1. The Bloody Swan (Conqueror Rising)

The nice thing about Solea meeting with Alainna during Frenzy was Alainna couldn't escape. At least, not unless she wanted to risk becoming a Black Swan's dinner.

Not that it was safe for Solea either. She wouldn’t be eaten, but only a fool would wander around a boarding school during the monthly Frenzy when Black Swans everywhere were mad with bloodlust. Still, after three weeks of silence, she felt foolish enough to risk anything for Alainna’s attention.

Carefully, she rounded the corner — the last corner until she reached Alainna’s room — holding her gas lamp high and watching for glowing red eyes from lingering Black Swans. Then, satisfied she was alone, she took Alainna’s key tucked behind her ear and flung open the door.

“Hail Lady!” she cried, letting the door slam behind her. “Please let me curtsy to you!” Then, though she knew Alainna couldn’t see her through the darkness, she gave an exaggerated curtsy. Something — she hoped the decorative vase near the door — crashed onto the floor.

From Alainna’s couch, Solea heard a thump of blankets and a string of groggy curses. “Solea? What in Diamea’s name are you doing here?”

“Serving you as your handmaid, of course, my Lady!” Solea said, biting her lip so her smile didn’t sneak into her voice. “It’s been so long since we last talked — three weeks, in fact — so I wanted to check on you.”

Alainna swore. “You absolute maniac! I was asleep until you barged in!”

“Were you?” Solea tucked her curls back. “Well, I couldn’t sleep, so I finished your homework instead, like the devoted handmaid I am.” She paused. “Not that you asked me, since that would involve talking to me, your stepsister, and why would you ever do something silly like that? Still, seeing as yesterday you stole my homework from my bag, crossed out my name, and replaced it with yours, I assumed you still wanted my help. Anyway, would you like me to read this essay?”

“You’re joking,” Alainna said, her voice rising. It was too dark to see her face, yet Solea guessed it had flushed dark pink. “Did you seriously come here at the darkest part of Frenzy, just to read me an essay? You could have been eaten by Black Swans!”

Solea sniffed. “You can be eaten by Black Swans. I can’t. I’m unfortunately a Black Swan’s daughter. This means, not only can my blood ruin an entire load of laundry, but it also scares off Black Swans from eating me. Which, fortunately, makes these late Frenzy visits possible.”

Alainna swore again. “What time is it?”

“Almost dawn,” Solea said. “Don’t worry, I let you sleep most of the night.” She held her essay close to her lamp. “Now, if you please, my Lady! Thanks to this wonderful technological advancement known as a gas lamp, I would like to share with you your riveting home economics essay, ‘The Ideal Balance Between Frugality and Luxury.’”

“Stop!” Alainna snapped. “You know exactly why I don’t want to talk to you, and if you think this stunt is making me feel any different, you’re delusional!”

Solea cleared her throat. “An ideal home should balance both simple comfort while having lavish touches to emphasize a richness of experience…”

Alainna gave a cry of fury. “Enough!” There was a soft thump, footsteps, then Solea felt Alainna grab at her papers. Solea held them up higher — only to brush the paper against her lamp. Instantly, the paper lit up like a flare.

For a moment, Solea and Alainna stared at each other with wide eyes, their faces lit by the flame.

“It’s fine, I have a damp rag,” Solea said quickly, shoving the lamp into Alainna’s hands. Alainna fumbled the lamp, cursing, while Solea grabbed the rag from her satchel and threw it over the paper, snuffing it out.

“Why, you’re mad!” Alainna said, her voice rising. “You planned this all, didn’t you? That’s why you brought the lamp and the rag!”

Solea threw her rag on the floor. “I didn’t plan anything! If I wanted to set the stupid paper on fire, I would have, but I didn’t! You attacked me! As for the rag, I didn’t want to trip and accidentally set the school on fire, so I brought it. And thank goodness I did, otherwise you would have burnt down your room!”

“Unbelievable!” Alainna cried. “So now it’s my fault?”

Her hysterical voice only made Solea angrier. “Though really, I should have expected you to attack me, given what you did to my father at your birthday party,” she said, her voice trembling in rage. “That’s why you’re punishing me, isn’t it? After you attacked my father, you hoped he would give up and bleed all over the floor without defending himself. Perhaps you thought you could get away with it, since he’s so broken. Then you got mad when he pulled you down with him.”

“I’m not mad at you because of your father!” Alainna said. “I’m mad at you because of what you did!”

