Moonlight

Chapter 2: Cursed

CURSED

Aowyn spent much of the following days with her swan brothers at An Cuan Áille. They were all too terrified to return home. Stór fared the worst, refusing to even go into the water. Eventually his brothers showed him that it was not so bad and even carried him on their backs at times. One day Eagnaí’s voice encouraged Aowyn to return to the castle, for who knew what terrible things Ciatlllait conjured now that the princes were out of the way. Aowyn resisted at first. She had made a vow to protect her brothers and her father. She steeled herself against her fear and began sleeping in her own room again, returning to the pond during the day. So long as the moon glowed in the sky, the princes were not alone.

Ciatlllait closed in on the king. Aowyn aimed to comfort her father, rivaling Ciatlllait for his attention. Aodhagáin would often rest his arm on the throne beside him then focus at his hand as if expecting to still find Sulwen’s clasped within it. Aowyn’s heart ached for him. She wondered where he had been the night her brothers had been cursed. Why hadn’t he protected them? But Aodhagáin’s sorrow waxed so great that he could not see beyond it. Aowyn understood, yet understanding could not concede the morning she was summoned to the throne room and found Ciatlllait in Sulwen’s throne. Aodhagáin’s hand rested on Ciatlllait’s. Aowyn glanced between them with terror. Ciatlllait’s smile was wide and sly. Aowyn swallowed. Her heart raced.

“Dear heart,” Aodhagáin announced, “we are going to be happy again.”

Aowyn wanted to run from the room, but she clenched her fists and rooted herself to the spot. She glared at Ciatlllait.

“You will have a mother again,” Aodhagáin continued.

Aowyn glanced at her father. Had Ciatlllait cursed him as well? She shook her head. “My mother is dead.”

The smile faded from Ciatlllait. She shifted in her seat nervously. She licked her lips. “Perhaps we could be friends.”

Aowyn ground her thumb over her fisted fingers. “When are you to wed?”

Aodhagáin leaned forward. “At Bealtaine.”

Aowyn fought back the bile that boiled from her belly. How dare Ciatlllait take the king on a sacred day! A day meant for joy and renewal. A day that represented everything Aowyn now knew Ciatlllait did not.

Aowyn looked away, for she could not stand the sight of that woman a minute longer. “May I be excused?”

Aodhagáin bore puzzlement on his face. He leaned back in his chair and waved her on.

Aowyn pivoted and marched forward. A safe distance down the hall, she collapsed against the wall, overwhelmed in a heap of tears. Maeb soon found her and hugged her close before helping her to her room to collect herself and ready for the day.

Bealtaine?

All of the swan brothers were just as shocked as Aowyn when she told them that afternoon. Aowyn was still getting a handle on who was who. All their voices tumbled together in horror. One of the white swans, Rógaire she thought, spread his wings and made a frantic run around the pond, breaking the mirror surface into thousands of angry ripples. Eagnaí’s voice came to her as a white swan with a golden beak. He stepped out of the water.

What is she thinking? He honked softly.

Aowyn shook her head. “I do not wish to know the evil in her mind.”

A trumpeter swan circled behind the two black ones. Lorgaire’s voice entered Aowyn’s mind. Tell us again the story of Aobh’s sons.

Aowyn thought back to the summer afternoon she had spent here with her mother and human brothers, splashing and playing and soaking in delicious sunlight, unmarred by curses or sorrow.