Page 57 of Beacon

“Happy to hear it.” The king gave the princess’s hand another affectionate pat. “Now I’m afraid I must take my leave and have your husband accompany me, but I look forward to visiting with you later. In the meantime, continue to rest, my dear, and do keep me informed what the physician says.”

His Majesty turned to leave, but rather than follow, the prince lingered by his wife’s side long enough to lean close and whisper. “I wish you could attend the meeting with me.”

“Me too,” Princess Seren whispered back. “I look forward to hearing all about it.”

“It’s a date.” He gave her a quick kiss before following the king from the room. Princess Seren smothered her growing smile with her hand, but the corners peeked beneath her fingers, causing her to look less like a proper royal and more like a woman in love.

The handmaiden, Reece, giggled the moment the door closed behind them. “He’s as romantic as ever. A woman does love to be wooed with reports.”

The princess’s cheeks pinked but her smile didn’t fade. “The gesture was sweet.” She accepted the documents when Reece retrieved them from their hiding place and smiled down at them rather fondly.

Reece watched her stroke the reports almost…lovingly. “Thinking of the reports…or the man who brought them?”

The princess’s blush deepened as she held them close to her chest. “It was the gesture behind it.”

“His Highness does know you well.”

Princess Seren smiled to herself. “I was unusually restless today, but I didn’t even need to say anything; somehow he sensed it.” With a happy sigh, she promptly began her assignment and pored over the documents with the most content of expressions.

Reece returned to her embroidery, but I continued to watch the princess, my mind repeating her last words:I didn’t even need to say anything.

The princess’s observation embodied my entire relationship with Owen. Despite my silence, we’d been able to forge a wonderful friendship…but it wasn’t until this moment that I realized how much deeper it could possibly go. Her words illuminated the growing feelings that seemed to be rising in my heart like the coming tide, ones just as impossible to stop.

But even if I could, I didn’t want it to stop. For as much as I cherished what Owen and I had already created, I wanted…more, for him to know me as well as Prince Ronan knew his wife…even without my having to say anything at all. Even as I yearned for this deep connection, my desires from earlier to be heard still lingered, aching to be acted upon.

No, Marisa, you’ll never be able to speak again. And for the first time since my silence, that thought sent me a wave of regret.

CHAPTER20

It wasn’t often I became impatient with Owen, but my growing need to speak currently made any other emotion impossible. My growing desires to be heard seemed to have eclipsed whatever reserves of patience I’d managed to maintain since losing my voice…leaving me nothing to rely on now.

Over the course of our relationship, Owen’s ability to understand me and my gestures had only grown…yet he couldn’t do it perfectly. Even when he was able to guess my feelings with some accuracy, there were always missing pieces in his understanding; he could only decipher what I felt on a simple level, as if he was swimming at the sea’s surface when there was an entire ocean to explore, nuances of thoughts I was growing increasingly desperate to share with him.

Though I could communicate quite a bit of everyday matters with him, due to Owen’s current level of sign language, sharing any sort of deeper feelings required much more than I could currently express with rudimentary signs, expressions, and only a beginner’s level of literacy. My inability to communicate more deeply had never bothered me before…but it did now. I couldn’t understand how I’d spent a decade content with my thoughts remaining a mystery to those around me only to suddenly, desperately want a man whom I’d known less than a month to discover them.

Owen sighed, the first sign of his own faltering patience since we’d begun our usual game of “guess what Marisa is thinking” nearly ten minutes ago. He considered my folded arms and lifted chin. “You’re angry,” he surmised.

I rolled my eyes.Thatwas certainly obvious. Usually, he became pleased whenever he was able to accurately guess my emotions, but this time he only sighed.

“I’mtrying, Marisa. I want you to be able to express yourself and to know what you’re thinking and feeling as much as possible.”

That softened me, leaving me embarrassed by my overreaction. I wanted to apologize, but suddenly the thought of trying to express even that simple sentiment through pantomime felt exhausting.

Another sigh filled the tense silence, this one from the other end of the room where Princess Seren sat with another pile of reports Prince Ronan had managed to sneak her, which she’d been contentedly going over while Owen and I had been spending time together…before our breakdown in communication.

“This is entirely impractical,” she said without looking up from her work, not even a scolding being enough to distract her from her duties.

Owen frowned. “She can’t speak, and I can’t yet understand her signs fluently, leaving us few options.”

His tone was defensive, as if desperate to share the blame for our miscommunication and protect me against any hurt the princess’s words might have caused, which effectively caused the last of my annoyance to slip away until none remained towards him…though it lingered against myself. I couldn’t help once more reflecting that when I’d given up my voice, I’d never imagined a time would come when I’d miss it; now its absence acted as a barrier between me and all I ached to share with Owen.

Princess Seren lowered her current document with an exasperated look. “The solution is obvious: she must learn to communicate in an effective manner, and since she can’t speak, the next best method is to do so through writing. With how many mistakes in communication you’ve both already experienced, I’m surprised you haven’t drawn such a conclusion.”

“I’m already teaching her to read.”

Princess Seren’s eyebrows lifted. “I’m relieved you’ve not only considered the solution but have acted on it. How far have your lessons progressed?”

“We’ve finished the alphabet, as well as learned to sound out some short, easy words.” He swelled up at the declaration, as if proud of himself.

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