“Yes, they weren’t able to strip everything from her, but she was severely hindered.”He lifted the ring up for me to examine it where it rested on his finger.“The majority of her power resides in here, trapped within this stone.No one can access it as long as it is on my finger, not even me.It is tied to my life force and can only be removed by someone else in the event of my death, but it affects me.It’s the reason I can detect enchantments.While I can’t directly access it, it’s like the power keeps me from danger.In some ways, it feels like a sixth sense walking around with me, warning me of harm or when someone dangerous is near.”
“Why didn’t the Enchantress come for you herself?”I asked.
“As long as I wear the ring, she cannot harm me.That’s why she hired a Dark Walker, someone to kill me and bring the ring to her.I’d hate to think what kind of bargain the girl struck.”
“Illusion,” I said, the pieces falling into place.“She told me she came here to kill the man who murdered her family.Now that I know she’s a Kallistar—she wasn’t lying about that.She came here to take down my father.The bargain with the Enchantress must have been part of it.”
“If she came here for your father then she’ll do everything in her power to come back and take this ring, but I’m more concerned about preventing her from accomplishing the latter.”
“What happens if the Enchantress gets the ring and her power is restored?”
My uncle grimaced.“She’ll take vengeance first on Paravellia, since they’ve harbored me all these years.If she’s able to perform an enchantment as strong as an illusion to mask both that girl’s face and name, I’d hate to think how her power has grown even without the full force of it.If she taps into the full source...there’s no way to measure what kind of havoc she could wreak, especially after so many years of harboring vengeance and bitterness.”
I clenched my jaw.“Then we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“That’s not all,” my uncle said.
I looked up.
“What prompted your father to change the line of succession?”
I frowned.“Rivero’s assassination.”
“Yes, but where did the idea of changing the line of succession come from?Do you really think he came up with that on his own?”
“What are you getting at?”
“When she attacked me, she accused me of a ploy for the throne and planning to kill you.”
“That’s preposterous,” I said.
“Yes,” he said.“But she did raise an interesting question.If you are crowned king and die before having an heir—who stands to gain the throne?”
I shifted on my feet, running the idea through my mind.“You don’t think changing the line of succession was a whim or an accident?”
He shook his head.“Whatever her plans, in this I believe she was right.Someone wants the line of Zaricor to end.They want you crowned, and then they want you dead.”
I ran each ball through my mind, every man and woman in power.“Ezrielle was meeting the chancellor, but he’s not smart enough to double cross her without getting caught.My death after being crowned makes her ineligible for the throne, but even if she tried to change the laws, suspicion around my death would prevent her from getting anywhere near it.”
“Thenwho,” my uncle said, “arranged Rivero’s assassination in order to place you on the throne?”
––––––––
HOWLAND BECAME MY SHADOWwhen I stepped into the hall.He kept one hand on his sword at all times, two extra guards flanking him.I could argue with him, tell him the extra protection was overkill, but I knew he wouldn’t listen.What he didn’t understand was if Analleia wanted me dead, I would be.I was only alive and breathing because she willed it.
Howland searched my rooms before allowing me to enter, barring the balcony and the main door from the inside and making me promise not to remove them no matter what happened.He insisted he should remain stationed inside my chambers, but I drew the line there.I wanted to be alone tonight.
He escorted the maids in and out as they built a fire and then left me with a tray of food the kitchen had brought up.From the missing chunks of food dotted around the plate I assumed he had taste-tested everything himself before allowing it inside.
I picked at the chicken and potatoes absentmindedly, staring into the flames of the hearth while they danced about as if laughing at me.
Laughing at me, because the night of the opening Paravellian Ball when she had made a fool of me in front of Lord Eyreling wasn’t the first time I had met Analleia Kallistar.
And I had never forgotten her.
I’d danced with her five years ago at the last Paravellian Balls after she beat me at chess, intrigued by the prospect of a girl who had the ability to keep up with my wit and mind.I could tell she thought I was overdone, but after that first dance, she’d gotten under my skin.I was a fool back then, doing stupid things I shouldn’t have done in an attempt to get her attention.When I’d heard of Donnovar’s betrayal, it had gutted me, then gutted me again when I learned she was dead.The reaction seemed confusing for someone I barely knew, but she was also the only person I had ever felt a true connection with—and then she was dead.
I first met her after I’d beaten every person who challenged me to a chess match, being a jerk about my victories and proudly proclaiming that no one was better than I.She had waltzed in, tired of my cockiness, and took up the challenge.
