Page 103 of Kingdom of Feathers

“A cause in which I will gladly join,” said Wren’s father quickly. “But in good conscience, I must urge you not to reject the offer of reparations too hastily. If you wish to take time to think about it, discuss it with your advisors—”

“I know what my advisors will say,” Basil interjected. “They would most likely share the view my father would have held. But my father and I never saw eye to eye about the true nature of the conflict between our kingdoms.”

King Lloyd frowned, clearly confused, and Basil pushed on. “I’ve told you before that the war was always personal. To be honest, I wish all war was so personal.”

Wren gazed up at Basil’s serious face, amazed anew by the maturity his early responsibility had given him. He was meeting the other king’s eyes unflinchingly, his voice steady and his back straight.

“Most of the time,” Basil explained, “kings wage war from council rooms. They send their soldiers to fight and die in their name, and retain the luxury of lives untouched by war.” He shook his head sadly. “But that wasn’t true for my family, or for yours. I hope the miraculous return of your sons will help begin to heal the devastation you’ve experienced. But my father was never able to find healing, and I don’t just mean for his injury. He couldn’t get over the outrage of being forced to suffer in his own royal body the war that his soldiers should have fought for him.”

Basil sighed. “He didn’t take it well, but perhaps if every king who sends his people to war had to suffer a wound of his own, we would never see another battle. I don’t know that. But I do know that I don’t wish to be a king who expects my people to pay the price for problems that are my responsibility to solve.”

Wren glanced at her father, who looked a little stunned by this speech.

Basil had obviously noticed the expression as well, because he gave a rueful smile. “My point is, there’s been blame on both sides. And I didn’t come to Myst to avenge my father. I came out of a belief that if two kings sit together in a room with a genuine desire to resolve their problems peacefully, they surely must be able to rise from the table with a mutually agreeable solution that doesn’t involve their people in war, or any other terrible sacrifice.”

“An admirable belief,” said Wren’s father. “I haven’t given you much reason to think that I share it, but I do. And I will be glad to sit down with you and hear everything you have to say.”

Basil nodded his thanks. “I look forward to that, Your Majesty. There is still much to discuss—we will, of course, need to reach agreement regarding the border, taking into account the location of the iron ore and the fire jasper. From what I observed in the mine, there is still plenty to be harvested.”

He glanced down at Wren, his face softening into a smile which she responded to instinctively. Listening to his calm convictions filled her heart with such pride, it almost ached.

“But I was hoping to go beyond such agreements,” Basil told King Lloyd. “I wish to seek a more concrete alliance between our kingdoms.”

“You do?” Wren’s father seemed both surprised and gratified, no doubt thinking of his own treatment of the calm young king. “Well, there will be time enough to discuss the details of an alliance—”

“Actually,” Basil once again cut him off, “I’m not, as you’ve gathered, very good at being patient. I was hoping to discuss those particular details now.”

“Very well,” said King Lloyd, sounding taken aback. “What do you propose?”

“Excellent choice of words,” said Basil promptly. Again he smiled down at Wren, and she beamed back at him. “Your Majesty,” said Basil, his eyes still on Wren, “it can come as no surprise to you that after two months in her company, I’m hopelessly in love with your daughter. Now that she’s freed from the role of your heir, and my suggestion won’t be misconstrued as an attempt to annex your kingdom to mine, I wish to marry her and carry her off to Tola with me.”

“A marriage alliance?” King Lloyd repeated, a little stunned. “With Wren?”

“That’s it in a nutshell, yes,” said Basil, laughing a little.

“Wren?” prompted her father, his eyes searching her face. “This is what you want?”

She nodded, pressing closer to Basil’s side. Her eyes passed to her mother’s, laughter in their depths. “I’m sorry I was so difficult when you tried to train me to become queen. I should have listened to every word. It seems I’m going to be queen after all, and much younger than we anticipated. Just not Mistra’s queen.”

“No,” Basil agreed, sending a shiver down Wren’s spine with the whisper just for her. “Myqueen.”

Pulling her gaze from her mother’s brimming eyes, and disregarding the not entirely impressed expressions on her brothers’ faces, Wren turned to face him. “I might not break the habit of silence all at once,” she warned him, a touch anxiously.

“Why should you?” he replied promptly. “We don’t need words as much as other people seem to, do we?”

She smiled, shaking her head. “And,” she pressed, her eyes teasing him, “I’m very determined to knit clothes for waterfowl, whatever your populace thinks of the habit.”

“Even better,” Basil said solemnly. “I’ll adopt an entire flock of geese especially for the purpose.”

“Oi!” Conan’s voice cut across their moment. “We werenotgeese!”

Wren’s laugh was cut off by Basil’s lips once again descending on hers, and the various protests of her brothers were drowned by the cheers of the watching crowd.

Her heart was so full she wondered how her body could contain it. After six years of war, six years of fear, and six years of silence, it was at last time for a new day. Peace for Mistra, freedom for its princes, and the happiest of new beginnings for its princess, who wanted nothing more than to spend her life with the one person who’d heard her when she didn’t even have her voice.

Epilogue

One year later…

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