A Crown of Echoes

by Brindi Quinn

  “Just trust me on this, okay? Your efforts are wasted.” He scowled and looked at the ground. “I don’t like seeing you face needless disappointment.”

  Windley knew something he wasn’t telling me, and it was at the behest of Rafe—that much was easy to deduce. But what did it have to do with me? I supposed I should be happy that the loner confided in someone, at least. Guy talk really was a thing.

  “Well, if that isn’t vague and ominous,” I said. “But I understand if you don’t want to break his trust. I’ll try to go easier on him, though it isn’t in my nature to be distant.”

  “I know,” said Windley, subdued.

  In the aftermath, we were quiet, listening to the near crackle of the fire I had built as it chewed its wood, both of us drenched in glow from the setting sun. The expanse of heavens and earth stretched at our fronts.

  “Now it’s your turn,” said Windley.

  “Hm?” I cocked my head at him.

  “There’s something you mean to ask me now that we’re alone, right? I can tell, so get on with it.”

  He wasn’t wrong. But damn his intuition. Sometimes, he was able to put things into words I wasn’t even fully aware of yet myself.

  The truth was, ever since leaving the Cove, I had been searching for the best way to ask how he was coping with Beau’s disappearance. His queen’s disappearance. The only problem was I wasn’t sure how to do so without uncorking a flood of Beau-centric emotions myself. To make things more complicated, Windley wasn’t technically my guard, and technically, this wasn’t even my mission. It was a strange dynamic. I was sort of borrowing him to find my friend while adding no real value to the situation. Even the widowbirds had stayed away—despite my occasional blow on the whistle—and that was the one thing I had hoped to contribute.

  Windley was Beau’s guard, and he had every right to be as upset about her disappearance as I was, but I hadn’t even managed to ask how he was handling it. With Windley, it was always easy to get lost in banter and harder to muster the things that needed to be said.

  “We’ll find her, Queen Merrin.” He beat me to it, securing my Beau-shaped cork back into place. “Just keep looking forward and I’ll do the same.” He offered me his hand and a relaxed smile. “Deal?”

  My first impulse was to take it, but as I reached out to meet him, something unseen moved through the air around me. For a flash second, my mind recalled to when he had told me, in not so many words, that he liked seeing me in that sapphire gown.

  A familiar wing-like flutter settled upon the back of the neck. I cupped it with the hand I had been about to offer Windley.

  “Windley,” I said, “last night, when you showed me your power… Do you have the ability to make a person feel that way even without touching them?”

  He dropped his hand and gave me a different kind of grin this time, one I wasn’t sure how to read. “If I have that effect on you, it isn’t because of any magical power,” he said.

  “I didn’t say you had any such effect. I was only curious.”

  His grin lingered, bathed in dusky light.

  Chapter 11

  Thank Luna

  With the last of the sun’s light, we returned to the others, ate the meal Rafe had prepared—a bit heavy on the carrots—then retired for the night. Rafe took first watch while Albie formed a barricade between Windley and me. Per usual, the wrinkled knight was first to fall asleep, filling the canvas with nasally snores that ruffled his mustache.

  “Oh, my goddess. Can’t we stick him in his own tent?!” Windley thrashed about dramatically. “You need to change your ruling, Queen Merrin. I say one tent for us and one for Sir Albie.”

  Windley’s discomfort was hilarious. “Next time, we’ll make him take first watch to give us a chance to fall asleep,” I said but failed to hide the laughter on my tongue.

  “It isn’t funny!” Windley turned to his side and crammed the bedding atop his exposed ear. “It’s in your best interest that your escorts be well-rested, isn’t it? Stop laughing at my agony!” Yet there was a hint of humor in his voice, too.

  “Goodnight, Windley.” I burrowed into my blankets and concentrated on my own breathing to block out Albie’s.

  Some minutes later, the scent of charred firewood roused me from the edges of sleep.

  “Stop it, Windley,” I said, half-asleep.

  “Excuse you?” his voice retorted.

