Sky Song: Overture by Meg Merriet Page B

to keep a cheery disposition towards each man I served.
    “Good morning—There you are, mate—Yes, you’re welcome—Nice to see you, gunny.” Unfortunately, my enthusiasm came off as insincere, and my brothers just glowered and snatched up their bowls. By the end, I’d given up. “Morning, you—yeah, sod off—your mother made the same face last night.”
    When mealtime had ended, Dirk had everyone circle around him.
    “Brothers, gentlemen, thank you for remaining beside me. You have shown inspiring allegiance. I have a secret, as all men have secrets, and I hid it because I, like many of you, had lost faith in this world. I was born a prince of the Luftberg bloodline.”
    A shiver of whispers echoed across the room, but a hush fell as he began to speak again.
    “What happens now is your choice. If you don’t care about politics and simply want to thieve and whore your way to an early grave, then you may abandon this cause. But this is the chance of a lifetime. I will retake my throne, and when I do, those who helped me will be rewarded beyond their wildest dreams. Gold. Pardons. Dukedoms. Lands. Marriages to wealthy and well-connected brides.”
    “Is that Miss Lily up for grabs?” someone shouted. The men laughed.
    “Why yes,” he said. “She is looking to marry. So be cordial.” Their chuckling resounded through the room. “Our host Mr. Belle is revitalizing a network of Royalists who can help us. I know we just went through an ordeal. We lost a beautiful ship…”
    As the men bowed their heads in a moment of silence, I sneaked away to find Lily. It made sense to try her room, but she wasn’t upstairs. I tried asking the servants. They said she’d taken Molly to see the chickens, and so down I went, and followed a row of rosebushes around the vine-covered house. A dirt road wound into a wooded area. I trekked along the trail until I came to a shed, a workshop and animals pens for goats and geese. Amidst them was a chicken coop, where Molly peered in, clucking at the hens.
    “Molly!” I called. “Is Lily with you?”
    Molly stood upright and came skipping over. “She’s not feeling so well. She went to lie down in there.” She pointed to the workshop.
    I proceeded towards the log house. The door had no working knobs, only a twisted rag filling the hole where one should have been. I pushed it open and entered a studio rich with the aroma of tree sap and lumber. There were carvings all around, wind chimes of dragons and birds that hung from the ceiling. Their wood flutes jangled as I closed the door behind me.
    “Lily?” I purveyed the rows of animal figurines perched on shelves and worktables. They all had the same signature carved into their hindquarters: LMB. “Are these yours?”
    Lily sniffled somewhere in the shady heat of the shop. I discovered her behind a large sculpture of a ship climbing a wave. “I would like to be alone,” she said.
    “Let me apologize.”
    “Please just go. You’ve done enough.”
    “No. I won’t go. I’m sorry if I embarrassed you! It’s hard to be sugary sweet when your whole world gets snatched out from under you!”
    “I am sorry for your losses… your brothers… and the Wastrel.”
    “You think that’s all I lost? They didn’t know I was a woman, and now that they do, they think I’m supposed to act like one. They all treat me like I’m useless, like I should just look after children and turn invisible.” My breath trembled as my emotions boiled over. I held fast to keep from bursting into tears.
    Lily came around the sculpture, her eyes puffy and red.
    “Have you been crying?” I asked.
    “It’s one of the few things we’re allowed, isn’t it?”
    “No,” I said. “It isn’t, actually, or they’ll never respect you.”
    She took me into her embrace. I resisted the urge to pull away. I let her hold me because I could tell it made her feel better. “I can’t help it,” she said. “I’m just so ashamed.”
    “I’m sorry,