"Is the bird royalty?"
Syris's deep, velvety voice broke the comfortable silence of the room. The question was asked so slowly, so casually, that for a split second, Ren didn't fully process what the Snake King had just asked.
When her brain finally caught up, Ren froze.
Her hand, which had been in the middle of stirring the minty-green aloe paste with the stone pestle, halted mid-circle. Her heart dropped straight into her stomach. 'Oh my god,' Ren panicked internally. 'Did he just figure it out from what I said?!'
Her mind began racing a mile a minute. What if Syris was somehow secret pen-pals with the Eagle King? What if he decided to sell Altair out? Hell, she wasn't even supposed to know that her stoic bird was a fugitive prince!
Ren forcefully swallowed the dry lump in her throat. She decided her absolute best course of action was to play completely dumb.
