Page 48 of Kingdom of Feathers

What was that about, Wren?

She shook her head, not sure if she wanted to alarm the boys with her fears.Doesn’t matter.

Ari narrowed his beady eyes at her, but didn’t press for more information.Keep your secrets, then,he said, a little huffily.I think I’m going to go for a fly over the woods, maybe visit the clearing, check if there’s anything to see.

Be careful, said Wren anxiously. She knew it wasn’t the season for hunting swans, but she still felt nervous any time her brothers mingled with their truly avian brethren.And Ari?she added, as he spread his wings for take off.

He looked questioningly back at her, and she felt her heart speed up again at the memory of Sir Gelding’s astonishment.

No more trips into the castle.

Chapter Twelve

Basil frowned to himself as he paced down the corridor. After only a day, the castle was already becoming familiar. Once he’d grasped the layout, with the central garden, it became quite easy to navigate the four main wings.

Not that his thoughts were on the architecture. They were on Princess Wren. She’d never showed up to breakfast, even though he’d lingered uncharacteristically over his food in the hope that she was still coming, and he’d seen no sign of her since. He certainly hadn’t seen King Lloyd, or anyone else who could actually assist him in his goals.

And now it was almost time for lunch. What if the princess didn’t attend that meal, either? She hadn’t told him where to meet her, or what time. Was she intending to honor her offer to speak further that afternoon? Or had she given him an empty promise to get rid of him?

He didn’t think so. She might not use many words, but her communication still seemed too direct for such stratagems. And she hadn’t seemed uncomfortable in his presence. Surprised, certainly, by his brazen questions. But if he was reading her correctly, she hadn’t been offended.

The desire to understand the secret of her restraint was becoming more consuming by the second. He half wished he hadn’t called a meeting of his team, so that he could go looking for her right away. But that would be losing sight of his objective—he needed to know what his people had discovered.

He’d barely reached his rooms when there was a smart rap on the door. One of the advantages of being king was that no one ever kept him waiting. At his curt command, Lord Baldwin entered the room, followed closely by two of the guards, the enchantress merchant and her husband, and three servants from the delegation.

“Thank you for coming,” said Basil promptly, casting his eyes over the assembled group. “What do you have to report?”

The enchantress cleared her throat. “We believe we’ve discovered the purpose of the artifact the princess wears, Your Majesty.”

“We?” Basil asked.

She nodded her head toward one of the servants, and the girl stepped forward with a curtsy. “We teamed up, Your Majesty. We thought people might not want to talk to us Entolians, but servants always chatter. It wasn’t hard for me to hear things that others wouldn’t.” She smiled tentatively at the enchantress. “With a bit of guidance about what I was looking for, of course.”

“An excellent notion,” Basil said, with an approving nod. He was pleased to see such initiative in his companions. “And what’s the purpose of the artifact?”

“Supposedly, it carries a basic protection charm,” the servant said.

The enchantress made a noise of protest, a smile curling her lips. “There’s nothing basic about it, Your Majesty,” she told Basil. “A protective enchantment strong enough to leave someone unharmed by a curse intended to kill them would require very strong magic. The artifact must have cost a small fortune.”

Basil frowned. “And the princess was wearing it when she and her brothers were attacked?”

“Apparently there’s quite a drama around that,” the maid chimed in again, an eager tinge to her voice. “The crown prince—Prince Caleb, his name was—always wore it. It’s the ring traditionally carried by the king’s heir, although King Lloyd apparently had it reset before he presented it to his son. But the rumor is that when the group was attacked, Prince Caleb put it on his little sister, to protect her.”

Basil frowned as he thought this over. Princess Wren’s words in the garden came back to him. No wonder she felt a survivor’s guilt.

“They say,” the maid continued, “that everyone knows even King Lloyd wishes it had been Prince Caleb who’d been wearing it, not Princess Wren.”

Basil’s frown grew. He sincerely hoped the king had never said anything of that nature to his daughter. In spite of King Lloyd’s anger at their early morning meeting, he’d formed a better impression of the Mistran monarch than that. He thought of his own father’s unwillingness to accept Zinnia as a back up heir, and let out a sigh. Clearly Mistra’s princess had plenty to contend with. Was her silence some kind of bizarre response to all the opposition?

“Thank you,” he said aloud. “You’ve done well.” He turned to the two guards standing next to the merchant. “Anything you wish to report on?”

One shook his head. “Nothing of note, Your Majesty. We spent most of the morning in the barracks. But while we’re speaking of the princess…I’ve gotten the impression that the local guards are very loyal to King Lloyd, but not overly eager about the prospect of serving the princess as queen one day. I think the crown prince was very popular.”

“All of which puts the kingdom in a weak position, Your Majesty,” the other guard pointed out. “Which can only work in our favor, surely.”

Basil shook his head. “I disagree,” he said flatly. “Perhaps if Mistra intended to annex our kingdom, we might not wish to see them in a strong position. But I hold to what I’ve always said—if King Lloyd had dreams of conquest, he would have moved against us a long time ago. A weak kingdom is an unstable kingdom, and I don’t want that for a neighbor.”

The guard looked chastened, but before he could respond, the young servant cleared her throat nervously. Basil looked back at her expectantly, and she spoke in a rush.

---