Page 62 of The Starlit Ring (The Chronicles of Liridin #1)

Queen Tarra shrugged. The motion was graceful, practiced.

I was nearly as in awe of her shoulders as I was her story.

“Eventually. People were slow to accept him, even after he killed Damius, and reclaimed his throne. Shortly after that, it was revealed that King Ilea’s only heir was missing.

Until then, it was widely assumed he was in hiding with his father.

Ilea lived just long enough to regain favor among his subjects.

When he perished, there was a mad hunt for the missing child.

” She sighed. “He was right here all along. Sitting beside us, eating our food, caring for our people, living as one of us.”

“How did he get here?”

“The midwife.” Tarra scowled. “Laney Mill. She confessed to all of it. As I mentioned earlier, Queen Rimsa went into an early labor. In an effort to keep her out of sight, the guards brought her into the dungeons, and that was where Marius was born.” She shuddered.

“I cannot imagine her terror and discomfort. The birth was not an easy one, and she died there, on the dungeon floor. Miss Mill took the infant, and ran.”

I pictured Laney Mill, elderly and stern-faced. No wings graced her back. It would have been impossible to fly to safety. “How did she escape?”

Tarra hummed. “After the siege, she had no choice but to stow away in the back of a cart. I imagine she was well hidden. Better hidden than you were, at any rate.”

I ignored the jab. “And she brought him here?”

“She took a position as a maid in the castle, shortly before the death of Queen Galira. The midwife was unavailable when Queen Galira delivered her child. Miss Mill stepped in. Both mother and child died that night. Mill claimed the dead baby as her own and replaced him with the living one.”

“Why would she do that?” I frowned. As my injury improved, I felt more myself, finally able to think clearly. But none of this made sense. “Didn’t Marius have wings already?”

“She went to great lengths to hide them. A court sorcerer agreed to help her keep the child’s identity hidden for as long as possible.

And she never gave him up. Not really. She graduated from midwife to nursemaid to nanny.

It was through her efforts that Marius’s true nature remained hidden.

” Queen Tarra sighed. “We thought Marius was simply sickly. We didn’t realize that he was reacting to an endless barrage of spells.

When the sorcerer suggested the talisman, it was like a beacon of hope. A chance for Marius to see adulthood.”

“But the talisman just kept his wings hidden,” I finished, recalling the stories Marius had told me. The way he suddenly stopped being ill. The talisman must’ve been gentler, but no less powerful than the spells that he’d been subjected to.

“Apparently, yes,” said Queen Tarra. “I suppose she thought he’d have a better life if he grew up here, raised as a prince, rather than return to Liridin. They would’ve skewered him on sight.”

I sometimes forgot the inherent danger of royalty.

For all the power that kings and queens wielded, for all the ways they could punish and torment their subjects, they had to remember that their subjects could and would do the same to them.

A thousand terrible rulers had died at the hands of their people, and many more would follow.

If Marius had grown up in the Sky Kingdom, he would’ve been in incredible peril.

Even if the midwife had raised him herself in Tocchia, she would’ve never been able to stray far from magic casters.

Eventually, the danger might fade, and Marius’s wings wouldn’t draw so much attention, but that wasn’t something I expected a loving parental figure to chance.

“I think she loved him rather dearly and thought this was his best chance at survival.” The Queen shook her head in disgust. “Obviously, this kind of deception cannot be tolerated, and Miss Mill will face charges.”

Obviously , I thought. The word rang hollow.

How terrible that the woman Marius joked had raised him was probably going to die for the crime of having saved his life.

But I understood how royal bloodlines were valued, how carefully heirs were conceived and raised.

This kind of lie would not go unpunished, whatever the intent may be.

“How terrible,” I said, staring down at my rumpled sheets, the outline of my legs and feet.

“I know,” said Queen Tarra, contrite. “I can only imagine the position she was in. She and Marius would be killed on sight if the Sky Kingdom learned of a woman with a winged infant. It’s something of a miracle that we only just now discovered the truth.”

“What about the sorcerer? Will he be punished, too?”

Queen Tarra’s lip curled. “He’s been dead for five years.

No, I’m afraid the gods have already judged him.

” She sighed, and examined her flawlessly buffed fingernails, searching for imperfections that didn’t exist. “King Hergarv is in awful shock. He and the sorcerer were quite close for years, and he had no idea.”

Of course no one told him. Why would King Hergarv expect the sorcerer to confess to something like this? But I bit my tongue. “That does sound appalling,” I lied.

“It is, isn’t it? But we are a court of lies and deceit, after all.

Neither you nor Marius was who you claimed to be.

” She clucked her tongue. “Ordinarily, you would’ve been punished for this, but given the circumstances, and the potential for war with both Liridin and Olmstead, we’ve elected to grant you amnesty. ”

“Your Highness,” I breathed, eyes going wide. “ Thank you. ”

She regarded me thoughtfully. “I think of Marius as my son. I will not see him harmed. Do not give me a reason to hurt you. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Your Highness.” I could barely believe it. No trial. No fight for my life. Just clemency.

“Now,” she said, rising from her chair. “Do rest and recover, and I’ll see you at the wedding.”

She disappeared in a flurry of skirts. The guards followed, armor clanging as they went.