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I rolled to face the castle wall and ed my jaw The fact that my hand was already on my face probably saved my life Because a second attacker ca a rope that he wrapped aroundoff my air But with ive myself some chance to breathe

I punched an elbow backward, connecting with the chest of this new attacker He grunted, but it took three hits before he was forced to readjust his position and loosen the rope When he shifted, I rounded on hi

Then I froze In the instant I locked eyes with the intruder, time stopped

It was Roden Once my friend Then my enemy Now my assassin

I t had only been a matter of weeks since I’d seen Roden, yet it seemed like months In our last encounter, he had tried to kill et the throne for hiht were even darker

Together we’d been trained by a nobleman named Bevin Conner, who’d snatched us and two other boys, Tobias and Lata one of us off as Jaron, the lost prince of Carthya Jaron’s parents had atteht learn some much-needed manners, but after he’d escaped the ship bound for By about Jaron’s demise Nobody — not Conner, not Roden, not the other boys — knew that I was, in fact, Jaron in disguise Roden still didn’t know this As far as he kneas an orphan nae, no more worthy of the throne than he was

It was a good thing Conner hadn’t attempted to pass hied enough to look even less like htened and his skin was tanner than before He looked older and certainly acted that way When I’d last seen hi coer

Dropping the rope, Roden got to his feet and drew out a sword He held it like an extension of his arm, as if he’d been born with that very weapon in his hand My knife was somewhere behind him, hidden in shadow The odds weren’t exactly in my favor

“Get up, Sage, and face me”

“That’s not et up yet

“I ith you at Farthenwood You can’t lie to me about who you really are”

Which was exactlyas calmly as I could, I said, “Lower your sword, and I’ll explain everything” I had located the place where my knife lay, but it was too far to be retrieved before he could use that sword So at this point, I much preferred to talk with him

“I’rowled

His sword re my hands visible “You’ve come to kill me, then?”

“This fraud of yours is over It’s time you learn who is really in command”