Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
ODESSA
Despite the first signs of dawn already appearing on the horizon, the Menagerie was still in chaos by the time they arrived.
Boris was barking orders to the palace guards, who were trying to corral several of the emus without getting kicked in the head.
Prince Herrick had wrestled two to the ground and was holding them still while Katrin, still disguised as Odessa and therefore expected to be capable, tried to overcome her fear enough to assist him in leading them back to their enclosure.
Most of the guests had retreated to the perimeters, some huddled together in fear but others watching the proceedings with as much interest as if they were attending an opera.
Odessa turned to Jax with a long-suffering sigh. “Really, Jax? Emus?”
He just grinned. “That’s exactly what Dmitri said! Don’t worry, though.” He pulled his panpipes from his satchel as he walked backwards into the courtyard. “You happen to have a highly trained and reputable Bird Catcher on the premises.”
He spun on his heel, putting his instrument to his lips and playing a soft, lilting melody in a minor key.
Odessa looked up at Bean, who sat just behind her shoulder where they waited in the protection of the shadows. “Do you think I should help him?”
“Why would you do that when he clearly wants to impress you? Let him have his moment. See how the Bird Catcher spreads his feathers like a peacock trying to woo its mate.”
She shook her head and sighed. “You’re incorrigible.”
“I am but a reflection of the humor my father has taught me.”
“Father?” Her eyebrows lifted. “You mean Jax?”
“Well, I’m certainly not claiming Boris.” The dragon was silent for a moment. “You and Jax are my family. So are Katrin and Sonya. Dmitri is…undecided. There’s potential.”
“Your family is growing rather quickly.”
“Of course. Have you ever heard of a dragon hoard shrinking? But don’t worry; you’ll always have a special place as my Mother.”
She blinked back tears as she leaned into him and watched Jax work his magic.
He moved to the beat of his music, his steps perfectly timed and each turn executed with the precision and grace of a dancer.
One by one, the emus joined in following him until he was leading a veritable parade.
They stepped together in sync as he directed them down the path and back to their enclosure.
Katrin tossed him a key as he passed, which he caught in one hand without missing a note, and followed at the rear.
The party guests were spellbound, watching in awestruck silence until Jax and his army of birds disappeared down the path. Then, like a dam erupting, the buzz of their conversations filled the air like a swarm of bees.
“What kind of sorcery is this?” Boris’s question rose over top of them all.
Prince Herrick brushed the dirt from the front of his jacket. “I think it’s a Fairy gift, not sorcery.”
His comment brought a fresh wave of sound. Boris beckoned to one of the guards and started speaking to him in low, clipped tones. Pink and purple streaks appeared in the sky above them.
Jax’s cheerful whistling preceded him, and he strolled into the courtyard with unbothered steps. He grinned and waved at his audience. “Nothing more to worry about, folks. Your fowl visitors have been returned to their nests.”
Boris called out a sharp command to the guards, and two of them rushed to flank Jax, grabbing his arms and dragging him forward to Boris.
Odessa started forward, but Bean stopped her.
“Wait.”
“I’m not going to let Boris hurt him,” she hissed.
“And neither will I. But he looks like he’s up to something and I want to see what it is.”
“Easy, gentlemen. If you wanted to hold my hands, all you had to do was ask.” To the guard’s evident surprise, he pulled his arms free from their grip, only to link their arms together as if they were a trio of children skipping down a path.
He stopped in front of Boris, and the guards hastily pulled back, looking at one another with confused, almost horrified expressions.
“What kind of magic was that?” the Menagerie Keeper barked. His eyes narrowed. “Who are you?”
Jax held his bandaged hand to his chest. “Have you forgotten already, Bart? Well, I suppose that’s forgivable, given your age and all that.
” He bowed theatrically. “Jax Papageno, Bird Catcher and Dragon Charmer, as well as the Assistant to the Assistant Keeper here at the Menagerie.” He beamed.
“And, most recently, your daughter’s future husband. ”
Odessa stilled. Did he just…?
Boris was similarly taken aback, but a slow, delighted smile spread across his face as Katrin, once again a doe, walked sedately into the courtyard with Sonya trailing behind. “Is that so? I must extend my sincerest congratulations.”
