Page 64 of A Touch of Royalty
“Good morning, Highnesses, First Wizard,” their Housekeeper chirped as she walked into the room followed by three footmen with breakfast and two maids with plates and silverware.
The woman looked at Emryn and offered her an envelope. “This just arrived for you, Highness.”
Emryn reached for it, but Asan got there first, bubbling the letter and pulling toward him. “Thank you, I will take it from here.”
“As you say,” the woman looked offended, and marched out of the room as the other servants were setting up breakfast.
Asan sighed quietly and looked at the letter. “I will take this to my room and examine it. Do not wait to eat, I will return as soon as I have found the letter safe.”
42
CHANGE
Cas watched Asan leave the room and turned back to Emryn with the poultice on his arm. “He said not to wait, shall we eat?”
“What are we doing today, Cas?” She walked over to the table and sat down. “Is there anything else we need to do here?”
“I should tour the lands while I’m here,” He said after a moment. “The people like to see me and it gives the headmen of the villages a chance to air any grievances that they have.”
“Would you prefer to go alone?” Emryn asked.
“Mother, no.” He shook his head. “Do you know what they’d do to my if I didn’t introduce my wife?”
Emryn giggled, the sound high and musical. “Overrun, no doubt.”
“Utterly mobbed,” he replied, winking at her. “No, I’d like to have you along if you wish.”
“I’d like that,” she said, looking down at her plate and applying herself to breakfast. “I’ll just need to figure out what I’m wearing and my- well, you know.”
“I hadn’t even thought of that.” He smacked himself in the forehead. “Your riding habit won’t accommodate your wings, will it?”
Emryn shook her head. “Maybe it’s best if I stay here.”
“We can figure it out.” He reached across the table and took her hand. “I have a feeling that Asan already has a plan. We just need to get it out of him.”
“I take it you are discussing me?” Asan walked back into the room with the letter in his hands. “Nothing nefarious, Emryn. Just an invitation to tea with the headman’s wife from the village next door.”
Emryn took the letter, skimming the contents and nodding. “I’ll write back to her and accept.” She rose and left the room to Cas and Asan.
“Do you have a plan for her wings?” Cas asked bluntly. “I want to take her when I ride the land, but I want her to be able to camouflage the wings. To be safe.”
“I have the beginnings of a thought on that,” Asan said slowly. “It may or may not work.”
“Tell me about it and maybe talking it out will help.” Cas leaned back in his chair. “We still have a discussion to have about the nature of magic.”
Asan chuckled. “I did threaten you with that, didn’t I?”
Cas nodded. “We had a discussion about that a few years back, but there was a lot of wine involved.”
“Well then,” Asan nodded, “if the wings are manifesting because she is tapping into her soul, then terminating that connection temporarily should remove the wings.”
“Is that the best idea?” Cas asked. “Can we be certain that a reconnection is possible?”
“The scarring I saw on her back when the wings appeared says she has done it before.” Asan replied, forking up an egg andputting it on his toast. “And if she has connected multiple times, it should be possible again.”
Cas nodded, turning that over in his head. “As long as she isn’t tearing them out.”
“That was a compulsion,” Asan said, swallowing his toast. “I removed it, so it should not be an issue going forward.”
