━━ ⦗the swan princess! ⦘
❝ you're beautiful!
thank you, but what else?
... what else is there? ... ❞
███████████ 𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝
the courageous odette teaches the
once and future king a less...
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chapter forty-two! 042. another sunrise
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ODETTE DIDnot sleep as well as she wished she could have. Even in Guinevere's bed, she stared up at the wall and imagined things through the cracks. She couldn't stop thinking about him▬she couldn't stop thinking about the feeling; the way he made her feel, even just by the brush of his fingertips to draw her closer ... and she let him, she whispered his name and she closed her eyes, desperate to relive that moment in his chambers again and again until it was a prayer she uttered upon her lips, knowing that those moments would never happen again. But in her mind and in her dreams, they lived on▬and it was something strange and something beautiful; something so whimsical and mythical. It was a fairytale that should never happen again, and so it made her breathless and light▬and yet filled with such sadness at the same time.
She supposed that was what made it so enthralling and so wonderful▬a burn at the touch, her breathless desperation ... because it was something so forbidden and tragic that it made the feeling so undeniably alluring and magical; knowing that once the sun rose again and the Tournament was over, they would go back to never speaking to each other ... once again.
Odette watched the sun rise through the cracks of the wooden walls and she rubbed her eyes. Slowly, she glanced over to the curtains draped by the screen and felt as if she could see where he slept perfectly.
She didn't know what today will bring before their story will end. There was an assassin somewhere within the depths of Camelot, a Tournament to win to finally prove himself worthy without the respect of his title▬another goodbye that was sure to hurt Odette far more than every other goodbye had before.
But she supposed she was used to it, by now ...
Her gaze wandered back to the rising sun that started to shine underneath the doors where her shawl still hung▬old and fraying; not at all beautiful like many other girls'. She pursed her lips; she frowned ... she hesitated, but then▬all of a sudden▬she didn't. Odette got up early that morning, unable to sleep and decided to live her fairytale ... even if it was just for a day.
It didn't take long to make. It was fraying, and it was jagged at the seams▬ripped easily from her years-old shawl. But she still fiddled with it, she still wrapped it around and around her hands and then unwrapped it. Odette held it gently and brushed her fingers along the white cloth, nervous and yet mesmerised by the thought of what she was doing.
As the sun continued to rise, Arthur woke up and they got ready in a tense silence. Much like every other day▬and yet this time, they spared glances at each other. Arthur sent her little, anxious smiles and she replied with rosy cheeks and pursed lips. She fiddled with the piece of her shawl, awkwardly standing in Gwen's home▬she glanced around it and instead of feeling an envious bitterness to be within it, Odette started to realise she was going to miss the feeling of a roof over her head, of a table to eat at, a home to return to ... she realised that most of all, she was going to miss having Arthur at the other end of that table.
