Lais of Dusk - the Song Thrush

Albirea must be queen, her grandmother said. It is her birthright, her duty-her late mother's ambition.
She will be strong, cope with humiliation, and swallow her tears to get there.

But a song thrush among yellow roses hums of a different life, of a dream of her own, as tempting as a siren's song.
And betrayal may lie where it hurts the most.