Unforgivable

When the prince was seven, he sprouted a pair of wings, and the Queen panicked. If the King discovered them, he’d realize her infidelity and kill both mother and son. So she called his troubled nursemaids and demanded, “Cut them off.”

As soon as they exited, she cried, “WAIT,” but they bolted his door and carried out the order. Her child’s screams reached her ears only.

Sick with remorse, the Queen wept. “Oh, God, forgive me.” She recalled the boy’s father, and the scars on his back from where his own wings were taken. “My love, my love, forgive me.”