Page 99 of Kingdom of Feathers

Unless she’d misread him completely, she’d just received a silent proposal.

Her every nerve tingling with excitement, Wren turned back to her family. King Lloyd had waded into the group close behind his wife, his own shock apparently too great for words. He hardly seemed aware of whose arm he was gripping, until his questing hands reached his firstborn son in turn.

“Caleb,” he breathed, and the room went silent.

Wren stilled as well, her eyes fixed anxiously on her oldest brother. She hadn’t yet had a chance to properly look him over, to ascertain the effects of his injuries on his human body. She saw now that one of his arms was held at an awkward angle against him, clearly useless. The effect of her slip ups the day the curse had hit.

He was also holding all his weight on one leg, the other thin and bent. The price he’d paid for Wren’s growing closeness with Basil. A shot of guilt lanced through her happiness, and she looked anxiously to her father, whose gaze was passing slowly from Caleb’s feet all the way up to his face.

“My son,” whispered the king, his voice catching. “You’ve come back to me.” He pitched forward so abruptly, Caleb actually wobbled under his embrace. But King Lloyd didn’t pull back, instead wrapping his two strong arms around his son and holding him upright as he clung to him.

With tears of joy in her eyes, Wren moved through the crowd of her family members until she reached Caleb’s side. As soon as he pulled back from her father’s embrace, she laid her hand on his arm. He smiled down into her face, with the warmth that had always made her feel special.

“Hey, Magpie.”

Wren chuckled as she slipped the chain from around her neck, unclasping it and removing the ring. She offered it to Caleb, and in the midst of a solemn hush, he received it from her and slipped it over his finger.

The crowd started clapping, but one voice rose disastrously above the rest. “But, Your Majesty,” Lord Kinley protested awkwardly. “Prince Caleb is…I mean, look at him.”

King Lloyd’s face went from overjoyed to icy in a heartbeat. “Yes, My Lord?” he prompted, in a tone that would tell anyone but a fool that it was time to stop speaking.

Lord Kinley, unfortunately, was something of a fool. “Well, he’s crippled, Your Majesty,” he said. “And he has a lame arm.”

The crowd seemed to hold its breath as it looked to Caleb. Wren bristled with indignation on her brother’s behalf, but the smile that split Caleb’s face was one of genuine amusement.

“You’re missing the material point, My Lord,” he said with a calm that rivaled Basil’s unflappability. “My arm may be crippled, but it’s an arm. After six years with only wings, I am more than satisfied, I assure you.”

A murmur of appreciative laughter went around the room, and Wren’s heart glowed with pride.

“That’s all very well, Your Highness,” blustered Lord Kinley, but Caleb cut him off.

“Of the two of us, My Lord, I believe I am the only one with experience as a crown prince of this kingdom.” The tiniest hint of ice had entered his voice, increasing his resemblance to his father beside him. “And I can say with confidence that there is absolutely nothing in my current state of health that will prevent me from fulfilling my role with all the capability I ever had.”

Scanning the crowd, Wren’s eyes caught on a head of honey-colored hair. Lady Anneliese had melted back into the crowd when Wren ran to the door to greet the swans, and she now stood a short distance away from Lord Kinley. Her eyes were riveted on Caleb’s form, and tears poured silently down her face.

“Very admirable, Your Highness, of course.” Wren’s eyes snapped back to Lord Kinley in disbelief. The man truly didn’t know when to shut his mouth. “But—”

“Enough.” It was King Lloyd who cut the nobleman off this time, and his voice wasn’t nearly as measured as his son’s. “Another word against your future king, and I will have you arrested for treason.”

Lord Kinley swallowed visibly and subsided. It seemed that even he knew to be silent in face of that threat. The king’s eyes passed to his son, and they softened. “You are wise beyond your years, Caleb. Wiser than I am. Although I hope I’m wise enough not to repeat the same mistake twice.” He looked stricken as he turned to Wren. “For too long I’ve allowed myself to think that the loss of one ability means a total loss of capability. I have no intention of making that mistake when it comes to Caleb’s body, and I’m sorry, Wren, that I ever made that mistake when it came to your voice.”

Wren’s heart swelled at the sincerity in his gaze, but she was aware of every eye in the room on her, and she didn’t feel inclined to display her emotion in front of the whole kingdom. “Thanks Father,” she said matter-of-factly, her voice coming out a little husky but perfectly functional. “Although of course I can use my voice now.”

The sensation caused by the first words she’d spoken in six years was almost as great as that brought on by the swans’ transformation into humans. Her mother actually let out a soft scream, and Basil’s startled gasp was loud enough to draw Wren’s eyes across the distance between them.

But the next moment she was engulfed by her family, and the chattering of the crowd grew so loud she could barely hear Bram’s teasing words about how they were all going to have to put up with her incessant talking again now.

“But I don’t understand,” Queen Liana said, her eyes searching Wren’s face. “You knew all along about your brothers?”

“Of course,” said Wren. “I was even able to communicate with them, in our minds. Only if we were touching,” she added as an afterthought.

The queen’s eyes bulged. “But why didn’t you tell us? And why didn’t you speak all those years if not from the trauma of watching your brothers die?”

Wren drew a deep breath. “It’s a long story, Mother. But the basic summary is that those were the terms of that madwoman’s curse. The counterforce was that if I could be silent for six years, they’d turn back into humans. And I wasn’t just forbidden from speaking aloud. I was also forbidden from communicating what had happened to them in any way. If I failed, they would all die.”

Her parents both gasped audibly. “So…” King Lloyd swallowed. “So all those times we tried to push you to speak…”

“Would have killed us if Wren hadn’t stood strong,” Caleb finished for him. “But she did stand strong. Honestly, I think she must be the strongest person in the kingdom, Father.”

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