Title: Feathered: Swan Maiden – Book 1
Author: Rachel Wollaston
Genre: Fantasy
The light and the dark
were never meant to be separated.
When her bargain with
a malevolent wizard goes terribly wrong, Marion DuVal finds herself trapped
between two forms: a beautiful but darker parallel of herself, and a swan.
Somehow, she must adhere to the wizard’s wishes, but it’s hard to perform epic
magic when your feet are flippers and your neck’s the length of a small fishing
pole. Caught up in a lie of royal proportions, her task is to get close to the
queen, and such a thing is difficult when a certain handsome prince keeps
getting in the way.
One girl; two
identities. Marion must stop the darkness inside her before it’s too late.
Based on the classic
tale of Swan Lake.
Author Bio
Born and bred in Gloucestershire, UK, Rachel Wollaston is a huge lover
of all things fantasy. From an early age, her dream was to be a fairy, but the
pay was no good, so she decided to become a writer instead. A Creative Writing
student, Rachel is the author of young-adult fantasy and loves to build worlds
that she wishes she could be a part of.
Besides writing, Rachel also enjoys a range of other artistic hobbies,
including dancing, drawing, and an unhealthy amount of arts and crafts. You
will almost always find her with a cup of tea and a cat watching old ‘70s
comedies.
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Book Excerpts
I move to sit up but
my limbs feel off-kilter. Since waking, I’ve known something is wrong with me.
I don’t know what, but something’s happened to my body. It takes me a few
minutes to work up the courage to look down, and when I finally do, I’m greeted
with a shock that nearly kills me for the second time today.
I scream. I want to
run. But it’s hard to escape when the only thing you’re running from is
yourself.
In place of my arms,
white, feathered appendages stretch out to my sides: wings. And where my feet
once were, orange flaps of rubbery skin now take their place. I appear to be
some kind of . . .
“Ah, Princess. I see
you are awake.”
My eyes—feeling
strangely out of proportion on my new face—narrow at the familiar voice. Only
one person I know uses that nickname.
“Elward,” I say. Well,
that’s what I mean to say, but what comes out is more of an angry honk. “I
should’ve known you’d be behind this.” I still have little control over my new
body, but manage to turn my head towards the man in the velvet waistcoat. His
face is twisted into the same smug smile he gave me at the guillotine. He
understands my animalistic noises just fine.
“Behind what?” He
raises a straight black eyebrow. “I believe I have just saved your life,
Princess.”
“By doing what?” I
squawk back. “Turning me into some sort of . . . duck?”
Elward rubs at the
stubble on his chin—a gesture I’ve always despised. I wish he wasn’t so
young—then I might hate him a little less. As it is, our proximity in age only
heightens my dislike for him. To think I might have anything in common with the
sorcerer is enough to make me want to retch.
“The term, my dear, is
swan. There is a big difference. I transferred your soul into its body. I found
it dying on the bank. Some sort of heart disease, I think. Be thankful it
wasn’t a skunk I saw first.”
“You turned me into a swan?” I blink. “A dying swan?”
If I still had hands,
they would be clawing through my hair by now. Well, feathers. Curses, has my
whole identity been stripped from me?
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