“I mean, I wouldn’t make it mandatory, but it does seem like the polite thing to do. Although, I’m sure Odessa would like to be here to hear it as well.” He turned in a slow circle, pretending to search for her.
Bean nudged her forward and he retreated further into the shadows, and Odessa grinned as she realized what Jax was doing.
She smoothed her hair and stepped into the courtyard.
Her current position put her just out of Boris’s periphery, but when Jax fixed her with a bright, beaming smile, her father turned to look over his shoulder.
His face went slack with shock, and she could see the thoughts racing behind his eyes.
“There you are, my love.” Jax held out his hand as he greeted her. He pulled her into his side, tucking an arm around her waist and kissing the side of her head. “Your father has already extended his sincerest congratulations—which is fortunate, as now he can’t take them back.”
“I…you…” Boris floundered. His face alternated between shades of white and red. “What have you done?” His eyes flicked to the sky, as if to confirm that dawn had indeed come.
Jax followed his gaze. “It’s a beautiful sunrise this morning, isn’t it, Swannabelle? The colors just seem so much more vibrant and free today, don’t they?”
Boris’s upper lip curled in a snarl, and he snapped at the guards, “Arrest him.”
Odessa pressed herself into Jax’s side, determined that they would not be separated. Before the guards could move more than a step, however, the queen’s voice sliced through the air.
“Boris! What is the meaning of this?”
Odessa turned to see the crowd parting like water in front of Queen Ivana, escorted by her son. Despite wearing a dressing gown with her hair long and loose around her shoulders, she still somehow managed to look regal and commanding.
She lifted a perfectly shaped eyebrow. “Why are you arresting one of my son’s guests?”
Boris pointed an accusing finger at Jax. “He’s done something to my daughter!”
“I did,” Jax answered matter-of-factly. “I loved her, which is more than I think I can say of you. And I will continue to love her for the rest of my life, and if you so much as turn that finger in her direction, you will regret it. Her curse is broken; your power over her is gone.”
“Curse?” Queen Ivana’s voice was sharp. “What is he talking about, Boris?”
“How should I know? The boy is obviously not right in the head.”
“Your Majesty,” Odessa spoke up. “I’ve been living under a curse for the last seven years—a curse cast by my father—under which I was forced to live as a swan from sunrise to sunset.”
“See? He’s addled her mind! We saw him use strange magic earlier.” Boris’s voice was beginning to edge on desperate.
“I can’t affect minds, only birds,” Jax offered. “It’s part of the whole Bird Catcher training.”
The queen’s next question was directed at Odessa. “You’re saying that you’ve been a swan the last seven years?”
“Only during the day.”
“And,” Jax added, “Odessa wasn’t the only one cursed. Some of her most deer and boarish friends were also targeted.” He beckoned Katrin and Sonya closer. The sound of their hooves seemed to echo in the bated silence of the courtyard.
“Are you trying to tell me, young man, that those creatures are also cursed?”
Jax smiled brightly. “Exactly! You catch on much quicker than your son, Your Majesty.”
Queen Ivana put her fingers to her temples and sighed. “Dmitri, you knew about this?”
He answered dutifully, “Yes, Mother.”
“And you believe him?”
“I believe him.” Dmitri confidently raised his voice.
“I believe that Boris has been scheming against the throne of Kovskia for decades. I believe that he has committed unforgivable atrocities in his cursed climb to power, and I believe that the only way to make things right is to here and now formally renounce my claim to the throne.”
Gasps of shock and surprise rippled through the crowd, and the queen’s face turned white as her knees nearly gave out from under her. A nearby guard quickly offered his arm in support. “Dmitri, what are you doing?”
He crossed to Katrin and Sonya with calm, measured steps and knelt on the ground in front of them. Odessa could hear the strangled sounds of Boris’s dismay.
“I am offering my allegiance and loyalty to the true heirs, Princesses Katrin and Sonya.”
Murmured questions of his sanity were just beginning to rise when a blinding white light suddenly surrounded the deer and the boar. A loud crack split the air, and then the light vanished, leaving behind Katrin and Sonya, hand in hand in their human forms.
