Page 117 of The Prince and His Stolen Throne
“Are you claiming that lying about your identity, impersonating a prince, all with the intention to one day betray the people who cared for you, wasn’t evil?”
I flinched at his damnably accurate summary. “I was a child.”
“You’re an adult now.” Even though he was practically blind, Fitz glared daggers at me. “The fact you followed through with this plan proves youareevil!”
“No! I’m not—I had no other choice!”
“There’s always another choice,” Angelica snapped. “Youchoseto follow in your father’s footsteps. To betray the people who raised you. To lead us into danger! To put every citizen of our kingdoms at risk! You made theselfishchoice,Trey, either because you were too afraid to stand up for yourself or because you wanted to benefit from the Lord of Grimnight’s power!”
“I made the only choice that would protect everyone!” My shouted words echoed off the walls, drowning out whatever other accusations they would hurl at me. “I hadtwelve yearsto learn that normal fathers don’t send their children on missions! To realize that he’d sent me here to hurt good people who had done nothing to deserve his hate other than have what he wanted! To think about exactly what it would mean if he won! And I couldn’t fix any of it because I am not Brendon Banes’ son!”
Maximus put the pieces together first. “Bane doesn’t have any children to represent them for the Kingdom Defense Spell.”
All my angry energy drained out of me. I ran a hand through my hair and looked down at the damp floor. Maybe now they would finally understand. “The spell was doomed to fail from the beginning.”
“No,Banewas doomed from the beginning,” Angelica said. “The rest of our kingdoms would have been fine if you hadn’t interfered. We could have simply cut Bane out of the deal, allowed them to fend for themselves.”
Everyone turned their stunned stares on her. It was nice to not be the only one on the receiving end of hostility.
“What?” she demanded. “We’re all here for the sake of our own kingdoms.”
Fitz threw his hands up in exasperation. “We’re only here because our kingdoms agreed to work together! That’s the whole point of the spell—that we are stronger when we’re united.”
“Don’t spout cliché’s at me. I can be a united front all on my own.” Then she gasped and glared at me. “This is your plan, isn’t it? To pit us against each other? You’ve been turning everyone against me from the start!”
“Actually, that isn’t the plan, you’re just a bitch,” I said, deadpan.
She reached for another pillow, but Delilah wrestled her arm down.
“What is the plan?” Maximus asked, his voice calm and quiet.
I took a deep breath, trying to emulate his calm as I continued explaining. “I had to make sure your quest failed. The moment the spell falls, the Lord of Grimnight will swoop in and conquer the five kingdoms.”
“What’s he going to do with us?” Delilah whispered. “Is he going to kill us?”
“No!” The word tore from my throat and I stepped toward her. I needed her to understand that despite everything I’d done, I wouldn’t hurt her. “He promised not to hurt you. You’ll just be … hostages. To ensure your families cooperate.”
“Oh, that’ssucha relief,” Angelica said. “We get to watch how our failure leads to our kingdom’s demise. Isn’t that generous of you.”
“If you’re alive—if thefuture rulersof the five kingdoms are alive—you can take them back one day,” I explained.
“Wait.” Fitz held up a hand. “Youwantus to rise up and defeat your father?”
“The truth is, the Lord of Grimnight is a shitty evil mage. He didn’t even have a title when I left home, just a few half-baked plots and several unhealthy obsessions. He never thinks anything through—if he did, he wouldn’t have sent his only son on a years-long mission to live with loving foster parents in a land of prosperity. He wants toconquerthe Desolated Lands, butrulethem? He doesn’t know where to fucking start. Laws, taxes, all the day-to-day aspects of power would confuse anyone who hasn’t studied them for years. Ruling one kingdom is hard, let alone five! I givehim a year before he gets overwhelmed and decides to leave the real work to shadow rulers while he plays king.”
I looked at all four of them in turn, waiting for them to realize what I had years ago. Everyone looked confused, even Maximus, who usually connected the dots the fastest. Sighing, I asked, “Who do you think would make the best shadow rulers? Someone who is already familiar with all the laws and operations of their kingdoms?”
After a hesitant pause, Delilah pointed to herself and guessed, “Us?”
“You expect us to fail the quest and just … bide our time until he gets bored and reinstates us as rulers?” Fitz asked.
I nodded, happy he finally understood.
“That’s the stupidest fucking plan I’ve ever heard.”
Alright, so understanding didn’t exactly come with agreement. “Since Bane didn’t have an heir, the spell was always going to fail—”
“Debatable,” Angelica muttered.
