Odile sat on the gilded chair, a smile curving her thin, ruby lips. They had succeeded. The stupid prince didn't know the difference between love and seduction. Of course, she would have to marry the prince, but it was a small price to pay for a throne for her and her father. Besides, she could arrange an accident for him a few months into the marriage.

Odile couldn't believe how gullible the prince had been; believing she, Odile von Rothbart, was really his Odette. First of all, she wore black rather than Odette's innocent white. While Odette was soft and weak Odile was fiery and strong. They were two different people, yet Siegfried believed Odile was Odette. He was blinded by love; he didn't know that Odette was now cursed forever, moping around for the rest of her days with the other swans. He never would. He would only believe that Odette was going to walk down the aisle with him today.

"You did well, my daughter." She turned to see her father, dressed in the finery of the court. A smile was on his thin, colorless lips, something Odile didn't see often. Most often she saw sneers and smirks. It was a nice change.

He offered her his hand, she took it, standing up. "He is such a soft-headed man. To believe I am actually Odette!" They both laughed, their evil plans running through their minds.

"But let us not celebrate now." Rothbart said, stopping their laughing. " We have not been victorious yet, you still have to marry the man. Then, we will celebrate."

"Very well, Father." Odile replied, sitting back down on her chair.

Some of her handmaidens walked in, they were here to ready her for the wedding to be held in the afternoon. Nobles from far and wide had traveled to see the prince marry the beautiful Princess Odette. They would wish them well and a good long marriage. If only they knew, Odile thought, smiling to herself.

" Aren't you excited?" One of her handmaidens said, as she twirled Odile's hair into long, pretty ringlets. Odile didn't bother to remember their names, as soon as she had some authority here she would replace them with her handmaidens from home.

"Yes," Odile said, trying to feign fake excitement in her voice. It wasn't hard, Odile had grown up learning to fake her emotions. She was a sorceress, not learning to control her emotions could be deadly. "Isn't he handsome?"

"Yes, yes." All the handmaidens murmured, putting the many jeweled combs and clips in her hair.

Odile wrinkled her nose at them. They were all various shades of pink and worse-white. She wished they were black, the colors looked weird on her. They made her skin look shallow and colorless; not pristine and beautiful like the colors made Odette look. Black was the only color that made Odette look powerful and strong. These colors seemed to just wash her out. But she still looked beautiful, just not as pretty as she was when she wore black.

The dress was worse, it was pure white, with swan feathers lining the bodice and white strings of pearls covering the skirt. It made her think of Odette moping by the lake. They helped her into it; the swan feathers were itchy and uncomfortable. Odile would be glad to be rid of the stupid thing as soon as she could.

"Odette," Odile almost didn't respond, hearing herself called the name of enemy. But she turned seeing the prince. Time to turn on the charm, Odile thought, curtsying to him.

"Shouldn't we not see each other until the wedding?"Odile asked, batting her eyelashes.

Siegfried bowed, taking her hand a kissing it. " I could not wait, my dear. Besides, here we have weddings different. We shall walk in together."

Odile smirked, disguising it as a smile. "Very well, my...prince." Saying 'my prince' was hard to get out. She didn't love this prince in any way, and summoning affection was hard for Odile. She had never felt it in her life. Her father always told her affection was a weakness, it made you do crazy and unwise things.

Siegfried took her hand again, leading her to the Great Hall where they would begin the procession to the gardens where the wedding was to take place. All the while, Odile kept a smile on her face, but in the inside she was steaming. All these people treated her like she was weak and couldn't think for herself. When they reached the doors, someone told her that they would whisper the lines to her during the wedding! Stupid people, soon they will all know what I can do, she thought.

She caught sight of her father, standing beside the queen, talking to her about something. Once he saw her, he gave her a knowing smile, nodding his head. She smiled back, knowing what the look meant. Do not claim victory now, celebrate later.

" You look beautiful," Siegfried said, pressing his lips against her hand. "Soon,"

Odile nodded, smiling coyly. "Soon,"The prince thought she meant something very different. But Odile knew what she meant, and she intended to carry her plans out.


A few months later, the prince had an unfortunate hunting accident. His horse got spooked by a black swan that seemed to swoop out of nowhere. The whole country seemed to be crying for the loss of there King. The only one suspiciously not crying as much as expected was the Queen. But who could question her innocence? She was the Queen.

At the young king's solemn funeral, there was said to be a group of white swans flying overhead, mournfully crying.