  Oh, the scent had nothing to do with Windley. It was Rafe, disrupting the tent’s canvas folds and poking his head into the darkness. “Your Majesty? Are you awake?”

  I pushed up from my mess of blankets that looked to have been wrestled with. Of all the things I was, a tidy sleeper was not one of them. “I am now.”

  “I apologize, but I didn’t think this could wait,” he said. “It appears you have a visitor.”

  For a moment, I thought he was joking—we hadn’t crossed any people for miles—but it was unlike Rafe to jest, especially now, in the middle of the night, on a journey to rescue a lost queen. And was it just me, or did he sound eager?

  Windley, who was nowhere near the edges of sleep, unwound the blanket tied around his head and scurried along after us, keen to have an excuse away from Albie’s snoring. The scent of char intensified as we stepped into the ebony night.

  When I first saw the visitor of which Rafe spoke, my heart leapt. The only thing better would have been the lost queen herself, for perched atop the tent was a sleek black bird with a humorously long tail.

  “A widowbird!” I gasped and offered forth my arm as a new perch for the creature. “Did Beau send you?” In response, the bird glided from the tip of the tent to my arm, a tiny roll of parchment attached to its leg. “Well done!”

  “How did it find you all the way out here?” Windley asked suspiciously, folding his arms and leaning against the trunk of the willow. “I assumed they only traveled between castles.”

  A common misconception.

  “Widowbirds can sense royal blood,” I said as I unrolled the scroll. “Unless stopped by external forces, they always find their mark.”

  “It senses blood?” Windley frowned at its feathers.

  “Supposedly it’s part of a pact made long ago,” I said, fingers shaking from excitement, “but who knows. I’ve found that people often create stories in the absence of understanding. Regardless—” I held up the roll of paper triumphantly. “This is exactly why I wanted to come along!”

  Windley raised an eyebrow, impressed “Not bad, lion queen.”

  Rafe’s reaction was something else entirely. The young guard was standing nearer to me than he usually came, so that I could even smell his boyish scent, and he was craning his neck to see the contents of the message, formality be damned.

  Glad to hear you’re wearing in your new shoes. The southern mountain is huger than I expected. Give Timber my regard.

  Sure enough, the elegant script was Beau’s. Stifling my own beating heart, I read it aloud. Wearing in my new shoes? Beau was glad we were voyaging to her. And she seemed to be acknowledging that we were on track by seeking out Giant’s Necropolis. The last part though. That was puzzling.

  Timber was a codename…

  For Rafe.

  Upon hearing it, the handsome magician with the bored eyes and wavy hair dropped to his knees beside the fire and slammed his fists into the earth.

  “She’s alive,” he panted. “Thank Luna.”

  The events that next transpired made me question my own astuteness—or lack thereof. Sure, you can think you’re clever or perceptive or an of-the-people for-the-people type, but you might be wrong. You might be blinded to the obvious, even when it concerns those closest to you.

  Rafe was doubled over, hands in the dirt and shaking from all manner of emotions I didn’t recognize.

  “Rafe? And Beau, she…” The words fumbled in my mouth like soup that was too hot.

  The dawning of realization came on slowly. Rafe’s strange behavior the night we found out Beau was miss
ing. Rafe claiming there ‘were ways’ to climb up to Beau’s bedchamber window. Rafe’s symptoms of sadness he tried so desperately to hide.

  I turned to Windley. “Are Rafe and Beau…?”

  “The scamps hid it well.” Windley held his chin. “The only reason I know is because I caught him mourning the night I came to your castle.”

  Then that meant…

  I dropped to all fours beside the emotional guard. “Rafe, are you Beau’s lover?”

  He didn’t need to answer. The evidence piled as I retraced my memories.

  How far back did it go? He had always been one to avoid the advances of my handmaids as he sat poetically in the courtyard, reading novels and twisting locks of his hair. I always figured he had an interesting life outside of the castle; never did I imagine that life included secret rendezvous with my sister queen.

  And Beau! That fox! Why hadn’t she told me?

