Swan Prince

The Swan Prince

By: Delilah deSora

Chapter 5



**



“Odel?”



Odel groaned, coming back to an aching body that was, somehow, pleasantly limp.



“Oh gods Odel! What did that bastard do to you?”



Blue eyes opened and he stared dumbly up at the man that knelt before him. “Kent?” He whispered.



The Prince nodded, frantically trying to help him up. Odel hissed as he was coaxed into a sitting position. He flushed as he became aware of his state of undress but Kent said nothing of it, instead taking his hands in his own and turning them over to study the marks on them. “It was Atol, wasn’t it? I knew he was up to something! He was too smug when he left me. What are you doing here?”



Odel took his hands back so that he could gather his scattered clothing. “I heard you leave and I went after you.”



“Oh my poor friend. I have done you a great wrong. Come, dress and we shall go immediately to my father.”



Odel froze. “No! We cannot! You heard what he said! He’ll be angry to know you went out and . . . they said that if I ever found pleasure in my body or with another’s they send me away!”



“All the more reason to do it! Odel, please! You’ve gotten his attention and that is never good. Trust me, my friend. I would rather see you safely home than trapped in that creature’s claws!”





“No!” Kent shouted standing and pacing away a few steps in agitation before returning. “You don’t know him, Odel! You don’t know the evil that flows through him! You don’t know the things he does in those woods! Things he makes me a part of! You have to go home, Odel!”



Odel finished tying his pants and rose, lifting chinchin stubbornly, though it made his throat hurt terribly. “No, my Prince. Too long people have ignore this, hoping that if they just pretended it wasn’t real it would go away. You can’t face this alone and . . . I am stronger than I look. I will help you, I . . . somehow I’ll help you through this. Come now, it will be light soon and we need to go back before someone sees us.”



Kent frowned but kept his peace as Odel stumbled and nearly fell. He gathered his companion under his arm and helped him make the long trek back to his room. They bathed, picking leaves out of each other’s hair in silence, and huddled together on the couch.



Odel held out his hands, frowning at the marks on them. “I don’t know how we’ll explain these. Ryhan is certain to notice them and he’ll demand . . .” He fell silent as Kent took his hands in his and stroked them. He gasped as the marks began to fade. When they were no more than a memory Kent tilted his head back, brushing his hands over the marks there. The pain in his throat faded.



Kent let his hands fall away, folding them in his lap. “Don’t tell anyone.” He whispered. “Father would have a fit. He thinks . . . he thinks that Atol is the only of us to have our mother’s power. It would hurt him to know that I am more like my brother than just our physical appearance.”



Odel frowned. “Your brother?”



Kent sighed and nodded. “Yes. That’s our family’s dirty little secret.”



Blue eyes narrowed. “I don’t . . . understand.” Odel said slowly



Kent rose, drawing a pot of hot water from the gutted fire and pouring it into a cup. “When my father went to claim my mother from her kingdom they stopped on their return in a glade near a forest. That night my mother came to my father and they lay together, though they were not yet married. At the time my father did not question her behavior, thinking in his foolish youth that she could wait no longer to be claimed by him. It was only later that he realized that something had happened, some dark force had arranged the meeting.



“After my mother gave birth she took to the forest with us and my father found me alone on a pagan altar. He said that all manner of beasts were around and the forest seemed to speak in that place. They brought me back, though they could find no trace of my mother and tried to act as though nothing had happened.



“But it had.



“The forest called to me. I would wander off towards it and more than a few of my nannies and nurses were dismissed because I escaped them. I loved the forest then. I could hear the trees whispering secrets to me and animals have always come to my hand because of the dedication to the forest that must have been performed before my father found me.



“I was perhaps seven when I first met Atol. In the beginning it was just quick glimpses of him or a strange voice in my head. It was hard to discern the words but as we got older he grew stronger and I could hear him clearly. He became my playmate for a while but then I made the mistake of telling my father about him. He was angry and forbid me of ever speaking of Atol again. He told me that I didn’t have a brother but I knew he was lying. I think he was trying to hide his embarrassment of having lost a son to our mother’s darkness. He even caught Atol in my room once. He had come to take care of a cat that I was fond of that had been attacked by one of the hunting hounds. He was the one who taught me to heal.



