Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
ODESSA
Odessa was a sitting duck.
“Or, to be more specific,” she muttered to herself, “a hanging swan.”
The rope net that held her suspended from a tree branch turned in slow, lazy circles. She was folded awkwardly in half, having been secured while still a bird. The transformation to her natural form had left her with far less room to move about, but at least she had thumbs.
She stuck her arms through the holes, trying in vain to pull herself up without attracting too much attention from the curious lions below.
The branch that held her was connected to a large tree that grew on the other side of the wall that separated the lion enclosure from the forest beyond, which was the only reason she had not suffered a prompt and rather grisly demise when Boris had strung her up earlier in the day.
As it was, she had realized very quickly that trying to shout for help while in her swan body only riled the lions into a frenzy, as they viewed her as a tasty morsel just out of reach.
Now, even though she was no longer a bird, they were still eyeing her with far more interest than was comfortable.
“I feel like this is the perfect time to remind you of the old saying that you shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds you,” she remarked conversationally to her gathered audience.
“Which could be further extrapolated into the wisdom of not eating the person who feeds you, either. As they say, eat the Assistant Keeper, be full for a meal. Leave her be, be full for a lifetime.”
She pulled her arms back in, giving up on any hope of escape, and blinked back hot tears.
The sun had set hours before, and she could hear the faint strains of music from Dmitri’s party carried on the breeze.
If Boris’s scheme were going to plan, Jax was likely already dancing with Katrin, none the wiser as to the fact that the woman he held wasn’t actually her.
The thought churned her stomach more than the constant spinning of the net.
And if what Bean said is true, if he does actually love me, he’ll try to break the curse.
He’ll be promised to Katrin forever, and he’s too honorable to leave once his word is given—not to mention that I wouldn’t put it past Boris to have some sort of magic set in place to punish him if he does.
Our curses will still be in effect, and he’ll be forever out of reach.
A tear trailed down her cheek and dropped to the ground below.
I shouldn’t have run away that night at the lake. I should have kissed him when I had the chance.
The lions below her suddenly scattered as the air was filled with the smell of fire and smoke. A black shadow dropped from the sky on silent wings.
“Bean?” Odessa croaked, craning her neck to look down at the glowing, sapphire eyes. His scales shimmered in the cold rays of the moon.
A low growl rumbled in his throat, deep and dangerous. “Who did this?”
“Oh, you know, just my dear, devoted father.” Her laugh was edging on hysterical. “I don’t suppose you would want to help me down, would you?”
Bean pushed off from the ground with a powerful flap of his wings. He wrapped his front legs around her, as if giving her a dragon hug, and severed the rope that held her net with a single snap of his jaw. For a moment, she felt weightless, and then she was being lowered gently to the ground.
Bean set her down and moved back, and she wobbled before falling on her rear with her legs and ankles still tangled in the net. She clawed at the rope, pulling it off her face and away from her body. Once free, she jumped to her feet and ran to Bean, throwing her arms around his thick neck.
“Thank you,” she said before promptly bursting into tears.
The dragon dropped his head, returning her embrace, and sat unmoving until the storm of her emotions had paused.
She sniffed and stepped back, swiping the tears from her face with the back of her hand.
Her head ached and her eyes felt puffy, and she was sure her face was red and blotchy, but somehow, she felt better than she had in days.
She filled her lungs with a deep, shuddering breath. “You came.”
His eyes were glowing again. “Of course I did. You’re mine.”
“I hate to break it to you, Beanjamin,” she said with a watery laugh. “But I’m not actually your mother. I’m just the swan who happened to be there when you hatched.”
“Whether or not you’re responsible for producing my egg makes no difference.
You’re mine. Jax told me not to claim a hoard until I found something that would last.” He lowered his neck, leaning forward until their foreheads touched.
“I choose you. You are my family and my treasure, and I love you. I will spend the rest of my life keeping you safe. If Boris tries to hurt you, he’s going to have to go through me. ”
Odessa’s eyes filled with tears again at his words, and her heart filled with warmth at his words. She whispered, “I love you, too, Bean.”
