Splendid Fall

Ch.13 Sunrise

Chapter 13

Wren heard the doors closed before Darrian's pungent perfume greeted his nose. He quietly closed the book on his lap and looked up, his eyes hooded and his mouth set into a thin line.

"What a nice surprise," Adania, Wren's mother, smiled as she approached her son.

The golden crown on her head never wobbled or swayed. Her long dresses always blew in a wind that seemed to exist only for her. And her glossy orange hair could make the sun blush. Adania was a beautiful queen. She was married to Wren's father, King Talon, when she was only nineteen. And when he passed away, leaving her a widow with a prince too young to rule, Wren's uncle and Talon's brother, Darrian married her.

For the betterment of the kingdom as Darrian would say. A political marriage.

"Morning," Wren muttered as Adania threw her arms around her son and kissed his cheek.

"A very happy happy happy birthday to you," Adania said, leaning back and placing a palm against her son's face.

"Thank you."

"Have you had a chance to celebrate yet?" Darrian laughed from where he stood a few feet away from the mother and son.

Biting down on his jaw, Wren looked up at his uncle, "Yes, I have."

"So?" Darrian waited. "How was she?"

The light in Adania's eyes dimmed slightly as Darrian's laugh filled the room. Her hand slowly slid off her son's face and she took a step back. Wren watched her walk away as she fixed her eyes on the mountains in the distance outside of the balcony.

"Breakfast is ready," Adania said, dismissing the servants around the table.

"The thing was so frail and weak," Darrian said, walking over to the table. "You didn't break her, did you?"

I wish to be presented to the prince with my brass cuffs off so I can blast his face and then stab him and watch him choke on his own blood.

"She was just fine," Wren said, remembering Birdie's words as she stood beside the other jinn, surrounded by guards.

"Let's have breakfast," Adania said, her voice a little louder than before.

Wren looked at the pinched look on his mother's face. Of course, Darrian didn't notice. He never did.

"Do you have any idea what she is?" Darrian took a seat and reached for the meat on the plates. "That hair and those eyes are very unusual."

"Where did the collector say he found her again?" Wren asked.

"Swimming in the glass sea."

"How did she get there?"

"Wren," Adania said calmly as she passed her son a slice of bread. "How are the birds?"

Darrian took a bite of the sausage on his fork as his eyes moved to Adania. He scowled and huffed before reminding the queen what the prince's name was.

"Tamzin," he said. "His crown name is Tamzin."

"He's not my prince," Adania smiled at Wren. "He is my son. My Wren."

"You will confuse people by calling him that."

"It was always meant to be his name," Adania said, shifting her hard eyes to the man at the head of the table. "Talon promised me he would never change it when Wren became prince."

"It doesn't suit a prince!" Darrian said. "Tamzin was chosen by the temples. It's a blessed name. Not like Wren...some kind of winged creature flying around."