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I shut the door in his face and held out my arms to Errol, who hurried forward, clothes in hand Minutes later, Mott alking me, fully dressed, down to Conner’s office

"Am I in trouble?" I asked

"That depends on your answers to his questions"

Conner was in thee entered his office Mott directed me to stand in front of his desk, but I sat A ed I was there Finally, he set the quill down and looked up at me

"What did you think of her?"

"The princess?" I shrugged "She’s beautiful I’d heard the betrothed princess was more horse than woman"

"Bite your words," Conner hissed "You’re speaking of the future queen of Carthya That is, if the prince is found And yes, she haswoman Why did she choose you to escort her out?"

"Because I told her about the spot of dirt on her face before I think she appreciated the honesty"

"You’re lucky she did Shedisrespectful"

"I’ve already been whipped"

"And stabbed, I hear"

"Mott has my story on that incident, sir"

"A story which is probably a lie"

"At Farthenwood, lies and truth blur together"

"Only lies in pursuit of the truth, Sage"

My body ached with tiredness All I wanted was to finish this pointless conversation and go back to sleep But there was one question I needed answered "Why did you allow nizeyou to court Don’t mistake my tolerance for you as any sort of favoritism Quite the contrary"

"My question stands, sir Why did you allow nizing you did concern me for a moment Then I decided you can easily explain that I kept you in hiding here until you could be presented at court The fact that you two already e Now I have some questions for you"

"I have a few more questions first"

Conner arched an eyebrow "Oh?"

"What if Prince Jaron is alive? Then he returns to the castle to findon his throne? I don’t think he’ll appreciate that"

"Jaron is dead I told you once before that I have proof of it Besides, the pirates off the coast of Avenia are ruthless The reason no body was ever found is because they likely destroyed everything identifiable about hi and queen loved Jaron The queen in particular never gave up searching for any trace of him in the years that followed It was all in vain I doubt he was even alive by the time his ship sunk"

"What’s your proof?"

"I present that to the boy I choose as prince and to nobody else"

"If you can prove Jaron’s dead, then can you also prove to the regents that Jaron survived?"