“Father was enraged and . . . Atol has never spoken of it but I know my father beat him. I don’t know how he escaped but, when I was able, I spoke against my father on that matter. He told me I was mad and sent me to the healers.y dry drd med me and did all sorts of things to cure me of my madness but none of it worked. Once I was well again I ran to the forest to see if my brother was all right. Atol begged me to stay with him there. He told me that my father would know I had gone and that he would send me away. I promised Atol that we would never be apart. He did not believe me.



“He was right not to have believed me.



“When I returned from the woods my father sent me to the great temple in the south. It was there I learned of what Atol was and why it was so wrong for me to be swayed by the words of the forest creatures. I learned that they were base, the creatures of the dark. I learned that they would twist my mind and make me damned, for by turning to them I was turning from the lady of light. It was then I learned of the place that dark things go if they turn from the light.



“Atol spoke to me then and I begged him to see that he was wrong but he scoffed, telling me that the powers of the earth had been here long before the ‘fools of light’ began preaching their lies. He said that the only wrong was not following your heart. He said that it was wrong to denounce others just because they thought differently from you. If you are not harming anyone then there is no harm done.



“I was confused and I confided to the head priest what Atol had told me. He made me recount this story and it was decided that, because Atol would not repent his dealings with pagan powers and because he caused such confusion in me, I was possessed. They put me through exorcism after exorcism. It hurt, Odel, it hurt so much. They starved and flogged me, forced me to kneel in the snow and drink bitter tonics to cleanse my body of any impure substances. All through it Atol spoke in my mind, begging me to let him help me escape them.



“Eventually my father realized what was happening and he brought me home, though I begged him not to for I was not yet free of Atol’s influence. He told me not to be a fool, I could deny him if I wanted without need of such . . . torture. It was then he brought me Ryhan and Ryhan brought me you.



“So now you know the story. Now you know what my father has always tried to deny. He tells me that Atol is not real but he is real. Surely you believe that?”



Odel set down his tea and came to kneel at Kent’de, de, taking his hand in his. “Yes. Atol is as real as you are. I bore the pain he gave to me and I will help you bear the pain he causes you as well.”



Kent reached out and gently stroked his companion’s silver hair. “I still wish you would go. I have born this pain alone all my life. I have seen what Atol can do, how he seeks to corrupt. I would not have you corrupted, Odel! You are light and easy laughter. All the things denied to him. He will possess you too, Odel, just so, for a brief moment, he can taste those things before you fade away under his power.”



“Then I shall to have endure, my Prince. I will not leave you. Shall we to bed? The servants come all too soon and I fear what Ryhan will do with his switch should both of us fall asleep during his lecture.” Odel smiled to soften his words and Kent wanly answered the smile with one of his own.



**



Not surprisingly they both came down with the winter fever a short week later and, to Ryhan’s exasperation, were bedridden for many days. Servants brought them warmed blankets and they huddled together on a bed that had been set before the hearth in the sitting room. Kent spent most of the time asleep, but Odel found himself tired of sleep and spent much of the quiet time considering.



He let his mind go where it willed, sometimes losing whole hours to just enjoying the soft mattress underneath him and the bright fire that warmed his feet. Sometimes he wondered at the family he’d left behind. His youngest sister would be speaking by now. Did he have a new youngest sibling? Had his older brother gotten the gelding he’d wanted for his last birthing day before they’d been separated? Had his eldest sister been married and set out to start a new household?



It was only when Kent’s breathing was slow and deep that his mind turned to wonders about the garden and his prince’s past. He sighed and drew his leg up, resting his on on his knee as he watched the dying fire. He wondered how long their reprieve would last, how long until Atol forced the decision on him.



Could he accept Atol as a part of his prince’s life?



Could he not?



So many had already turned away from Atol. Their refusal of hiisteistence had left his prince id oid of anywhere to turn. It had left him alone to deal with the demons that plagued his mind. Only the priests had tried to help him, in their own way. Odel shivered, clasping his hands tighter about himself. They meant well, the priests of the light, but their ways were often cruel. They accepted no darkness and they thought it better to destroy the body than leave even the slightest trace of shadow upon it.



That Kent had fought to stay among them spoke much of the desperation that must have clawed at him to be free of Atol’s presence.



Desperation the priests may have instilled within him themselves.



