Page 64 of Feathered Thief

“I am. Who are you?”

“But . . . you are aman! You’re tall!”

Kazik wryly observed, “And you are afox. You’re small.”

The fox’s stare traveled from Kazik’s head to his feet several times, his ears flattened to his head, so Helena began to explain. “Yes, I found His Royal Highness in the castle last night, and he told me there never wasa sleeping princess in the castle who needed to be kissed awake.However, Kazik neededmykiss before he could leave the castle grounds.”

“You!” The fox snapped his attention to her. “You were the naïve fool who—” His eyes grew impossibly wide, then narrowed into yellow slits in his furry face. “You’re a woman! You lied to me! And you deliberately ignored my explicit orders andfreedboth the bird and the horse! Do you have any idea how much I paid—?” After a quick pause to scream his rage, he snarled, “And I trusted you to deal fairly with me! I guided you here to wake the sleeping princess, but you’re awoman! This is treason!”

Helena had an arrow on the string, nocked, and aimed at the fox before he could blink. “I never once told you I was a man. You offered to guide me to break the curse over the land, and I accepted your offer of guidance in exchange for an honest boon. I never lied to you, and I freed the horse and the bird because they were enslaved.”

“Treason is a ridiculous claim from a fox to a princess,” Kazik pointed out, flipping and catching his dagger with one hand.

The fox merely snarled. “Princess, indeed.”

Kazik arched a brow. “Rude and thankless to the end. Good morrow to you, fox. May you catch many mice in your future.”

He beckoned to Helena, but she turned back to ask, “Where is Papa Hrabik? What did you do with him?”

“Of what use is that old fool? Let him die in the wilderness.”

“And Geoffroi and Solara!”

Beginning to panic, she lowered her bow and looked to Kazik, but he shook his head and said, “Before we search for our friends, we’ll prepare thoroughly, not run off with no food or plan. We must also find out if the sleepers have awakened.”

“Enough of this!” The fox circled them to run ahead and block their way. Which didn’t work, since they kept walking right past him. So he trotted alongside Helena, hatred swirling in his yellow eyes. “Answer me. Who are you, trollop?”

She stumbled in surprise, chilled to her bones, and the world seemed to freeze. The fox’s gaze fixed on the dagger in Kazik’s hand, which was poised for throwing. “You, fox, a trespasser on royal property, are in no place to be making demands. Tell us why I should not claim your life, tail, and paws as a trophy after your egregious insult to a Princess Royal. You will speak with respect to Her Royal Highness, Helena of Zyrardów.”

The fox’s yellow eyes fastened on her face, widened—and his shrill scream pierced their ears. “Nooooo, this cannot be!” He glared at Kazik. “Did you kiss her awake?”

“You obviously never listen to anyone but yourself.” Kazik’s tone was icy.

“But Ryszard’s daughtermustmarry Plock Castle’s crown prince and leave you alone!” the beast stated, his very tone denigrating. “It is already arranged: you will marry your cousin Angelika and become archduke of Wroclaw after me—maybe even emperor!”

Helena saw when the jolt of realization hit Kazik; pain and certainty washed over his features. But he set his jaw and struck back: “Who are you, a mere fox, to determine the future rulers of this land? I have neither desire nor intent to take on any of these roles you mentioned. If there is ever to be an emperor or empress over Wroclaw, that person should come from one of its ancestral royal families, not from a line of cunning shyster mages like my grandfather and father. Princess Helena is from ancient royal lines, and so is Czwarty—that is, the future Prince Szymon IV.”

The fox let out a scream of rage even as Helena felt a wave of oncoming magic. An instant later, the little beast flinched and slunk aside as Geoffroi leapt into their midst from thin air. His ears lay flat back, his nostrils flared wide, and his deep voice proclaimed: “We have arrived! Where is that treacherous fox?”

On the great horse’s back perched Papa Hrabik, who quickly slid to the ground and hurried to Helena’s side. “Are you well, child?” he inquired, his gray brows bunched in concern.

“I’m very well, Papa.” She flung herself into his arms. “What happened?”

Geoffroi whirled upon the cringing fox, who flattened himself at the roadside. “Try, justtryonce more to prevent me from aiding my friends, vermin, and I shall stamp you into the dust.”

“And I shall peck you apart!” a piercing voice added. Helena looked up to see the golden bird hovering above Papa Hrabik’s shoulder, her feathers chiming minor chords. “The foxattempted to send this good man into oblivion. Geoffroi and I prevented it just in time.”

“Solara!” Kazik exclaimed in pleased surprise. “Where have you been all this time? And Geoffroi!”

“The fay mage Bogumil asked us to serve as treasures for curse-breakers to claim.” The golden bird spoke while landing on Geoffroi’s crest, “His plan failed, since no one ever followed his rules and Princess Helena chose to declare us both free, ending our slavery to the archduke’s evil mage.”

“But how could I free you? I have no magic,” Helena protested.

“No one but a mage could speak with a tree,” Papa Hrabik observed.

“Or effectively declare two cursed prisoners free,” Geoffroi added.

“You!You traitor to your own blood!” The fox crouched, lips curled to bare his white teeth at Kazik, head and tail lowered. Glimpsing a blaze of magic in his hate-crazed eyes, Helena flung her hand out and cried, “Watch?—”

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