“You might ask Lestara that question given that he stole her from under my very nose and brought her back to Verwyrd. It strikes me that she has only given you pieces of the truth.”
All eyes moved to Lestara, who sat on her seat next to the Twisted Throne. She bit her bottom lip, then said, “James asked me to keep his presence a secret, because he feared Katarina’s dark guild. I’ve not seen him since.”
James Ashford was alive.
Keris didn’t know what to make of the revelation. Didn’t know who was telling the truth. Who was lying. It was impossible to tell who was pulling the strings, because while it might have once been Alexandra, it now seemed that her house of cards had collapsed beneath her.
The throne room was awash with loud whispers, but rather than appearing remotely concerned that she’d been accused of treason and regicide, Alexandra seemed cool as a cup of water. Rising to her feet, she withdrew a folded letter from the pocket of her skirts. “Before you are so quick to believe these baseless accusations, I ask that you hear me out. What feels like a lifetime ago, when we were still thick in our grief over our dear Edward’s death, I became aware of a conspiracy to steal the crown from William’s head and put it on James’s. A conspiracy masterminded by Prince Keris Veliant.”
All eyes snapped to Keris.
Fuck.
“This letter, supposedly written by Edward and sent to Valcotta, was found on Prince Keris’s person.” She held up the letter. “Innocuous on the surface, but the code within it…”
“You never said anything about a code, Mother,” William protested. “And James would never…”
“Because I was afraid what the code said was true.”
“What did it say?”
“That James was legitimate and the heir to the throne.” A sob tore from Alexandra’s lips, and Cavendish reached out to steady her as she swayed. “I believed the letter was real, and that my marriage was a lie. That you and Virginia were…bastards.”
The outburst of noise in the throne room was deafening, but then Alexandra held up a shaky hand. “So I kept it a secret. When word came of James’s death in the Blackreaches, I thought it would be over. That it was done. That it didn’t matter. But then Lestara came to me upon her return and told me in secret that James was alive, and that he was telling Ronan lies to secure support for a campaign for the throne. Lestara played along with his schemes only to get her unborn child to safety. It gave me cause to look at this letter again, and I saw the truth. It is a forgery.”
Gasps tore through the room, but William only took the letter, reading the coded message transcribed on the back.
“It struck me that Prince Keris concocted this letter because of his hatred for poor Lestara. How better to get rid of her than to depose William?”
“James would never agree to this.” William was as white as a sheet.
“Wouldn’t he?” Alexandra scoffed. “Read it, my love. Read the scheme they set out and tell me that James didn’t have every reason to go along with it. He suffered his whole life being named a bastard, and this gave him the chance to make you taste what he endured.”
William looked ready to be sick, and his eyes fixed on Keris, expression murderous. “Veliant rat! You came into my kingdom and tried to start a coup against me?”
“I did no such thing!” Keris’s protest sounded weak in his own ears, the words of a man who has been caught out, but if he cast blame, it would undermine Ronan’s accusations.
“He’s done it before,” Alexandra said softly. “Against Silas.”
“Bring me his head! Now!”
Guards caught hold of Keris’s arms. He dropped Fiona and she barked wildly, biting at the guards’ legs as one of them drew a sword. The blade pressed against the back of his neck, and knowing he had no other choice, Keris snarled, “Cormac brought the letter and the scheme to me! He wanted me to pass it off as real, but I declined! Then he died of poison while I was holding the damned thing when Cavendish tried to arrest me for his murder. He said the facts were true. He said that Edward had aimed to make James king!”
It was a chaos of shouts punctuated by Fiona’s barking and soldiers shouting orders.
“He’s lying,” Alexandra snarled. “He conspired with James, and when Cormac refused to turn on sweet Lestara, he killed him! All this time, they have been plotting together, and Ronan is the victim of their lies. All because Keris can’t stand to see Lestara elevated. Surely you see that, William, given all that he has done?”
None of this would hold together under closer scrutiny, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that William believed, and he was the goddamned king. The only person with the power to stop this was Ronan, but if he admitted it was his scheme, William would never believe his other accusations.
“Kill him!” William shrieked, and the guard raised his sword up high. “Bring me his head!”
I’m sorry,he silently screamed, praying that Zarrah wouldn’t be touched by this. Praying that she would survive this nightmare.I love you.
The guard squared his feet, the others holding Keris flat on the ground while one caught hold of his hair.
“Hold.” Ronan’s voice cut air. “Veliant speaks the truth. Cormacpresented him with the forgery. As to what he told my brother, only Veliant and the dead know for sure.”
The throne room fell silent, then William whispered, “You call yourself an ally, Ronan? Because this does not feel like an alliance.”
