Shadow Princess
By Laura Schiller
Series: The Faerie Path Trilogy
Copyright: Frewin Jones and HarperCollins Publishing.
Princess Rathina of Faerie, daughter of King Oberon and Queen Titania, sighed as she walked through the candlelit corridors of the palace. She looked and felt like a restless ghost: pale, drawn, her classic beauty faded and worn by months of secret suffering. The hour, fitting for a ghost, was midnight: in just a few more hours, the man she loved more than life itself would be lost to her.
She was lonely. As long as she could remember, she had always been lonely, in spite of being surrounded by her six sisters, nurses, governesses and servants all her life. She was the odd woman out, neither scholarly and serene like her elder sisters, nor bubbly and outgoing like the younger ones, nor close to nature as Cordelia was. She was the only one with no Gift, no purpose, no useful talent to give her life direction. Yes, she was beautiful. So were they. She could ride, fence and dance to perfection. So could they.
She knew that behind her back, the courtiers labeled her cold and haughty because she did not enjoy socializing with them. She had many suitors, due to her beauty and her high rank, but no friends. She could see from the empty looks of the men who surrounded her that none of them truly loved her.
She longed to break out from the confines of her rank, her family, her life. She loved the freedom of galloping through the hills or spinning wildly in the arms of a handsome man. This wild strain in her was something nobody understood...except for two people.
Tania, her impetuous, wayward, adorable youngest sister.
And Gabriel Drake, the love of her life...Tania's betrothed.
"Gabriel!" She gasped as strong arms seized her from behind. She turned around to gaze up at him, his breathtakingly perfect face, his moon-silver eyes. He was the moon in the desolate night sky of her life.
"Oh, Gabriel!" She threw her arms around him and sobbed into his shoulder.
"Hush, Rathina," he soothed, stroking her back with cool, gentle hands. "Calm yourself. You must not weep so on my account, darling."
Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she forced herself to calm down.
"Cancel the wedding, I beg of you," she pleaded. "There is time yet. The political advantage would be no less – am I not also a Princess of Faerie? Oh, my love, I cannot bear the thought of standing next to you as you wed another, even – especially my own sister."
Gabriel's eyes flashed annoyance, but he held it down. She never noticed.
"Now, Rathina," he began firmly. "You remember what we discussed. This is but a slight delay on the way to our goal. You know why I must be at least handfasted to Tania, distateful as the thought is to me as well. She is the seventh daughter. I – We need her powers if we are to make this kingdom great."
"But she does not love you!" Rathina argued, stepping out of his embrace. "No more than you do her. She will never give you a fraction of the love I have for you. She has chosen that servant of yours, Chanticleer. Why not leave them be?"
"Do not ask me to abandon my dreams!" he shouted back. "For more than five hundred years have I cherished them, scarcely hoping they would come true. Now at last, the power to walk between the worlds is within our grasp! Heed me, Rathina – the power to explore the Mortal World and all its wonders and mysteries, the power to vanquish the peril of Isenmort and handle it without harm. You and I, Rathina, we would have the entire Faerie Realm at our feet!"
She caught her breath as his eyes burned into hers, his hands lying heavily on her shoulders. It was a marvellous vision – no more snubs and scornful glances, no more whispers behind her back. Those spiteful Court gossips would bow to her. As for the rest...You and I. King and Queen, together for all of eternity. They would be a glorious couple, like Titania and Oberon.
"You will not harm my family?" She asked anxiously, as she had before, just to hear his reassuring answer.
"Of course not," he purred. "Your good heart commends you, my dear, that you wish to see them unharmed in spite of those long years of neglect."
"I have no heart anymore, good or evil," she said quietly. "I left it in your keeping long ago."
He smiled dazzlingly at her and kissed her. His mouth was a soft as velvet on hers, soft as the lovely words he had been speaking. She kissed him back hungily, passionaely, wanting to melt into him so that they became one person.
"Now go," he whispered, lightly stepping away. "May good fortune go with you, my Rose Maiden."
Her red silk dress whispered as she slipped down the hall, with one last longing gaze over her shoulder.
As soon as she was gone, Gabriel allowed a smirk of satisfaction to spread across his face. She was just too easy to manipulate.
Rathina's heart was pounding in her chest. Part of her trembled with shame at what she was about to do. How could she betray her sister a second time?
Memories of Tania, old and new, crowded into her heart until she felt as if she were torn in two. Playing hide-and-seek in the maze. Walking arm in arm through the castle. Teaching her to ride and teasing her for her clumsy posture. Sitting on her bed together late at night exchanging secrets.
Tania knew what it meant to long for her outgrown wings.
Finally Rathina saw her coming out of the dungeons, bedraggled and exhausted – and not alone.
She had freed Edric Chanticleer from the Amber Prison and was half dragging him along with her.
In a split second, all of Rathina's affection for her sister was seared away by the acid taste of rage and envy, suppressed for years. Was it not enough that Tania was everybody's darling, the miracle child who had ended the Long Twilight? Who had eased Oberon's suffering when all the comfort of his five daughters could not do so? Was it not enough that Tania possessed the unheard-of power to walk between worlds which Gabriel coveted so much?
No, her undeservedly fortunate sister had picked up a lover as well. She had disdained Gabriel's offer of marriage. She scorned what Rathina wanted more than anything.
This corroding hatred was familiar to her. She had felt it before, slipping into Tania's room five hundred years ago on the eve of Tania's birthday and wedding day. Hoping that Tania would not come back from the Mortal World.
The remorse had been bitter afterwards, bitter as Isenmort. But then Gabriel's sweetness had buried it deep inside her, where it could not hurt her anymore.
Tania must not ruin our dreams a second time. I must do this.
For Gabriel.
Besides, this time it would not be so bad. Tania would remain unscathed. The Hand-Fasting Ritual, then a halt in the ceremony, followed by an exchange of brides. Nothing could be easier.
Thinking of Gabriel, she stepped forward.
Tania's lovely gren eyes lit up in relief. "Rathina!" she cried out joyfully, thinking her sister had come to save her.
Rathina ran to support Chanticleer from the other side and lead them both to the Hall of Light.