Page 64 of The Uncrowned Prince

The blood had drained from her face. As if someone she loved had just died in front of her.

“I know you have no reason to believe such a story. I would not believe it myself, had I not lived under that man’s thumb for ten years, subject to his threats and his never-ending machinations in pursuit of power. Had I not seen one too many clues to his identity and origins. I am ashamed to say that I did his bidding for many of those years, because I was too afraid to defy him. But eventually, I escaped, and now he has laid the final foundations of his master plan.”

He swallowed the sick ache of grief and fear. “It was his assassins that took the lives of King Trevelian and Queen Atalia. Of Queen Allera and Valeric, and also Queen Evaraine. And I believe it was his own hand that took the life of my mother, Queen Portiana, in order to draw sympathy and divert suspicion. He wants nothing more than to induce panic among the other Thrones. To leave them rudderless and bereft, so that he can gather up the reins and promise to save them. All in preparation to create his own empire, where he will recreate the fear and oppression of imperial rule.”

It sounded preposterous when he said it out loud. But that did not change his conviction. He knew he was right, even if no one else believed him.

Particularly the ones who were likely to be the most shocked by his accusations.

He almost did not dare to look around the room. Did not want to know what he would see. But in the end, he could not help himself.

Emmerick’s face was hard, his eyes glittering with anger, though where it was directed, Vaniell could not tell. Boden appeared nothing so much as confused.

But the others…

Senaya seemed to have aged ten years. He could not read the emotions flickering across her features, but he would have called her… resigned. Resigned to something long considered inevitable.

And Karreya? If she’d grasped his implications, how could she ever look at him with warmth or concern after this moment? How could anything be the same between them?

If this was true…

They could never go back to simple friendship. Never regain those moments of barbed but genuine camaraderie. Indeed, it seemed impossible to believe that the two of them could leave this room as anything but bitter enemies.

But he had to know, so he shifted his gaze, and…

CHAPTER16

He told the truth.

Every word Niell spoke was true, and it was this truth, not the collar, that had felled him. Karreya could not even draw breath through the tight, angry feeling of rage and futility that gripped her.

He told the truth.

Niell was not just some gorgeous enchanter with haunted eyes and a tragic past—he was a prince. A prince in worn boots, a ragged coat, and pockets full of magic, who went around saving street children and caring about the fates of people he’d never met.

And now he’d lost everything, at the hands of a man he believed was her father.

She wished she could call him a liar and choose to hate him, but she could not. In that way, it seemed her magic was doubly a curse—it allowed her neither the luxury of choosing sides, nor the comfort of doubting his words.

But Niell did not have the same magic, and she had no way to reassure him that she hadn’t known. That she had never imagined such a thing could be true. Even if she tried, who would believe the word of an assassin?

“How can you be sure?” The words came from her own lips, but they sounded hollow. Wooden. As if spoken by someone else.

“I do not know beyond all doubt that the man now ruling Garimore is your father,” Niell said quietly. “That part is, to some degree, deduction, mixed with pure instinct. But I believe that he is a mirror mage because he is assuredly not my father, and yet he appears exactly like him. He was in possession of enchanted imperial armor, and hung a picture of the imperial palace in our portrait gallery—one that he stands and stares at late at night, when he believes no one will see him.

“What I cannotsay for certain is this… What is that palace to him that he longs for it so intensely? Is it a symbol of his homeland? Or does he have some more deeply personal connection?”

“That is my brother,” Senaya said, her tone heavy and final. “I would wager my life on it.”

Niell… no, Vaniell, opened his mouth, likely to ask how she knew, but a sudden pounding echoed through the warehouse. A fist hammering at the door.

“More visitors.” The former prince’s lips curved into a mocking smile that did not reach his eyes. “It seems I am quite popular today.”

He rose from the couch, but Boden was too fast for him. “I’ll see to it, Master Niell.”

The boy disappeared, but Vaniell did not sit down again. His arms folded, and he glanced around the room as if to assess the damages.

“You could have told me.” That was Emmerick, his voice sounding curiously flat. “Or did you fear I might betray you if I knew?”

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