Kent had said it himself. He’d once been fond of his other half’s presence. They had played together as children. Atol had taught him to heal. It had only been when others had tried to tear them apart that he’d become violent. To a child, who had finally found a bit of acceptance from the onrsonrson that he cared about only to have that person turned against him, it must have been a terrifying betrayal.



Could he be blamed for turning against a world that had turned against him?



“Such a pensive face doesn’t suit you.”



Odel smiled turning his attention to his bed-mate. “Maybe not but I try to think things through sometimes. If they are important enough.”



Kent coughed as he struggled to sit up. “If thinking helped I would have long been free of that bastard.”



“Do you really hate him?” Odel asked.



Kent grit his teeth. “Of course! You’ve seen what he does. How could I not?”



“But surely you loved him once.” Odel persisted.



The white haired prince shrugged. “I was young and alone. I didn’t realize what he was. In my childish wish to have a friend I overlooked a great many things.”



“It isn’t childish to want a friend,” Odel protested, “Someone to care fod tod to care for you in return. That he was there for you speaks much for him, I think.”



“He was never there for me. He was there to lure me away, to force me to want things that were forbidden.”



“But wasn’t the want there already?”



Kent stiffened but Odel went on, pretending not to notice. “Did you never want to explore as a child? Did you never want to play among the trees and just have some time to yourself? Did you not resent being forced to live as a small adult rather than as the child you really were? Do you not now resent that? Don’t you wish for all the things that other children have? Things that you were denied just because you were born your father’s son?”



“You go to far!” The Prince hissed and Odel inclinis his head, letting his words linger in the silence that grew between them.



Finally Kent shifted, his fingers picking at the lions that pranced among the violet coverlet. “How can you try to defend him after what he did to you?”



Odel shrugged. “This is beyond that. What happened in the garden is mine to bear, not yours. It was a momentary experience, something I can live through. Yours is a lifetime of encounters. I am your companion; it is for me to understand you as no other. I cannot understand this if you do not understand it yourself. I cannot understand Atol if your relationship remains unknown to you.”



“You believe me then? About Atol being my brother?”



Odel smiled and rested his hand atop Kent’s. His fingers stroked his Prince’s wrist, gliding over the soft skin. “I believe Atol is as real as you are, I have already told you this. I am not afraid and I will not turn from it as others have.”



Kent smiled and turned his hand, folding their fingers together. “I’ll to wto warn him off, to leave you alone.” His smile faltered, “But . . . sometimes he doesn’t listen to me. I can’t promise you amnesty from him.”



Odel shrugged again. “What will be will be. It was not so bad, though I do not appreciate being forced in such a manner, and I do not think he will seek to end my life.”



“He has killed before, Odel. Just because he let you go this time . . .”



Odel shook his head. “I know this. He won’t kill me.”



Kent frowned. “How can you be so sure?”



Odel looked up, meeting his Prince’s grey eyes. “Because I am no danger to him nor am I danger to you. I am not trying to come between you and I am not seeking to destroy him. I just . . . am. He gains nothing in my death and it will only make you try to distance yourself from him more. He doesn’t want that.”



“I don’t understand.”



Odel freed his hand from Kent’s grip and spread out his hands. “He is strong and his powers are beyond that of normal men but . . . I think he wants what any of us want. Just as you were lonely so too was he. He is just as isolated as you, my Prince. You are chained to your father’s crown and he is chained by a ‘proper’ world that sneers at the thinhat hat come naturally to him. Even now he seeks to bring the two of you together but you fight against him and he reacts with anger.”



“He hates” Ke” Kent insisted, slamming his hands down on the mattress. “He hates me for the things I have! He hates that I am the prince and he is not!”



Again Odel shook his head. “I don’t think he hates you for that. If he hates you it is because he feels that you turned on him. If there is any hate it stems from the fear that you will leave him alone in the darkness.”



Kent looked away, his hands curling into fists. “I cannot accept him,” he whispered, “He is unnatural. He causes pain. He hurts those around me. I wish he would just disappear.”



A hand touched his back and he flushed in embarrassment at the realization that he was shaking. “Do you?” His companion asked. He closed his eyes as he heard Odel shift and then he was enveloped in a warm embrace.



“Yes,” he replied, blinking to chase tears from his eyes, “For what he did to you, I hate him. I don’t want him to hurt you anymore.”



