Page 100 of Kingdom of Feathers

His eyes glowed with pride as he looked at Wren, and she felt a curious tangle of joy and guilt. “I didn’t always stand strong,” she corrected her brother. “Caleb’s arm is like that because I slipped up twice on the first day. Once when I shouted at the enchantress as she was dying, and once when I started writing out what had happened.”

Her father looked stricken, clearly remembering that moment.

“And his leg is my fault as well,” said Wren, feeling the need for full confession. She glanced apologetically at Basil, not wanting to suggest that he was somehow to blame. “Our visitor saw far too much of the boys in their swan forms because of me, and he started to figure it out from watching them.” She frowned. “Although I still don’t fully understand why him figuring it out breached the curse.”

“I think I do,” Basil chimed in unexpectedly. He approached closer, and Wren found herself gravitating toward him without conscious thought. He put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her against his side—somewhat daringly, Wren thought, given that he was technically still supposed to be under arrest. “I didn’t figure it out from watching them. I started putting some pieces together from watchingyouinteracting with them. I think maybe your behavior was communicating the truth, however unintentionally.”

Wren nodded slowly, thinking it over. “The curse must have considered that in line with me finding a non-verbal way to tell you their situation.”

“That’s some seriously strict magic,” muttered Ari mutinously.

“My injuries are absolutely not Wren’s fault,” Caleb said calmly. He bent a stern look upon her. “As I’ve told her many times. Far from doing anything to harm any of us, she is an absolute heroine for the sacrifice she’s made for us for six uncomplaining years.”

“Hear, hear,” chorused Wren’s other brothers, and she felt heat creeping up her neck.

“Wren, my darling,” her mother’s voice was choked with tears, “carrying that burden all this time, from so young. And we never knew. You are a heroine!”

Wren disclaimed feebly, but it was Basil’s voice in her ear that finally stilled her mumbling. “You see, everyone agrees with me. You’re the most incredible woman in Solstice.”

For a moment Wren struggled vainly for words, then she remembered that she’d never needed words with Basil. It was comforting to realize that even though shecouldspeak now, it didn’t mean she had to. The thought made her feel slightly more secure in her wonderful but overwhelming new reality. She leaned into Basil’s side, relishing in the fact that there was no more need for fear, and no more reason to hide anything from him.

“I love you,” she said quietly, and heard his breath catch. She turned her face toward him and smiled up into his awestruck eyes. Some words were worth speaking aloud, of course.

“It still makes no sense,” King Lloyd said, thankfully not having noticed his daughter’s intimate moment with the king he might still consider an enemy. “Why would the enchantress want to turn the princes into swans? And why would Wren’s silence be the counterforce to the curse?”

“She didn’t intend to turn us into swans,” cut in Averett dryly. “She intended to kill all seven of us. But she was a few turrets short of a castle, if you know what I mean, and we somehow ended up as waterfowl instead.” He nodded at Wren. “And Caleb’s ring protected Wren altogether, of course. Only then the madwoman got a bit annoyed about Wren talking over the top of her attempts to die in the peace of her successful revenge, and she decided to mold her counterforce into the most random thing she could think of.” He gave a grim smile. “She assumed Wren wouldn’t be able to do it, of course—who could?—and figured we’d die in the end anyway.”

“But she was wrong,” said Ari, shouldering Basil out of the way and slinging a proud arm around Wren’s shoulder himself.

Basil fell back with a good grace, his eyes laughing at Wren in a way that reminded her he was an older brother himself. A moment later his eyes fell on Sir Gelding, standing wide eyed and shocked between four dazed-looking guards, and his expression hardened.

“The real question, Your Majesty,” Basil said curtly, “is who would be irresponsible enough to give such a great amount of power to someone so unhinged.”

King Lloyd turned slowly, his eyes passing between Basil and Sir Gelding. Some of his joy melted away, replaced by a pucker of confusion between his brows. “It seems there was a great deal I didn’t know,” he said slowly, looking between the young king and the white-faced enchanter. “I don’t intend to be hasty in my assumptions again.” He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully at Basil. “You stand by your claim that it was not the Entolian crown which gave power to the enchantress who attacked my children?”

“Absolutely, Your Majesty,” Basil said firmly. “We had nothing to do with it.”

Wren’s father seemed to measure Basil with his gaze. “Whether or not that is the case, you must realize I cannot simply ignore the allegation made against you, that you attempted this very morning to incite my daughter to treason.”

Ari let out a snort, his arm still around Wren’s shoulder. “This morning? Personally I found the sight of King Basil kissing Wren a bit nauseating, but treason is a stretch.”

Wren elbowed him in the ribs, torn between laughter and embarrassment. Her eyes flicked to Basil’s, to find him already looking at her. His expression was one of long-suffering, but there was a warmth in his eyes that sent tingles up her spine.

“He kissed her?” Bram interjected, sounding startled. “In front of you all? That was bold.”

“To be fair,” Basil pointed out mildly, “I didn’t realize all her brothers were watching.”

“Not all,” Bram corrected. “I left the pond before then. When I woke up and found that I was still a swan, I wasn’t inclined to float around and cry about it. I saw that Wren and King Basil were both there, so I did my customary search of the area, to check for any threats.” His eyes grew hard as they passed to Sir Gelding. “Which is how I sawhimhiding behind a hedge, working some kind of magic which sent a branch plummeting toward Wren’s head.”

“What?!” King Lloyd started visibly, fury once again clouding his gaze as he turned to the enchanter.

“It’s not exactly the first time he’s tried to kill her, though, is it?” Averett added matter-of-factly. “We all just heard him tell her that she was the actual target of the attack six years ago.”

A deathly hush fell over the group, spreading out across the whole room. King Lloyd turned to Sir Gelding, and Wren could see the last of his skepticism fall away. There would be no more wriggling out of it for the enchanter.

Sir Gelding went pale under the look Wren’s father was giving him, but this time, the king’s voice was quite calm.

“It seems we have our answer as to who would give excessive power to a murderous lunatic and send her after my children.”

---