The heat in her chest—what she had assumed was just an emotional reaction to his touching declaration—continued to build. She threw her hands over her heart and staggered backward before falling to her knees.
“Odessa!”
The burning sensation spread along her limbs until it felt like her whole body was on fire. She squeezed her eyes shut, certain that she was going to burst into flames, when suddenly a loud crack filled the air, and suddenly the fire was gone. She took in a deep, gasping breath.
“Odessa? Are you alright?”
Odessa pushed herself to her feet, feeling strangely light, as if she had cast off a heavy weight. She hadn’t felt so free in years, not since…
“Bean!” Her eyes widened. “I think you broke the curse!”
“What?”
She laughed in disbelief as she held her arms and hands out in front of her, turning them over and examining them. “You broke the curse. When you claimed me, you promised undying devotion—not in so many words, of course, but the meaning was the same.”
The dragon tilted his head. “Your music has changed. It’s…balanced.” He gave her a toothy dragon grin that would have been terrifying had she not witnessed his awkward hatchling years. “The curse is broken.”
Odessa threw her arms around him again, then jumped back with a gasp. “The party!”
“Honestly, it was kind of boring. Lots of standing around and talking, and nobody was eating any of the strawberries.”
“Boris is using Katrin to trick Jax into proposing.”
“So? You don’t need him to break your curse anymore.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I want to watch him marry Katrin instead.”
“Really? I thought pining from afar was the plan.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’ve gotten sarcastic in the last 24 hours.”
“I am but a reflection of the manners my mother has taught me.”
“Are you going to help me find him or not?”
“Can I choose not? He wouldn’t let me have strawberries.”
She propped her hands on her fists. “Bean. I love him. I tried to deny it before, but I guess being dangled from a tree knocked some sense into me. I love him, and I won’t let Boris steal his future the way he stole ours.”
Bean sighed, blowing out a cloud of smoke. “Fine. But we should probably go around the back ways.”
“Why?”
“To avoid the emus.”
Odessa opened her mouth, then closed it with a shake of her head. “I don’t want to know.”
Bean jumped up and over the wall while she let herself out through the back door.
It felt slightly surreal to be walking along the same path that she took every night, knowing that it was the last time she would be forced to tread it in the dark.
Bean walked in front of her, his eyes bright and alert as he kept watch for danger.
“Odessa!”
Jax’s panicked voice came from somewhere on the other side of the wall.
“Jax?”
“Where are you?”
Bean stopped and threw his head back, blowing up a stream of fire that lit up the night like a beacon.
“Got it!” Jax called.
Odessa was pulling out her keys and walking quickly to the closest door when she heard a scrabbling sound on the other side of the stones. Jax’s head popped up over the wall, and a second later, he was landing on the ground with a heavy thud.
“Jax!” She dropped to her knees by his side. “Are you alright?”
He rolled over with a groan. “I hate climbing.”
“If you had waited thirty seconds, I could have opened the door.”
“It was too long to wait. I wanted to know you were safe.” He lifted his fingers to brush a strand of her hair back, then made a face at his hand.
She grabbed his wrist, angling it so that she could see what had caused him to frown. A deep gash ran down the middle of his palm, and the blood was already dripping down to his wrist. She shook her head.
“So you got yourself hurt instead?”
“I mean, that wasn’t actually part of the plan.”
Odessa ripped a strip of fabric from the bottom of her skirt and began wrapping it around his hand. It would have to be cleaned and examined later, but at least she could stop the bleeding.
Jax used his other arm to push himself up into a seated position. He cleared his throat. “The gravity of the situation compels me to tell you that I’ve fallen.”
She rolled her eyes at his joke as she fought a smile. She tied the fabric off. “I can see that.”
“For you.”
Odessa’s eyes flew to his face. He was watching her with a soft smile, wearing the same enamored expression she had seen after their dance beside the lake. She whispered, half-afraid that what she was hearing was a dream. “You mean that?”
“Told you,” Bean interrupted, reminding her that they were being chaperoned by a lizard the size of a horse.
“I do.” His eyes traced her face. “If we’re being honest, I think I started falling the night you pulled me out of the lake.”
“You were unconscious.”
“Which I’ve been told can be a leading cause of falling.”