There was a moment of suspended silence, and then chaos ensued.
Queen Ivana let out a startled cry. Sonya raced to Odessa and threw her arms around her waist, burying her face in Odessa’s skirt.
Boris tried to escape but was quickly flanked by two of the guards he had ordered to keep Jax in line.
They drew their swords, and though they were obviously leery of touching him, he seemed to accept his fate with a resigned sigh and clasped his hands behind his back.
Dmitri rose and offered his hand to Katrin. She took it with a shy, hesitant smile, and he gently led her to the queen.
Queen Ivana looked as if she had seen a ghost. “Dmitri…what…? What is this?”
“Your Majesty, allow me to present your daughter, Princess Katrin.”
Standing side by side, the resemblance between the two women was undeniable, down to the shape of their noses and the curve of their lips. The queen’s eyes filled with tears, and she reached out a trembling hand to brush her fingers against Katrin’s cheek. “How is this possible?” she whispered.
“My mother switched Dmitri and Katrin at birth,” Odessa explained, feeling a sense of profound relief at finally being able to speak the horrific, heavy secret that she had been forced to carry for years.
“Dmitri was born just a few days before, and when she and Boris saw that your baby was a girl, they took their chance.”
“Anja did this?” The queen asked brokenly, referencing the healer.
“She was my friend. She knew how badly I wanted a child, how many times my heart was broken until I feared that the day would never come. I had never been able to carry a child to term before. And…and only once since.” Her eyes widened as they landed on Sonya, and she fell to her knees. “Is that…?”
Odessa took Sonya’s hand and turned her around, walking with slow, patient steps until they were before the queen. “This is Sonya.”
Queen Ivana’s red-rimmed eyes lifted to Odessa’s. “My Sonya? But they told me she was born still.”
“Once Boris and Anja had Dmitri in place, they didn’t want to risk the crown passing on to anyone else. They assumed they were safe, that another child was out of the question. When Sonya was born, Anja stole her away and Boris cursed her.”
“But why?” The queen’s attention had returned to Sonya, her eyes drinking in the little girl as if she wanted to memorize every feature of her immediately. “We’ve always been good to them.”
“Because the throne was meant to be Dmitri’s!” Boris shouted, his careful control now long gone. “And I will see that justice is served, that what was stolen from my family generations ago is restored.”
“I’ve heard of sore losers,” remarked Jax, crossing his arms. “But this is taking it to a whole new level. Cursing babies?” He tsked. “Not a great way to prove your suitability to run a country.”
“We didn’t lose, we were robbed!”
Odessa rolled her eyes, having had years to perfect the words she wanted to say.
“You do realize the irony in the fact that your claim is based on the fact that the childless king should have passed on the crown to his nearest relative, and instead he gave it to a young man from an unimportant and inconsequential family? The difference here being, of course, that the young man actually proved his worth by retrieving an enchanted sword, whereas all you’ve proven is that your word and your love mean nothing.
Our family wasn’t robbed; it was a grace of the Almighty that prevented you from ever becoming king. ”
Boris’s eyes were burning with rage. “If that’s the way you see it, of course I can’t change your mind,” he said snidely. “You’ve thrown your loyalty in with them. But that won’t stop me from ensuring that you remember that they may have the crown, but I hold the real power.”
He pulled his hand from behind his back. A black ball of magic swirled between his fingers, and he thrust it toward Jax. Odessa lunged at him with her arms outstretched, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to reach him in time. “Jax!”
A roar filled the air, and Bean jumped out of his hiding place.
He blew out a thin stream of fire, into the space between Jax and Boris.
With a shout, Boris drew his hand back, the movement catching him off-balance.
He fell, landing on the hand that still held his curse.
The magic disappeared into his chest, and he screamed as it began swirling around him.
His body twisted and shrank, and when the black mist finally dissipated a disgruntled owl sat in the place where Boris had been.
With an angry screech, it took off into the sky.
Jax pulled out his panpipes. “Don’t worry,” he called cheerfully to anyone who was listening. “I happen to be a Bird Catcher.”