"Dear princess, don't worry." Odette hated Rothbart's voice. She hated it with a passion. "The spell only lasts until the moon touches the lake, and then you turn back into a princess."
Rothbart's little sister Bridget was throwing bread crumbs at Odette's head. Odette found it extremely annoying, and she backed away slowly unknowingly swimming into the reflection of the moon. Suddenly she was pulled under by some unseen force.
The water swirled around her as she gasped for air that wasn't there. She felt the water on her skin, unusual as the feathers had protected her just a moment ago.
And all of a sudden she was completely dry again. Completely dry and human.
She started to walk away from Rothbart and his evil little sister. She knew that he was her mother's cousin. The whole world knew that. It was why he was still alive. She just couldn't believe it. And she had to get away.
"In the morning you turn back into a swan wherever you are. In order to be human, you need to be on the lake at night."
Odette Slumped to the ground at these words. There was no way that she could possibly live under these conditions. She needed to go home. She needed to figure out her feeling. There might be all the time in the world for that here, but the sage advice from her mother was not.
Rothbart continued "Of course. I could always remove the spell." His tone implied a cost but Odette was too distraught to notice.
"You could?" she asked. There was a flicker of hope in her eyes.
"On one condition."
She suddenly became hesitant. Most people wanted her to do something that she had no power over. She wasn't the head of the government.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"The kingdom."
She couldn't believe him. He had kidnapped her and then wanted her father's land. There was no way that she would willingly give it to him. Not in this life.
"Then take it," she said, hoping to tempt him into it. "You have the power." She knew that the guards could take him down, they had been preparing for the eventuality all her life.
"No, once you take something by force you spend your whole life fighting to keep it. But," he said. "If I marry the only heir to the kingdom, no one can say anything."
She stood there with her mouth wide open. She couldn't believe him.
"Never," she choked out.
"Enjoy your stay as a swan." And then he was gone.
