The Hidden Princess by Katy Moran Read Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Katy Moran
cold as I do.
“The bright-blooded mortals are more akin to the Hidden than the rest of their kind, that’s all – less like water and oil than the others.” I shrug. “That’s why your mothers weren’t destroyed bearing half-Hidden children. Why you and Lissy survived as hybrid babies when no others did – or none that we know of. Maybe there are more somewhere, hiding in forgotten corners of the earth.” I look away, out at the silvery sand spreading away from us beneath the night; I can’t quite bear to meet his eyes. “Remember Iris?” It’s hard to say her name: the hollow sourness of my desperation seems to rise again: how I loved her, and how she left me at my father’s orders when he punished her for trying to release Tippy. Iris never even looked my way when I was exiled amongst my own kind, when he forbade all the Hidden from even speaking to me. My father broke her. He broke the one I loved, and if I hadn’t been such an arrogant fool and shown Iris some mercy when she needed it most – if I had forgiven her for bearing that half-breed child – perhaps she might one day have been mended. Perhaps she might have shown me mercy, too.
Nicolas gives me one of his long looks, half smiling. “How could I forget Iris? I took an arrow in the chest for you the morning you murdered her mortal knight. As I recall, his liegemen had no intention of allowing his death to go unpunished. It’s not something I’ll forget. It hurt.”
“I did not ask you to take that arrow, Nicolas.” I hold his gaze. “My father would likely have been more pleased if you’d let me have it.”
“Don’t be a fool,” Nicolas says, quietly. “Anyhow – Lissy Harker is cursed just as surely as I am.” When I first told Nicolas about Lissy I thought he’d be pleased he wasn’t alone, that he won’t be the only person left on earth after the last mortal has withered and died, when the last of the Hidden has been struck down and killed by iron. I was wrong. He frowns. “It makes sense, given what happened to Iris and all the others who tried to bear mortal children – the lovers they chose weren’t bright-blooded and the babies didn’t survive.” He turns to look at me. “What does this Connie girl
want
? Why do I keep seeing her?”
“You know how it is to grieve – more than any man on earth, Nicolas. Connie wants her sister. She wants Lissy. She misses her so much she’s drawn closer to the Hidden every time she falls asleep. Each and every one of us, Nicolas, including our brethren still imprisoned with Lissy in the Halls.”
“You mean this Connie girl doesn’t
know
?” Nicolas whispers, furious. “She has no idea of the danger? What if Connie appears to the Swan King? He’ll ask her to open the Gateway.”
“Why do you think I’m here? We must act, Nicolas.”
“Act
how
?” he demands, hot-headed as ever. “I didn’t betray your father and leave him a prisoner of the mortals just so some idiot of a girl could let him out. Dear God, Larkspur, if you only knew how many times in the last three hundred years I’ve dreamed of him begging me to release you all.” He curses, looking away into the fire. “If I hadn’t been so sure the Fontevrault would slaughter every last one of you, do you really think I’d have kept the Gateway locked when I had the power to open it?”
“Hush. Have all those centuries not been long enough to cool your temper? Keep your voice down, Nico.” I glance at the tents spreading out behind us, but no one stirs. “My father’s never going to listen. He won’t be stopped. Connie could open the Gateway any moment now. I’m starting to fear there’s only one way of ending this.”
He frowns, murderous as ever. “Before you ask, I’m not doing it. I’m not going to kill your father.”
I sigh, seeing the Swan King at the back of my mind once more, the white feathers of his cloak so pale against his black hair, the cold rage in his eyes as he banished me for
“The bright-blooded mortals are more akin to the Hidden than the rest of their kind, that’s all – less like water and oil than the others.” I shrug. “That’s why your mothers weren’t destroyed bearing half-Hidden children. Why you and Lissy survived as hybrid babies when no others did – or none that we know of. Maybe there are more somewhere, hiding in forgotten corners of the earth.” I look away, out at the silvery sand spreading away from us beneath the night; I can’t quite bear to meet his eyes. “Remember Iris?” It’s hard to say her name: the hollow sourness of my desperation seems to rise again: how I loved her, and how she left me at my father’s orders when he punished her for trying to release Tippy. Iris never even looked my way when I was exiled amongst my own kind, when he forbade all the Hidden from even speaking to me. My father broke her. He broke the one I loved, and if I hadn’t been such an arrogant fool and shown Iris some mercy when she needed it most – if I had forgiven her for bearing that half-breed child – perhaps she might one day have been mended. Perhaps she might have shown me mercy, too.
Nicolas gives me one of his long looks, half smiling. “How could I forget Iris? I took an arrow in the chest for you the morning you murdered her mortal knight. As I recall, his liegemen had no intention of allowing his death to go unpunished. It’s not something I’ll forget. It hurt.”
“I did not ask you to take that arrow, Nicolas.” I hold his gaze. “My father would likely have been more pleased if you’d let me have it.”
“Don’t be a fool,” Nicolas says, quietly. “Anyhow – Lissy Harker is cursed just as surely as I am.” When I first told Nicolas about Lissy I thought he’d be pleased he wasn’t alone, that he won’t be the only person left on earth after the last mortal has withered and died, when the last of the Hidden has been struck down and killed by iron. I was wrong. He frowns. “It makes sense, given what happened to Iris and all the others who tried to bear mortal children – the lovers they chose weren’t bright-blooded and the babies didn’t survive.” He turns to look at me. “What does this Connie girl
want
? Why do I keep seeing her?”
“You know how it is to grieve – more than any man on earth, Nicolas. Connie wants her sister. She wants Lissy. She misses her so much she’s drawn closer to the Hidden every time she falls asleep. Each and every one of us, Nicolas, including our brethren still imprisoned with Lissy in the Halls.”
“You mean this Connie girl doesn’t
know
?” Nicolas whispers, furious. “She has no idea of the danger? What if Connie appears to the Swan King? He’ll ask her to open the Gateway.”
“Why do you think I’m here? We must act, Nicolas.”
“Act
how
?” he demands, hot-headed as ever. “I didn’t betray your father and leave him a prisoner of the mortals just so some idiot of a girl could let him out. Dear God, Larkspur, if you only knew how many times in the last three hundred years I’ve dreamed of him begging me to release you all.” He curses, looking away into the fire. “If I hadn’t been so sure the Fontevrault would slaughter every last one of you, do you really think I’d have kept the Gateway locked when I had the power to open it?”
“Hush. Have all those centuries not been long enough to cool your temper? Keep your voice down, Nico.” I glance at the tents spreading out behind us, but no one stirs. “My father’s never going to listen. He won’t be stopped. Connie could open the Gateway any moment now. I’m starting to fear there’s only one way of ending this.”
He frowns, murderous as ever. “Before you ask, I’m not doing it. I’m not going to kill your father.”
I sigh, seeing the Swan King at the back of my mind once more, the white feathers of his cloak so pale against his black hair, the cold rage in his eyes as he banished me for