Silence fell between them again as the fire flickered and finally died.



**



Hands touched the small of his back, sliding around his hips to draw him back against a strong body. Odel continued to stare out over the moonlit yard and the black trees of the forest beyond. The night air was cold against his cheeks, threatening to steal his breath as the hands about his waist caught his nightshirt and drew it away from his flushed skin.



The wind caught his hair as the ribbon was torn away, blowing it away from his neck and making him shiver. He lowered his eyes as fingers explored, roughly gliding over the planes of his bared body. The grip on him tightened and he grit his teeth as sharp nails threatened to pierce his skin.



“You think you know me so well then?” Came the accusatory hiss.



“No.” he replied as black hair tickled his cheek, “I merely seek to.”



Atol snorted in derision. “You know nothing of us.”



“But I will know, one day.”



Dark laughter danced over his skin. “If you survive so long, little swan. It is a long path you fly. There will be no shining pools of light for even the briefest reprieve.”



Odel turned, reaching up to capture the angled face in his hands. He met Atol’s grey gaze evenly. “I am strong,” he replied, “I will fight to protect whom I care for. I will follow him through the darkest of night if I must.”



Atol lips curled into a sneer. “So you think you will pull him into the light, tear us apart. You think you will be the one to free him from my darkness.”



Odel shook his head. “No. You are a part of him, this I know. If he should lose you he would lose himself. He would cease to be Kent and fade away to become the Prince, a creature forged by others. No one can live like that. We must be true to ourselves, this I know as well. But at the same time you are hurting and in turn you are hurting him. I won’t allow that to continue. There has been too much pain in both your lives already. I will end that, if I can.”



“And how will you do such a noble thing? My . . . pain, as you say, runs deep. So does my anger. They have left nothing else for me to feel. The only joy I feel any longer is in the pain of those who would deny me! How will you fly in the face of my anger, swanling? As strong as they may be a swan will still fall, its wings will still be crushed in the face of such a maelstrom.”



“As many times as I am thrown down I will rise back up once more. I will not be crushed, not in this. I will endure. It is all I am good at.” Odel let his hands fall away and stepped back within the ring of the sorcerer’s arms.



“If you must hurt someone, hurt me,” He continued, “If someone must bear your anger, let it be me. Leave my Prince alone. He can’t take much more. He has endured his entire life. It will not be long before he breaks and if he does you will lose him just as surely as I.”



Atol paused, considering. “What do you seek to gain from this? What change do you think will come about by granting your Prince this brief reprieve?”



Odel shrugged. “I don’t know but that is all I can do and I will do it.” A hand left his waist and touched his face gently, a lover’s touch and Odel shivered under it.



“Do you know why I took you in that garden?” Atol asked suddenly.

<>
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Odel shook his head. A predatory grin slid across the sorcerer’s face and Odel gasped as he was pulled forward and crushed against the other man. Atol smelled of spices and the wild wind. His breath was hot against his ear.



“It was your Prince’s desires that drove me. It was his fantasies that shaped our encounter that night. He wants you, though his . . . sensibilities . . . won’t allow him to accept that. I, however, have no such delusions of ‘proper behavior’. We both desire you under us. We both want you to wear our marks.” Atol laughed deeply, “I won’t deny those urges. I take what I want and with every mark I put on your pale skin, every time he finds you stained with my seed, every time he is forced to use his magic to protect you from his father’s anger he’ll break a little bit more.”



Odel cried out softly as Atol stepped away from him and he was shoved forward. Some bit of magic made him fall upon Kent’s bed, though he had only fallen forward a step and the balcony was an eternity away across the room. Hands caught his wrists and he shivered as magic rippled across his skin as Atol forced him onto his back. Sharp teeth sank into his shoulder as his cry of pain was changed to a whimper of pleasure as Atol pushed against him.



“And what of this?” Atol hissed, the leather of his pants digging into sensitive skin, “Can you endure this?”



Odel panted, fighting to lie still as the building pleasure begged him to move. “Yes.” He hissed back through clenched teeth. “I would endure anything.”



Atol rose above him, his eyes dark with promise. “Than I agree to your little . . . diversion. This whurthurt him far more than anything I could do to him.”



Together they sealed their devil’s bargain with a searing kiss.