The words on the wall vanished before Gareth could decide whether they were a miracle, a warning, or a trap.
I AM STILL ALIVE.
One moment the sentence burned in amber-gold fire above the abandoned fireplace. The next, the light collapsed inward, leaving nothing but gray stone and ten years of dust.
Toby stared at the empty wall.
"You saw it too?"
Gareth did not answer.
He crossed the chamber in three strides and pressed both hands against the stones. Cold. Solid. No hidden panel. No lingering warmth.
Impossible.
Behind him, Toby repeated, "Sir Gareth?"
"I saw it."
"So the queen is alive?"
Gareth turned.
"No."
"But—"
"I carried her body."
The words came out harsher than he intended.
Toby fell silent.
Gareth looked away.
That night returned whenever he allowed himself to remember it.
Queen Elara lying beneath the western gallery.
Blood staining her white gown.
Her face pale beneath the moonlight.
Gareth had knelt beside her. He had touched her neck. He had found no pulse.
He had watched royal physicians declare her dead.
And later, he had watched soldiers carry her body toward the crypt.
There had been no mistake.
Unless...
DO NOT TRUST THE BODY THEY FOUND IN MY TOMB.
Gareth looked toward the sealed envelope still in his hand.
"Maybe you should open it," Toby said.
"A moment ago, you told me not to."
"A moment ago, the dead queen hadn't written on the wall."
Gareth almost laughed.
Almost.
Instead, he examined the envelope.
The wax bore no royal crest. Only a shallow impression of a circle crossed by three vertical lines.
He recognized that symbol too.
"The Lantern Order," he murmured.
"What's that?"
"Something that doesn't exist anymore."
Toby frowned. "People keep saying that about things that apparently still exist."
This time Gareth did laugh, though there was no humor in it.
"You're learning quickly."
He broke the seal.
Inside was a single folded sheet.
The handwriting was unfamiliar.
Gareth read silently.
His expression hardened.
"What does it say?" Toby asked.
Gareth folded the letter again.
"Nothing."
"That's a lie."
Gareth looked at him.
Toby pointed at his face. "You looked angry before you opened it. Now you look scared."
"I am not scared."
"Then you're a bad liar."
"You speak very boldly for a boy who was nearly arrested ten minutes ago."
"And you avoid questions when you don't want to answer them."
Gareth stared at him.
Prince Edric had done exactly the same thing as a child—watching adults until their expressions betrayed what their words concealed.
The resemblance was becoming harder to ignore.
Gareth finally handed him the letter.
Toby read slowly.
Gareth,
If the child reaches you, the Crown has already begun to awaken.
Do not take him to Morvus.
Do not take him to the council.
Do not take him to the crypt.
Most importantly, do not let him bleed inside High Keep.
The old pact remembers royal blood.
There are three keys.
The boy carries the first.
Morvus possesses the second.
The third was buried with the traitor.
Find the woman with the silver eye before the next new moon.
She knows what happened to Edric.
At the bottom was one final sentence.
If you still believe Queen Elara died that night, then you remember exactly what we intended you to remember.
Toby lowered the page.
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know."
Gareth took the letter back.
But he did know one thing.
Someone was manipulating them.
Perhaps Mara.
Perhaps Queen Elara.
Perhaps an enemy using both names.
"Who's Edric?" Toby asked.
"The missing Crown Prince."
"The horse's master?"
"Yes."
Toby looked toward the cradle.
"And the father of the baby who slept here?"
Gareth nodded.
Toby considered that.
"Was the baby killed?"
Gareth's jaw tightened.
"No body was ever officially recorded."
"Then what happened to him?"
"Nobody knew he existed."
"But you did."
Gareth said nothing.
Toby stepped closer.
"You knew."
"I knew there were rumors."
"That's another lie."
Gareth's hand tightened around the letter.
Before he could answer, a scream echoed from below.
Both froze.
It came from the tower staircase.
