The Princess Search: A Retelling of The Ugly Duckling (The Four Kingdoms Book 5) by Melanie Cellier

Author:Melanie Cellier [Cellier, Melanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Luminant Publications
Published: 2018-05-10T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 18

When someone called that the expedition had returned, many voices taking up the cry, I rushed toward them. First came a group bearing a stretcher—the body on it covered in a black sheet. He hadn’t made it, then.

My knees began to shake until I saw a second group following behind with a second stretcher. The man on this one had been properly bandaged with crisp white linen, a green paste oozing out the sides. He appeared to be sleeping, his chest rising and falling with regular breaths. They had made it in time, after all. I closed my eyes, thankfulness overwhelming me. And the evidence of the paste suggested we had been right, and a poison had been used.

My relief faded, however, as the villagers surged around the black draped stretcher which had now been laid on the ground. A wailing dirge rose up, growing louder and louder as more voices joined it. I closed my eyes and for a moment the years fell away, and I still lived with Mother Nora. In this moment, none of us were individuals, but instead one entity, united in our grief, and I was one with the village.

I couldn’t have said how much time passed before the sound began to die down, voice after voice falling away into silence. We would bury him tomorrow, but already we had begun the process of incorporating his death into the fabric of village life.

I opened my eyes and met Frederic’s before he quickly looked away. His earlier words came back to me, and I knew he was right. There was no shame associated with my connection with the jungle. But it was yet another barrier between me and the prince, part of the ocean that separated us.

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