Page 10 (2/2)

"What is it?" Tobias asked We all had that salare reflected his irritation at being interrupted

"I will come to that in a morath? He has long planned for this day and even now has begun to amass those loyal to hi’s crown But other regents are also aspiring to the crown They are quietly gathering their supporters In teeks, ill erupt in Carthya It will split the country along lines of loyalty or alliances and ainst friends, and town against town Thousands will inevitably die in that war Avenia, the country of your origin, Sage, is watching closely, waiting for an opportunity to strike They are hungry for our rich farmlands and the minerals our mountains provide When Carthya is weakest and most divided, Avenia will strike, and s up Carthya with the force of a tidal wave Avenia is a cesspool at best In a generation we’ll be no better" Conner tilted his head at e You know my description of Avenia is true"

"It is," I quietly agreed

"Then you hope to prevent the civil war," Tobias said "But you said yourself that you could never hope to beco when I asked howEckbert has?" Conner said "What was your answer, Sage?"

"Two But as Tobias pointed out, I rong There is only the crown prince Darius still alive Eckbert’s younger son was lost at sea"

"The younger son was na to court, I’ve been told many stories about him, some of which could not possibly be true with the castle still standing in one piece"

"I heard he set fire to the throne rooed the king of Mendenwal to a duel of honor when he was ten years old," Roden added "He lost of course, but not by oes"

"We’ve all heard the stories," I snapped "What’s the point?"

"Let o, when he was nearly eleven years of age, Jaron was to be sent north to the country of Bymar, always a friend to Carthya He was sent there not only to be educated abroad but, frankly, to stop e and queen However, on the way, his ship was attacked by pirates There were no survivors Pieces of the boat washed ashore for months, but Jaron’s body was never found"

"I did hear about this once," I said "Avenia was accused of hiring the pirates If King Eckbert had any proof, he would have gone to war"

"At least you know about your own country," Conner said "It probably was Avenia; piracy is certainly their style So But Eckbert couldn’t rule out the possibility that as a border country to Avenia, Gelyn had hired them Both countries have easy access to the waters where Jaron’s ship went down"

"My father followed that news carefully," I said "He didn’t ar, no matter what else was sacrificed"

"If he was still alive, ht on behalf of Carthya," Tobias said "I’ood to defend hin a war at any cost That fact was one of the last things he and I ever fought about