  Because that sort of thing was forbidden, and Rafe was my guard, not hers. She likely viewed their affair as disrespectful to me. She likely felt ashamed. After all, queens were expected to take mates from the bloodlines of other royals.

  “Forgive me, Your Majesty.” When Rafe looked up from the dirt, his eyes were glossed. “I’ve broken our royal covenant. I didn’t mean to advance on her, but I couldn’t help myself. I understand if you wish to banish me but please let me help you retrieve her first. Please.”

  Banish? Who did he think I was?

  “Are you kidding?” my mouth blurted.

  He took it wrong and grimaced. “Very well. I know I’m undeserving.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” I shook my head at him. “Of course, you aren’t deserving of her, but only because no one is deserving of her. Beau is perfect in every way, and there are many who have vied for her. I’ve always fretted over who might win her heart, but you’re far from the worst she could do, Rafe. You’re strong and even-tempered. It may not be possible for you to get married or have a conventional life, but if she loves you, then I would do nothing to jeopardize it.” I took his shoulder carefully. “What I mean is, the only way you’re getting banished is if you break her heart.” I showed him my teeth. “That’s if I don’t murder you first.”

  Rafe furrowed his brow. “You mean you would allow me to remain in the guard, even with this transgression?”

  Windley exhaled a whistle. “I told you she wouldn’t care,” he said, singsong.

  “Of course. Albie can’t know, though,” I said, eyeing the tent with caution. “He’ll have you transferred to one of the other queendoms if he finds out.”

  Rafe transitioned into a reverent kneel, like one about to be knighted, and clutched his chest. “Thank you, Your Majesty. Your reaction is more merciful than I unexpected.”

  “That isn’t necessary, Rafe.” I gestured for him to stand before I turned to Windley: “And you keep your mouth shut too.”

  “Isn’t that what I’ve already been doing?” Windley put a hand to his hip haughtily. “I can keep a secret too, you know.”

  He had a point.

  “I have so many questions, Rafe. But I know you would hate that, so I’ll save them for Beau. I’m just glad to know we’re aligned in our love for her. It means you’ll do whatever it takes to rescue her.” I reread Beau’s handwriting. “I take this to mean we’re heading in the right direction, too.”

  Rafe nodded, words caught in his throat.

  How quickly hope had returned to our lives. Wherever the scandalous queen was, she was in such a position that she could manage to send a secret message. I patted the widowbird to show my gratitude, but it left me, flying for a branch above Windley. Windley pawed at it, still creeped out by the blood pact thing.

  I hadn’t noticed before, but at some point during the night, his hair had tinted from white to whitish lavender.

  He sidled up next to Rafe. “You’ve had a night, chap. Why don’t you turn in? I can take over your watch.”

  Rafe shook his head. “I won’t be able to sleep right now. Give me time to collect myself. I’ll wake you after midnight.”

  “If it’s even possible to sleep with that racket,” Windley muttered, exposing the truth of why he had offered to take Rafe’s place. And here I thought he was just being nice.

  We left the lovesick guard dealing with his mess of emotions beside the fire. I thought of him embracing Beau in the moonlight, under Luna’s beams, and somehow it seemed fitting. Not that it could ever be known to the world. The world would never allow a queen as fair as Beau to be partnered with a knave.

  Upon entering the tent, we found that Albie’s snoring had ceased, for the old knight had finally rolled onto his side. In doing so, though, he had rolled right over to the side of the tent previously occupied by Windley.

  “Now what?!” Windley looked from my nest at the side of the tent to the vacancy in the middle of the floor and then back to my nest. “This feels like a trap.”

  Because now our only options were to wake Albie and be subjected to more of his snoring or to disobey his rule and sleep beside one another. As I had already made clear, it wasn’t a problem for me. I trusted Windley like my own handmaid.

  “Just lie down. I’ll explain to Albie what happened. Besides, by the time he wakes up, you’ll have switched places with Rafe anyway.” I returned to my nest and patted the ground beside me. “He won’t see you sleeping near me. And I have a feeling that of the two of you, his concerns side more with you.”

  “Psh, ME? Why do you say that? I’m not the one who’s been sneaking off to devour sweet Queen Beau.”