Solea snorted. “I did nothing!”

“Exactly!”

As Alainna spoke, Frenzy’s strange darkness that had enshrouded them before lifted. For the first time since their fight started, Solea saw Alainna clearly, dressed in a silken dressing gown with her hair braided up loosely.

Alainna clenched her fists. “You’re supposed to be my handmaid and help me. Instead, during my birthday party, you just stood around like a fool while your father possessed my stepfather and attacked me! Then, while I lay bleeding on the floor, you took the present he intended for me!”

Solea flinched, raising her chin. “Oh stop! It’s not like you ever wanted that ratty, old cloak anyway. That’s why you rejected it first!”

“I wasn’t talking about the stupid cloak! I was talking about the brooch he gave you afterward.”

Solea flinched, inwardly admitting to herself that Alainna had every reason to hate her for keeping that gift. After all, the cloak was just a tattered cloak that had once belonged to Solea’s mother. It was a gift Solea would have genuinely appreciated, had her father not tried to give it to Alainna first, then forced her to kneel for it. But the brooch? The brooch was magical, made from one of Diamea’s feathers. It was a gift more appropriate for the Lady, not the Lady’s handmaid.

Still, Solea was too angry to admit that to Alainna. Instead, she gritted her teeth and glared at her. “The last time Madam Burl caned me, you watched on without a word, even when she broke her switch.” She held up her hands, which were scabbed over and oozing with pus. “I’m still bleeding from the caning she gave me weeks ago!”

Alainna sniffed, eyeing Solea’s hands with disdain. “If you hadn’t picked your scabs, they would have already healed by now. Besides, nobody asked you to get into a screaming match with Madam Burl.”

Solea blushed, rubbing her scabs. “It wasn’t my fault! Madam Burl was the one who claimed Black Swans spoke a different language than White Swans. Why, the whole notion is absurd! The Swans work together too much for their language to be different!”

Alainna glared at Solea. “You stood up in class and called Madam Burl an incompetent teacher who was too stupid to teach anything, let alone Diamean.”

Solea flinched. “I only said that after she called me a liar and a shill for the Black Swans, then claimed my blood was tainted. Except my blood isn’t tainted, since I’m not a Conqueror!”

Alainna only snorted.

Solea gritted her teeth, shoving her dark curls away from her face. “If you think I’m tainted, then what does this say about you, the Lady reborn? You are the mother of the Swans! And I’m not just your handmaid either, but your stepsister and granddaughter as well!”

Alainna turned pink. “Get out,” she said, grabbing Solea’s arm and dragging her to the door. “Now!”

Solea tried to wiggle away. “No, stop, please! I just want to talk! I know you’re upset about the party, but please! It’s been three weeks already! Besides, you know, you’re the only reason anyone tolerates me. I’m already the youngest in class. Combine that with my being a Black Swan’s daughter, and most people would treat me like a dirty little Conqueror, were it not for you. So please! What can I do so you’ll talk to me again?”

“I don’t want to talk! I want you to shut up and never speak to me again!”

“But—”

“No! This conversation is over! First, you broke into my room during Frenzy, knowing I couldn’t escape. Then you nearly set my room on fire, destroyed my essay, and insulted me! Do you think I want to talk to you after that? Because I don’t!”

Solea flinched. “Your essay? Why, I wrote it all!”

Alainna’s face flushed in fury. “You know exactly what I meant! Now, get out!” She pushed open the door and shoved Solea out — into something soft and feathery.

*****

For a split second, Solea was terrified she had just crashed into a Black Swan. Then she realized she was surrounded by white feathers.

A White Swan.

“You idiot!” Alainna dragged her up while Solea giggled in relief. “Can’t you do anything right?”

Solea shook off Alainna’s hand and glanced back at the White Swan, still sprawled out on the black and white tiled hallway. Then she froze.

Sergius.

Solea couldn’t mistake him even if she tried. Even in his human form, the old bloodstain covering the white sleeve of his tunic was unmistakable. And his face! While most White Swans in their human forms had ageless, unblemished faces, a jagged scar ran along Sergius’s nose, making his entire face seem crooked.

When Sergius caught Solea gaping at him, he threw his white feathered cloak back over his shoulders and glared at her. “Watch where you’re going, you clumsy girl! You could have bled me!” When Solea shrank away, he snorted. “Solea, isn’t it? I should have known! I almost killed you once, didn’t I?”

