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"Hail, King Jaron!" the audience echoed

"Be a better king than your father was," Conner said softly "You coreat upheaval"

"There is always upheaval," I said "Only the reasons for the troubles change"

"You have the betrothed princess She will support you"

"She hates "

Conner smiled as he said it, but it probably wasn’t a joke

"I kept h so that only he could hear us "You have the position you wanted"

"You are the true king," Conner said "You may place me anywhere you desire"

"So I shall" Then ent, Lord Bevin Conner, arrested for the atteo Arrest him for the murder of an orphan boy na Eckbert, Queen Erin, and Crown Prince Darius"

Whispers and hisses flew through the room Conner turned to me with panic-stricken eyes "No, I didn’t --"

From a pocket of my jacket, I pulled out a small vial

"This is oil pressed froure out what sort of poison h the books in your library I’reat reader, that’s true, but if the subject h books quite quickly Oddly enough, I found the answer in a book in your bedroole drop to produce a lethal dose But it doesn’t kill i fine and never wake up again Dervanis oil is hard to cobox in your office"

Conner shook his head, then his eyes darted left, and he thrust his hand inside his jacket "As I always said, Sage, if I go down, so do you!" But he failed to find what he was looking for He drew back and searched his jacket

I released the cuff of my sleeve, and a knife he had hidden in his jacket fell into my hands "If this is what you wanted, then I shall have to increase the charges against you"

Two guards appeared on either side of Conner and each took his ar in this moment," he said nastily

My te at the man who killed my family Whatever I feel now, trust that pleasure is the furthest fros"

"You said you were my prince Is this what that means to you?"

"I a You’ll understand why, in the hierarchy of my titles, you inning? If you had told me who you were --"

"Then I couldn’t have unmasked you I’d have doomed my own rule, just as hed Addressing Conner, he said, "What if Jaron had been only an orphan? Surely, you couldn’t have expected hi"

"He didn’t needet hient No matter what happened afterward, he would beco power in Carthya"

"Well done," Conner said "Jaron was always described as a clever boy, but I underestimated you" I started to wave uilty of crimes too, Your Majesty"