"Anna, you mustn't speak."
"B-" I don't even get the first word out before my grandmother claps her hand over my mouth.
"Shh, child. Do you want to kill your father?"
I shake my head. I don't understand. Why can't I speak?
"Anna, you're a very special girl, with a very lovely voice." She strokes back my hair. "Too lovely."
"What does that mean?" I push her hands away.
"No! Don't speak!"
I shut my mouth and bite down on my lips to keep it that way.
"I wish it didn't have to be this way."
"Grandmother?" I sit bolt upright in bed. My skin is like ice, yet hot sweat covers my body.
There are tears in my eyes.
I don't remember that day.
I curl my knees up to my chest, taking up as little space as I can. My heart pounds with the adrenaline I felt at Eetu's wedding.
It's still dark outside.
Taking a deep breath, I lay back down, trying to lull myself back to sleep.
"Anna, have you been practicing?" My grandmother braids my hair.
"Yeah. I still don't understand it. I'm supposed to close my throat when I speak?" It's the first time I've spoken in weeks and I just can't shut up.
"I didn't make the rules." She puts the finishing touch on the braid and ties it in place with a sea foam green ribbon. "I simply enforce them."
"But it feels so weird."
"You'll get used to it, child."
"Are you ever going to tell me why I have to speak a certain way?"
"It's safer if you don't know."
"How could that be safer? If I knew, I could control it."
"Anna, the reason you don't know isn't for others' safety, it's for yours."
The blinding white of the morning sun stops the dream before I can find out any more. I groan, rolling over in bed. A bath is being prepared already.
"Thanks." I nod to the servants as soon as they're done, hurrying out the door to let me strip down.
I've grown quite used to the hot water every morning, accompanied by the scented foam, which this morning, as far as I can tell, is vanilla. I let my hair completely submerge in the water, running my fingers against my scalp to wash out the suds.
Once the water turns cold, I step out reach over and wrap the towel around my body while I gather my dress and brush.
"Hey..." Davy and Caspian are standing outside my door as soon as I'm dressed and ready for the day. The seem to have made up. Davy is awkwardly kicking at the ground under his feet.
"Morning, boys." I bite back the anger that arises each time I look over to Davy. "To what do I owe this surprise?"
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry." Davy finally looks up to me. My anger disintegrates. "What I did was uncalled for, and probably unforgivable, but-"
YOU ARE READING
Caspian Jones
Fantasy*READ THE NOTES FROM A DRAGON SINGER SERIES BEFORE THIS ONE* Caspian Quillsnake has it all. The cushy royal life, his best friend, Davy, by his side. But Caspian has a secret. When his uncle, the only one who knows Caspian's secret, is attacked, C...