Solea yelped and ducked behind Alainna.

Automatically, Alainna spread out her dressing gown to hide Solea better and scowled at Sergius. “What’s going on?”

Sergius sneered at Alainna. “Mind your own business, little girl!”

“Little girl?” Alainna spat out with equal contempt, drawing herself up. “Is this how you address the Lady?”

Sergius’s face turned pale, then bright red. Frantically, he stepped back, glancing back and forth from Solea to Alainna. Then he swallowed hard, as if he’d been eating rocks. “You are the Lady?”

Alainna stepped forward, curling her lip in disdain. “Yes, I am, which means you owe me your allegiance! Kneel to me. Now.”

Sergius stepped back, humiliated, and Solea hid a smile. Alainna didn’t have any real power over Sergius. Without Diamea at her side, the Lady reborn’s authority over Swans was strictly ceremonial. Yet he couldn’t deny her, his mother reborn, publicly without consequence. He swallowed hard and glared at Solea. “At least make the girl step aside—”

“Now!”

Sergius swore under his breath and knelt while Solea, still hiding behind Alainna, fought back a laugh.

“Now tell me!” Alainna said, eyeing Sergius in contempt. “Who are you and why are you threatening my handmaid?”

Sergius shifted uncomfortably on his knees. “I am your son, and I am not threatening your handmaid! I was only referring to a simple misunderstanding that happened several years ago. May I get up?”

At his words, Solea stepped forward, trembling. “A simple misunderstanding? Why, you imprisoned me and sentenced me to death when I was only ten years old!”

Alainna blinked. “Wait! Are you Sergius? The Swan who signed Solea’s execution order several years back?”

Sergius made a face. “I only tried to kill her because I thought she was a Conqueror, since my idiot brother, Uclepidies — her father — hid her away from us.” Then Sergius glared at Solea. “Still, don’t hate me too much, my dear niece. After all, I am also the one who saved you.”

Alainna narrowed her eyes. “Why are you here?”

“Because your headmistress and I have a meeting regarding the future of your education,” Sergius said. “Now if you please, my Lady, may I get up?”

Alainna glanced at Solea with a raised eyebrow, then nodded and stepped back.

Sergius sprang up, brushing off his cloak. Then he looked over at Solea, his gaze lingering on her hands. “Your hands. They’re bleeding. Weren’t they bleeding at the party?”

Solea shoved her hands behind her back.

Sergius watched her warily. When she didn’t respond, he bit his lip. “Tell me, Solea, do you still talk with your father?”

“Occasionally,” Solea said, too ashamed to admit the last time she talked with him was three weeks ago.

“Then tell him to stand down from his ridiculous position,” Sergius said. “While I appreciate his suggestions, I do not appreciate his continued stubbornness. He can’t protect you forever, so you should learn how to fly while you’re still a fledgling, so you do not fall when you’re an adult.”

With that, Sergius flipped back his cloak and walked away.

When he was out of earshot, Alainna scowled. “What would your father need to protect you from? Sergius isn’t planning to execute you again, is he?”

It was the first time Alainna had spoken voluntarily to her in three weeks, and yet Solea’s heart was hammering too quickly for her to enjoy it. She stared down the hallway and shuddered. “No, Sergius wouldn’t do that.”

Alainna narrowed her eyes. “Then why is he here?”

Solea shrugged, trying not to look nervous. “So I can learn to fly?” When Alainna only frowned, she shifted her uncomfortably. “Listen, Alainna, I’m really sorry about breaking into your room—”

“Oh, never mind that! Just don’t set anything else on fire.” Alainna nodded toward the door. “Sergius wouldn’t normally come for something as small as educational matters at ladies’ boarding school, would he?”

Solea shook her head. “Not him! He’s one of the most powerful White Swans in the world! Normally, he hunts Conquerors.”

Alainna frowned. “Then why would he stop his work for us?”

Solea grimaced. “Perhaps he hasn’t stopped his work.”

Fear flashed across Alainna’s face. Again, she glanced down the hallway where Sergius had disappeared, Then, with a grim look, she opened her door. “Why don’t you stay with me today after Frenzy? Just in case Sergius tries anything.”

Solea blinked in surprise. “Are you sure?”

Alainna nodded. “Also, you can rewrite that essay you burnt.”

She did not say it as a joke, yet Solea burst out laughing. Then, when Alainna glared at her, she gave her an apologetic grin and curtsied. “Anything for my Lady!”