Page 209 of The Fifth Heir

Leander leaned closer to the lifted seal. “Can you identify who placed it?”

I examined the magic. Now that Talia had exposed the lower layer, the seal’s construction was clear: three interlocking bands of authority woven through concealment shadow.

At the center lay the mark I had been searching for.

A crown above a closed gate.

“The Keeper of Trials,” I said.

Torren’s hands closed into fists. “Malcolm.”

“Not necessarily.”

His stare hardened.

“The mark belongs to the office, not the man. Every Keeper has used it since the earliest surviving records. The alteration could have been made by Malcolm or by one of his predecessors hundreds of years ago.”

“But only someone holding Keeper authority could place it,” Leander said.

“Yes.”

Rafe paced away from the table. “So Malcolm’s office erased the fifth heir from history, and now Malcolm is trying to remove Talia.”

“It establishes motive,” Torren said.

“It establishes a pattern,” I corrected. “It does not prove he reversed the channels.”

“He knew,” Talia said.

We all turned toward her.

She stood very still, staring at the inscription.

“The day of the Choosing, Malcolm didn’t react as if the fifth beam were something impossible. He called it an unstable discharge before anyone examined the Prism. When the Fifth Wing opened, he wanted it sealed. When my scale appeared, he wanted me isolated. He always had an explanation ready.”

“Because he knew what you were,” Rafe said.

“Or knew what I might be.”

Leander removed a sheet of clean transfer paper from the drawer. “We need another copy before we take this to the headmaster.”

“No,” I said.

He paused.

“The inquiry goes through the crown council. If the office of the Keeper has hidden this for centuries, we don’t know who else is involved.”

“We cannot keep it here indefinitely,” Leander said.

“We don’t need indefinitely. We need until we understand what it means.”

Torren looked at the inscription. “It seems clear.”

Five entered.

One emerged.

The words settled over us with a meaning none of us wanted to say aloud.