Page 138 of The Fifth Heir

“Torren ends the training when necessary.”

“What about Rafe?”

“His judgment is less consistent.”

“Yet you allowed him to carry her.”

“I do not control the other heirs.”

“You will need to if you intend to rule them.”

The old expectation entered his voice.

I had been trained for the crown since my first shift. Law, strategy, diplomacy, military command, elemental control—every lesson assumed that if the Prism recognized me, I would enter the Trials more prepared than my rivals.

It had.

I was.

Then Talia appeared, and every rule I understood began opening hidden doors.

I had expected rivals I could defeat within a system designed to measure us. I had not expected a woman the system could not explain—or the possibility that being worthy of the crown might require protecting her from the institutions that served it.

“I intend to rule the realm,” I said. “Not the other heirs.”

Father studied me.

“Your grand-uncle believed the same thing before his first Trial.”

“I’ve read his account.”

“You’ve read the approved account.”

The answer struck too close to Sebastian’s sealed record.

“What does that mean?”

“It means rulers learn which truths can be carried publicly and which must remain with the crown.”

“Is there an unapproved account?”

Father closed the folder and tied the cord around it.

“That is not why I summoned you.”

“Then you shouldn’t have mentioned it.”

A faint expression crossed his face. Approval or irritation. With my father, they often looked similar.

“The council will petition for a controlled elemental demonstration,” he said. “You will not be asked to challenge Talia’s selection. Only to cooperate in identifying her power.”

“When?”

“After Malcolm accepts the petition.”

“He has already seen it?”

“Not formally.”