A man screamed once.
Then stopped.
Gareth drew his sword.
"Behind me."
Toby obeyed.
Footsteps began ascending.
Slow.
Deliberate.
One step.
Then another.
Gareth positioned himself beside the door.
The footsteps stopped outside.
Silence.
The handle moved.
Gareth raised his sword.
The door opened.
A blood-covered man fell through it.
Toby gasped.
Gareth caught the man's shoulders before he hit the floor.
He recognized him.
"Brother Caldus?"
The old chapel keeper's gray robes were soaked crimson across the stomach.
His breathing came in wet, shallow gasps.
"Gareth..."
"Who did this?"
Caldus grabbed his armor.
"The crypt."
"What happened?"
"They opened it."
"The queen's tomb?"
Caldus nodded desperately.
"What did they find?"
The old man's eyes shifted toward Toby.
His face changed.
Recognition.
"No..."
Toby moved closer.
"Do you know me?"
Caldus reached toward him with a trembling hand.
"The eyes..."
Gareth caught his wrist.
"Brother Caldus. Stay with me."
"The prince..."
"What prince?"
Caldus coughed blood.
"They lied about the prince."
Gareth leaned closer.
"Edric?"
Caldus shook his head.
"The child."
Toby went completely still.
"What child?" Gareth demanded.
Caldus looked directly at Toby.
"You."
A cold pressure filled Gareth's chest.
Toby whispered, "Me?"
Caldus tried to speak again.
A crossbow bolt punched through his throat.
Toby screamed.
Gareth dragged him to the floor as a second bolt smashed into the stone wall.
"Stay down!"
Someone stood on the staircase.
Gareth charged.
Steel flashed.
His sword struck another blade.
The attacker wore no uniform, only dark leather and a black cloth across the lower half of his face.
They fought in the narrow doorway.
The assassin was fast.
Too fast.
Gareth blocked a thrust toward his ribs, drove his shoulder into the man's chest, then slammed the pommel of his sword against the attacker's temple.
The assassin stumbled.
Gareth tore away the mask.
He froze.
The man was young.
And Gareth knew him.
"Rellan?"
Rellan had served the Sovereign Guard for six years.
He had eaten at Gareth's table.
Trained beside him.
Taken an oath before the same altar.
Rellan's eyes widened.
"Gareth, listen—"
Gareth struck him across the face.
"You murdered a priest."
"I had no choice."
"You always have a choice."
"No." Rellan spat blood. "Not anymore."
Gareth put his blade against the man's throat.
"Who ordered you?"
Rellan looked past him.
At Toby.
"Run."
Gareth pressed harder.
"Who ordered you?"
Rellan laughed bitterly.
"You still think Morvus is the danger?"
"Answer me."
"Morvus doesn't even understand what he's guarding."
Gareth's expression changed.
"What does that mean?"
Rellan's voice dropped.
"The massacre wasn't a coup."
Toby had risen behind Gareth.
"What was it?" the boy asked.
Rellan stared at him.
"A containment."
The word settled over the chamber.
Gareth felt something cold move through his stomach.
"Containment of what?"
Rellan's gaze fell to Toby's covered forearm.
"The blood."
Suddenly, a horn sounded from the courtyard.
Then another.
Voices erupted throughout High Keep.
Gareth glanced through the tower window.
Soldiers were flooding the courtyards.
The gates were closing.
Rellan smiled grimly.
"Too late."
"What happened?"
"They found Caldus missing. Veyron knows someone came to the tower."
"How?"
"Because Veyron sent Caldus here."
Gareth stared at him.
That made no sense.
"Why would he—"
Rellan suddenly lunged.
Not at Gareth.
At Toby.
Gareth reacted instinctively.
His sword entered Rellan beneath the ribs.
The young knight stopped.
Shock crossed his face.
Gareth caught him.
Rellan's hand closed weakly around Gareth's arm.