  “You have that look about you,” I said. “Rafe at least seems harmless.” In fact, he was the sort of guy that seemed afraid to touch a woman too harshly for fear of breaking her.

  Taking that into consideration, Windley lowered himself to the ground. “It’s your fault if I get whipped.” He turned onto his side like a toddler, pouting, “Sir Albie’s got my favorite blanket too. The scoundrel.”

  “Would you rather the blanket or the silence?” I threw him a spare of mine.

  Something about the moment felt a little heightened. Probably because I was hopped up on romance from learning of Beau’s affair.

  I bade myself to sleep, but it was difficult now that I knew the truth. I imagined Beau and Rafe together, sneaking off during the nights at the treetop fort. I imagined him riding off to see her during his sabbaticals. How had Windley managed to keep quiet about it all this time? It was so scandalous! Not to mention, Rafe was young. Of age, but younger than Beau, Windley, and me.

  How had it started? When had it started?

  Once we recovered Beau, she and I desperately needed to sort through these details over numerous glasses of wine and ample piles of sweets. I missed her so.

  In her absence, I wished to gossip with Windley about it, but because I knew he would be allotted fewer hours of rest than I would, I was determined not to disrupt him. It was strange though, lying beside him. I could hear his breath. I considered that maybe my own breathing was too loud, so I tried to suppress it. In the end, I had to take an even louder breath to catch up.

  And now it seemed as though I was panting in my sleep.

  “Why aren’t you sleeping?” Windley hissed. “The racing of your thoughts is palpable and it’s distracting. Knock it off in there.”

  “I’m trying!” I said, frustrated, and rolled to face him. “But it’s a lot to take in.”

  “Are you thinking of them groping one another?” he said.

  “I am now.”

  He snorted.

  I couldn’t make out his face, only see the shine of his black irises through the dark, gleaming like coal. I waited for them to close before closing my own.

  After an unknown passing of time, I thought I heard Windley’s whisper encroaching on the edges of dream: “Still awake? I can help you sleep, you know. I only need to touch you, Merrin.”

  My stomach knotted at his use of my name.

  Was this real, though? It
felt like a dream. It tasted like a dream.

  Sleepy, I reached out and offered him the tip of my finger. Only, instead of touching it to his, he took my wrist and pulled me into a warm cuddle.

  A dream for sure. He would never be so brazen in real life. And because it was a dream, I didn’t protest.

  Like last time, Windley’s Spirite power felt intoxicatingly good. With his arms around me, my body exploded in shivers and my pulse quickened in my chest.

  “Are you ready?” said his whisper. “I’m going to turn it on.”

  But… hadn’t he already…?

  No, the feeling changed into something even more. With dream Windley pressed against me, I sank into a relaxed, safe state that was like melting. Waves of warmth reverberated through my body as I drifted into cozy and dreamless slumber.

  “It feels good to hold you at last… my queen.”

  Chapter 12

  The Emerald Wood

  “Time to rise, My Queen.” In the dewy dawn, Albie drew me from slumber. I opened my eyes to find that I was appropriately alone at the edge of the tent, cuddled with only my blankets. Per usual, my hair billowed out in every direction, disrupted from the night. I always woke up looking much worse than when I went to sleep.

  Albie seemed chipper enough, his smile lines creased, meaning he had seen nothing inappropriate the night before.

  That was because it was a dream.

  Of course it was. In it, Windley had called me his queen, something he had never called me before and something he shouldn’t be calling me now. Beau was his queen, not me. Apparently, I had projected Beau’s romance onto my own situation, and the result was a snuggle-infused reverie featuring the pointy-eared hound.

  “Your hair really is most unruly in the morning, lion queen.”

  Windley was acting himself. Not like we had done something wayward. Because it was a dream. The way he’d surrounded me and settled his lips near to but not touching my neck. The way we had breathed in unison. The waves of warmth lulling me to sleep.

  I swatted him away and tended to Ruckus, who was grazing a short distance away, as the rest of the guard packed up the site and prepared for departure.