━━ ⦗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...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
chapter forty-seven! 047. lancelot and odette
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
SHE FEARED the worst when Hengist's men arrived at her cell and dragged her to her feet. Odette couldn't struggle, even if she tried. They held her firmly by the arms and cared little at the way she hissed in pain the moment they dragged too hard, and her ankle▬still stiff and sore▬nearly twisted all over again. They pulled her from the dungeons and up towards the Great Hall of the rundown fortress. The moment she saw where they were taking her and saw the glint of the cage bars, Odette gasped and tugged▬but it was no use. Her heart pounded as they forced the cage door open and threw her inside the ring. Odette scrambled to her feet, trying to get out but the door was slammed close, and she was locked inside the same ring the Wilddeoren had eaten that man. She trembled, her fingers gripping around the iron.
"Morgana," sighed a voice behind her. Odette clenched her eyes shut for a moment, taking a sharp breath through her nose in desperation to hide her trembling. "Morgana."
She turned around to meet Hengist's stare across the cage. She hunched up in her corner, and her heart jolted in a terrified beat▬she started to wonder whether this was worse. What would Hengist do to her? It didn't matter, because Odette had no means to escape it.
It was getting closer and closer to the evening▬still there was no word from Uther, as Odette expected. But there had been some part of her that was hoping something else would arrive▬someone else. Even though she knew she had Lancelot and he promised to get her out of here, Odette still felt almost ... hurt ... in a way she could not describe that those she cared about hadn't come to rescue her. It made her wonder whether she truly meant anything to them▬those dark corners of her cell brought horrible things to surface in her mind.
"I keep asking myself," went on Hengist as he approached her. Odette backed up further against the bars. "Why does Uther not pay the ransom? He's a rich man. Why would he leave his beloved ward to suffer a slow ... and terrible death?"
"I do not know," Odette whimpered out, her voice hoarse and her heart pounding painfully against her ribs as Hengist got closer. She felt her shoulders hit the iron of the cage. He kept getting closer and closer. She shook her head. "P▬Please▬" he reached out a hand and she hitched a terrified gasp, "▬Please▬!"
Hengist grasped her wrist in a painful grip, holding her there as he leered over her. Odette hunched up, looking away with her eyes clenched as she felt his terrible breath on her skin▬she could hide the way she was shaking now. She was terrified. "It must be very upsetting that Uther has abandoned you," sneered Hengist in a mocking pity. He leered so close Odette felt more than uncomfortable. "It seems..." he whispered into her ear and she whimpered, struggling to get away▬but she was trapped. "Like no one in the world cares for you."