"You fool..."
Blood ran from his mouth.
"Why?" Gareth demanded. "Why did you attack him?"
Rellan looked toward Toby.
Then Gareth realized the dying man had not been reaching for the boy.
He had been reaching for something behind him.
Gareth turned.
A black serpent crawled from beneath the cradle.
Its scales shimmered unnaturally in the dim chamber.
Toby backed away.
Rellan whispered, "Don't let it bite..."
The serpent struck.
Gareth swung.
His sword cut the creature in half.
Both pieces hit the floor.
Black smoke poured from the wound.
Not blood.
Smoke.
Toby stared.
"What is that?"
Gareth had no answer.
Rellan collapsed.
Dead.
Then Toby cried out.
He grabbed his forearm.
The Sovereign Crest was burning through his sleeve.
Gold light spread beneath the cloth.
The floor trembled.
A crack opened across the stones.
Then another.
The entire southern tower seemed to groan.
"What's happening?" Toby shouted.
Gareth grabbed him.
"The letter."
What had it said?
Do not let him bleed inside High Keep.
But Toby wasn't bleeding.
Gareth looked toward Rellan's corpse.
Blood had spread across the floor.
Not Toby's blood.
Yet the crest was reacting.
A deep sound rose beneath them.
Not from the tower.
From underground.
Something enormous moved far below High Keep.
Toby stared at Gareth.
"Did I do that?"
"No."
The floor cracked again.
This time, a section of stone beside the cradle collapsed.
Dust exploded upward.
Gareth pulled Toby back.
Beneath the broken floor was a narrow cavity.
Something metallic gleamed inside.
A box.
Gareth reached down and pulled it free.
The small iron chest bore the royal dragon crest.
Toby's silver key began vibrating in his pocket.
"The key," Gareth said.
Toby removed it.
The moment the silver key approached the chest, its lock opened by itself.
Gareth lifted the lid.
Inside lay several documents wrapped in oilcloth.
A small dagger.
A woman's ring.
And a miniature portrait.
Toby picked it up.
The painting showed a young man with dark hair, wearing the formal black-and-gold uniform of the Crown Prince.
Edric.
Beside him stood a young woman Gareth recognized immediately.
Lady Seraphine Vale.
Toby's supposed surname.
Gareth's heart began pounding.
In Seraphine's arms was an infant.
On the back of the miniature, someone had written a date.
Ten years and four months earlier.
Below it were five words:
OUR SON, TOBIAS ALDREN VALE.
Toby stared at the writing.
"My name..."
Gareth could not speak.
Tobias.
Toby.
The infant son of Crown Prince Edric and Lady Seraphine.
A legitimate royal grandson if their marriage had been recognized.
An heir whose existence would have destroyed Morvus's claim to the regency.
Toby looked at Gareth.
"Is that me?"
Before Gareth could answer, bells erupted across High Keep.
Not alarm bells.
Execution bells.
Three slow, terrible strokes.
Gareth rushed to the window.
Soldiers had assembled in the courtyard below.
At their center stood Captain Veyron.
And beside him—
Gareth stopped breathing.
Lord Regent Morvus himself.
The Regent held something above his head.
A second silver key.
Morvus looked directly toward the southern tower.
Impossible at that distance.
Yet Gareth had the unmistakable feeling that the Regent was staring straight at him.
Then Morvus spoke to the assembled soldiers.
His voice carried across the courtyard.
"Sir Gareth has abducted the royal heir."
Gareth's blood turned cold.
Toby came to the window.
"What did he say?"
But Morvus was not finished.
"Seal every gate. Search every chamber. Gareth must be taken alive."
A pause.
"The boy must not."
Toby looked up at Gareth.
Below, hundreds of soldiers drew their swords.
And then Gareth finally understood the most terrifying part.
Morvus had called Toby the royal heir.
Which meant the Regent had known exactly who the boy was before Toby ever entered High Keep.