Page 197 of The Fifth Heir

By the time I entered, he had arranged five legal volumes, three council petitions, and a blank sheet of paper across one desk. A pot of tea stood beside them.

“You prepared.”

“Yes.”

“Did you prepare enough for both of us?”

“I assumed you would bring your own notebook.”

I held it up.

His gaze moved over my gray uniform. I had changed after eating, though the crystal-threaded cuffs still reflected colors from the bedframe.

“Sit,” he said.

“You could ask.”

“Please sit.”

I took the opposite chair.

Leander opened the first volume.

“The Prism’s selection cannot be reversed by council decree.”

“Then what are they challenging?”

“Your qualification to enter the remaining Trials.”

“That sounds like reversing the selection with additional words.”

“It is legally distinct.”

“Of course it is.”

“If the challenge succeeds, you retain the title of heir but cannot compete for the crown.”

“So they recognize me as long as it means nothing.”

His mouth tightened. “Essentially.”

“What evidence do they need?”

“Proof that your participation creates an unreasonable danger to the other heirs, the academy, or the succession.”

“The demonstration endangered me.”

“They may argue your power caused the failed channels to overload.”

“We proved the channels were reversed.”

“We proved someone deliberately substituted them. We haven’t established whether your power would have destabilized a correct system.”

“Because no one tested it.”

“That is their argument.”

I closed my notebook.