Lina: Twisted Fairy Tales Book Two

31: A Small Escape

“What?” I nearly fell over.

“You intervened on my behalf, despite the fact that I took you from everything you knew. Please don’t make me continue, I’m not in the habit of making myself beholden to others in such a way.” He grimaced.

“Oh no, no, no, no, no. You don’t get to escape this conversation that easily.” I protested, and the Fae King spun with a glare and paced away. I chased after him.

“What you really mean is, you don’t let yourself be in debt to others without there being some sort of benefit to you.” I called after him, and he came to a halt, spinning to face me, his eyes flashing. I held up a hand to cut him off before he could speak. “Correction, a benefit in a Bargain that swings in your favor.” I stated dryly. I thought at first he would argue the point. His expression certainly spoke volumes about what he’d like to say, but he eventually just sighed, running a hand over his hair.

“Laoina.. I would forever be beholden to you if it meant removing the anger from your heart towards me, but yes, you are right. I cannot help what I am.. Was. Just as you cannot change your nature. Perhaps one day you will be able to look upon me with a little less contempt and a little more understanding.” His words struck at me like a venomous snake, burning straight to my heart as he strode away. Why should I feel sympathy for this man?

I passed the rest of the day in a foul mood without seeing the Fae King. I finished catching up on the budget I personally handled, minus the Healer and Centaur portion of course, tried to sneak into an advisor meeting with the King, but Papa winked at me as I slid into the room so I knew I wasn’t undetected, and sat in on a few of Reggie’s meetings with stone masons, farmers and woodsmen. I was yawning before it was all over. Honestly, did Reggie need to nitpick the budget to death? I snorted to myself, earning a disapproving look from Uncle Reggie.

“If our Princess is bored, perhaps she can find another task to entertain her? For instance, her much neglected language lessons?” Uncle Reginald asked scathingly. Oh Hells no. I just could not understand the whole conjugation masculine, feminine, forms of words thing. I messed it all up every time, which is why I was still taking lessons that were otherwise deemed ‘for younger pupils’. Let my sister handle that. She understood the whole language thing. I, however, did not.

Uncle Reggie must have noticed the expression on my face because he began to chuckle. “No? Then a little more dignity and respect if you please.” He scolded. I could swear it was followed by a muttered “You could at least act better behaved than your parents.”

Just for the dignity and respect remark, I forced myself to my feet with a sniff of disapproval and paced to the door. The look on the current merchant’s face as I stormed out was priceless. Even as Reggie gritted his teeth and I realized I’d probably hear about it later, I couldn’t find myself regretting it. At the doorway, I turned and made a face, slamming the door behind me. If I was going to hear about it later, I might as well make it worth it. I heard a soft chuckle and a snapped ‘Don’t encourage her!’ from Reggie, which was enough to send me skipping on my way. I really probably should have looked into some of my other responsibilities, but when I rounded the corner and my grandmother came prowling towards me, everything came to a screeching halt. My expression accidentally registered an ‘o’ of surprise, and I tried to scurry around the corner away from her.

“Ma-lee-na!” She stormed, stretching my name out in that way she did when she wanted something or was upset with me.

On a good day, I would be avoiding her, but I remembered I still had the orphanage incident hanging over my head, so who even knew what torment she had in store for me because of that. Her footsteps rushed in my direction, and let me just say, she was fast for an old woman. Unfortunately for me, the hall I had chosen was a dead end. Well, it didn’t lead outside, which was my ultimate goal. It just turned back on itself to dump the unwary back into the hall they were previously in. I skittered around another corner, hearing my grandmother on my heels. If I just timed this right..

She turned the corner I’d just made and based on her ear-shattering screech shortly after, had found my abandoned clothes. That was the fastest transformation I’d ever pulled off. I let go of my human form so fast, it made me dizzy and made my bones ache.

“Malina!” My grandmother yelled as I skittered back into the hall that led to my freedom, behind the woman who would certainly lead to my doom. A yammering chitter escaped me that could have been mistaken for a laugh.

The way outside was free until I reached the last stretch leading to the doors. There, I met Corwin and Silas, who gave excited squeals of their own, and then turned into great lumbering hounds to chase after my fox form as I tried to make it out into the fresh air. They thought this game was hilarious, and it wasn’t the first time they had given my foxhide a run for its money. It just irritated me. Their huge, ungainly paws, floppy ears and all the drool. Plus, they liked to nip at my tail, occasionally snatching strands from me, which was less than pleasant. It had become a competition to them to see who could collect the most fox fur. Brothers. They bayed excitedly, the barking gathering more attention than I wanted. Soon people were stepping out of doors along the hall to watch us. I snapped and snarled at the twins, taking Silas’ giant paw out from under him with a yelp when I nipped the back of his front leg. He skidded to a stop, tripping Corwin, and I chuckled to myself in delight. Until I turned around and saw Papa blocking the exit.

I dug my claws in, trying to slow my red hide to a stop. Inwardly, I was already grimacing, I have no idea what that expression looked like on my fox form’s face. With a complete lack of grace, I tumbled into Papa’s legs. The look on his face was enough to make my fur stand on end. My hackles rose unbidden, and I tried to smooth them down swiftly.

“That is enough.” He growled down at us all. Corwin and Silas whined and cowered and I tried to slink away before Papa could turn his ire on me. My name burst like a crack of thunder from him. “Malina! You should know better of all of them, pup. I am ashamed. To see you behave in such a way.. The ruckus you have caused! Did you know that one of the castle workers came to get me? Your mother just gave birth!” If I could have melted into the floor, I would have. As it was, my belly couldn’t get any closer to the ground, and I could feel the uncomfortable fox grimace pulling at my face as my eyes squinted and my tail wagged low and tight to the floor apologetically. I nearly rolled over and exposed my belly, but there were too many people watching, and my fox instincts screamed it wasn’t safe enough with so many surrounding me to allow myself the vulnerability.

“And you two!” Papa’s attention moved to the twins. They actually did flop over on their backs. Pitiful whines came from them, and I wondered briefly if they were putting on a show to get out of trouble. That’s dogs for you. But then again, the intensity of Papa’s animal shone through even when he was human, so probably not. They would be more likely to fall in line with his animal than I, and I felt intimidated. “You disgrace me and your name-sakes! This is how you choose to use your Gods-given gifts? To torment your sister and sully the name of this Kingdom? Some Princes you’ve turned out to be.” Papa seethed. That stung even me, and I saw Corwin flinch like he’d been struck.

“Upstairs, the lot of you. To your rooms. I’ll be by later to talk to you individually.” Papa snarled. I slunk by my brothers, who were doing a good impression of a belly-crawl themselves. One thing I could say about Papa, he never had to raise a hand to us. He knew exactly what would shame us the most. He used his words to keep us in line

He knew I would feel the most amount of shame because he was ashamed of me. Corwin must have a soft spot about being worthy as a Shifter or Prince, though Silas was too stoic for me to get a good read on, something in there must be the ticket to making him behave as well. With a jolt, I realized I didn’t really know that much about my baby brothers. We had just.. Grown apart. Or maybe I had just grown apart from my siblings. My shame couldn’t get any worse as I made my way to my room. My nose almost dragged the ground the entire way.