Page 45 (2/2)
Mott started forward, as if to rescue it, then turned back to me "What did you do that for?"
I arched my head to look at him "The prince of Carthya will never wear a cheap copy of a sword at his side That sword is an insult to him"
"Is that why you stole it?" He didn’t wait for an anshich was good because I couldn’t admit that aloud "It would have helped you look more authentic"
"Do you really think I needed that, Mott, to help me?"
Mott nodded, very slowly Not in response toin his hness"
"Then you think I can convince them that I’m the prince?"
After a deep breath, Mott lowered himself to one knee and bowed his head "What I think, if you forgive e the orphan I kneel before the living prince of Carthya You are Prince Jaron"
Jaron Artolius Eckbert III of Carthya was the second son of Eckbert and Erin, King and Queen of Carthya All of the regents agreed it would have been better if this child had been a daughter rather than a son A daughter could havepeace
Nor was the young prince particularly impressive as a royal He was smaller in stature than his brother had been, had a talent for causing trouble, and appeared to favor his left hand, a quality frowned upon for Carthyan royalty
Privately, Erin cherished her second son The older child, Darius, was already being trained as a future king He had belonged to the state from the moment of his birth, and fit the role well He was decisive, controlled, and detached, at least to his mother But less was expected of Jaron, and he could always be a little bit more hers
Erin never had felt comfortable as queen of Carthya It required her to hide ing in a secret roreatest adventure in her youth She hadn’t paused to consider the consequences until it was too late and she was in love
Erin had served drinks in a s off the debts her father had acquired after beco work Until then, their fah education to kno far they had sunk But Erin endured it, and eventually the tavern began to prosper under her guidance
Eckbert spotted her one night when he and his attendants traveled through Pyrth He returned the second night in disguise, enchanted by her beauty, charured out who Eckbert really was He begged her to keep his secret, only so that he could continue to see her again
At the end of a week, Eckbert paid off her father’s debts, with extra to the tavern owner on a royal coins He brought Erin back with hie, Eckbert and Erin were happy, but as king and queen they disagreed on how to rule Carthya Erin saw eneht to appease with favorable trade laws and by ignoring clear violations of treaties Their older son, Darius, would one day have to bear the consequences of Eckbert’s fear of conflict Jaron would be given more freedom to pursue his own desires And Erin loved hi when it became clear that he was his mother’s child more than his father’s The fire he set in the throne room was not e, that tapestries could burn He intended to prove it by burning only a hidden corner of the tapestry Over three hundred years of threaded history went up in flames before servants were able to put the fire out
Co the king of Mendenwal to a duel None of the accuse Queen Erin of not being a true royal They only laughed at the i four tied Jaron and undoubtedly restrained hi easily won thea nasty cut on the thigh And he practiced his sword fighting twice as hard frorew, Eckbert becary and e himself into a model royal, as his father wished, Jaron rebelled further He snuck out of his bedrooht, as often as the weather permitted and on too ed hihts never bothered Jaron, not even after the time he fell more than ten feet froe of the gable He learned to scale the exterior rock walls with his bare hands and feet Few people ever knew of that, because the only person to ever catch Jaron was his older brother Jaron never understood why Darius kept his many offenses quiet Perhaps because Darius knew he’d one day be king and hoped Jaron wouldn’t embarrass him as well Or because Darius wanted to spare his father the ruhout Carthya and abroad over how a king who couldn’t control his own son could possibly control a kingdom It never occurred to Jaron that Darius loved him Protected him so that he could have the life Darius never could