Page 99 of If The Crown Fits
“Take him to the prison. Everness no longer has a king.”
* * *
I sat with my back against one of the stone pillars in the throne room, head in my hands. Lance’s words kept ringing inside my head, over and over like a nightmare that would not stop. He was a horrible person who’d done horrible things and yet...
He was my brother and I’d been lied to my entire life by the one man I called my family.
“Lara?” I looked up at the sound of a voice that had haunted my dreams. He stood facing me in the throne room, with a somewhat confused expression.
“Rhen?” I wiped something from my face. I wasn’t sure if it was tears, sweat or blood.
“Rhen, I thought you were dead.” I wouldn’t have put it past myself to start seeing ghosts at this point.
“No, who told you that?” He helped me into a standing position.
“Lance did. He said he was going to hang you.” But Rhen was there, standing in front of me and very much alive.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but Lance only put me in prison.” Why did Lance say he was going to kill Rhen if he didn’t? And why did he appear to want to be my ally against Uncle? It didn’t make sense at all. Nothing made sense anymore.
“I don’t even know what’s going on. I need to speak with my uncle.”
I made for the entrance of the throne room, but Rhen held me by my shoulders.
“Didn’t you hear?” he asked.
“Hear what?” I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like the answer.
“Arthur’s dead, Lara. I’m sorry, but he didn’t make it past the courtyard.”
I froze. “No, that can’t be right. Look again.” I went for the door, but Rhen held me.
“I’m sorry, Lara.”
A tear rolled down my cheek. “He can’t be gone. I need to talk to him.”
“Did Lance tell you?”
“The truth? Yes.”
Rhen looked me dead in the eye. “Lara, listen to me. Arthur’s gone, Lance is in prison and likely to abdicate the throne, and Eloisa is still missing.”
I dropped to the floor from exhaustion or shock, maybe both. Rhen bent down to my level. “You are the heir to the throne of Everness now.”
* * *
I was lying on a bed in one of the rooms, my face streaked with tears. It could have been hours or minutes or days, I didn’t care. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, to look at anyone. I just wanted to lie on this bed while I wished the world would disappear. The rebels had taken charge of the palace, Lance was in a cell and Uncle was dead. More importantly, I was a princess, and I didn’t know what to make of any of it.
There was a soft knock on the door and I groaned out, “Go away.”
When the person knocked again, I turned my head away from the pillow so that I could call out. “Rhen, I said I didn’t want to see any—”
The door opened and Cai stood there with a worried expression. I sat up quickly. In the chaos of everything I didn’t have time to consider what this meant for his kingdom but, of all people, I wasn’t particularly eager to see him at this moment. He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.
“I came to see how you were doing. Rhen said you’d been in here for a couple of hours.”
And I had no intention of leaving any time soon.
I wiped my palms across my wet cheeks.
