━━ ⦗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-four! 044. and so, it begins
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IT WASlate in the night and Adelynn had still not fallen asleep. She spent time trying to calm her mind in the candlelight, sketching faces with charcoal until her fingers were dirty. Adelynn stared, dull-eyed into the eyes of the ghost living in her mirror she had drawn▬only to crumple the parchment up and throw it to the side, frustrated. She went ahead and tried to draw something else. She was lightly sketching out the silhouette of her mother's features by memory when there was a knock on the door.
Adelynn glanced up and pursed her lips. She already had a feeling she knew exactly who it was. She set down her charcoal and got to her feet. Wiping the dust off her fingers on a rag, she made her way to the door and opened it up.
Not even greeting her a good evening, Merlin stepped into her chambers and Adelynn closed the door once he did with a sigh. Turning to him as he walked straight towards the painting she was drying nearby the window before she was to add more detail in the morning, Adelynn grumbled: "Did you use magic to sneak in here again?"
"No one saw me," Merlin glanced at her briefly with a slight mischief in his eye. He then started to look through her drawings set up on her easel and Adelynn rolled her eyes, exasperated, but did not stop him.
"But if they did," she warned him in a whisper as she drew closer, "you would be executed. And if not for magic, for sneaking into the chambers of a nobleman's sister. If my brother does not take your head, the King surely will."
Prince Arthur's manservant shrugged, and Adelynn shook her head with a light scoff, unable to believe Merlin sometimes. Though her light scoff broke away to a small smile of amusement. She couldn't fault Merlin for sneaking into her brother's manor just to see her▬it made her feel not as alone; and it was thrilling, almost. And despite her disapproving sigh, Adelynn was a lover of adventure. She would do the same thing▬she has.
So, Adelynn decided to rush forward and grab Merlin's arm to pull him away from her sketches. "Come along, have a look at this. I have something to show you."
"What is it?" Merlin chuckled but eagerly followed her to the candle on her table.
"I am not telling you," she chided him, "that ruins the surprise. Now be quiet and watch."
Adelynn stopped right in front of the candle. Merlin hovered at her side, watching over her shoulder as she waited a moment. She took a breath and closed her eyes, going over the things Merlin has taught her until she felt a slight warmth in her chest▬she whispered the spell and when her eyes opened, they burned gold. She smiled when the flame of her candle lifted away from the wick. It floated and hovered upwards▬Adelynn glanced at Merlin to see his reaction. Her smile brightened▬and so did the flame▬when she noticed him grinning, too.
