. Bianca didn't need a whole barge. Just a boat big enough for her to lie down in. Just let it drift...

"She's escaping in the boat!"

Jolted from sleep, Bianca sat up. How had she fallen asleep? She stretched, knowing the stiffness in her limbs and the lightening sky meant she'd slept for several hours. And while she'd slumbered, as if responding to her unspoken command, the boat had drifted away from the shore with her in it. Now, she floated halfway between the island and the shore. That meant only half the distance to pole, she thought to herself, searching for the long paddle she'd seen the princes use.

Only...it wasn't in the boat. No pole or paddle or anything. Just the empty boat with her in it, while the princes had all the others at their disposal. They would catch up to her in minutes, drag her back to the island, and force her to marry that hateful man.

Bianca peered at the island. Through the mist, she couldn't tell if they were following her or not. It looked like the boats were still pulled up on shore.

The sun peeked above the horizon, blinding her as it turned the mist into blazing gold.

Then out of the mist flew a murder of crows.