The False Prince (The Ascendance Trilogy #1)(40)

The one well-guarded room wasn’t far from Conner’s. The vigils in front of the door were unfamiliar to me and they stood very alert. It had to be the guest bedroom for the betrothed princess Amarinda.

It was impossible to continue any farther through the hallway without risking the attention of her vigils, so I slipped back into the passages. Somewhere in there was a door leading directly into Amarinda’s room, but using it for any reason was a terrible idea. It did occur to me that there might at least be some way to peek into the room without entering it. The curiosity of what Amarinda looked like was very strong.

While feeling around for any place to view into the room, I felt a hand on my arm and the point of a knife at my back. It had been only a matter of time before the others discovered the passages too.

“Is this how I have to prove my strength?” Tobias’s voice was thick and he sniffed loudly. I wondered if he was crying.

“Where’d you get the knife?” I asked calmly. Calm was important here.

“I stole it from the kitchen.” He pressed the long end of the blade into my back and I stiffened as I felt it cut. It was a razorsharp knife. “If the whipping before wasn’t enough, maybe I can stop you.”

“From what?” I said, gasping. Blood trickled down my back, though I couldn’t tell if he’d opened the old wound or created a new one.

“Stop you from being considered. I saw Conner’s admiration for you while we practiced our dancing. But how can he? You’re the least worthy of the title, the lowest of us three.”

“And you’re the biggest coward,” I hissed, then caught my breath in my throat as his blade cut deeper.

“Don’t call me a coward,” Tobias said. “I’m not!”

“Have you come here to kill me?” I asked. “Because I’ll scream when you do and it’ll wake up the princess and probably a whole lot of other people, and you’ll get into trouble.”

“You’ll be dead.”

“Yes, but you’ll be in trouble.”

Tobias lightened the pressure on the blade. “This is just a warning for you to back down. I will be king.”

“If you don’t want to kill me, then lower the knife.”

Tobias released my arm, then said, “Don’t try anything with me. I’ll keep this knife ready if you do.”

I stumbled away from him, my head spinning. “What am I going to try in here? You know that if you’re this paranoid as king, it’ll eat you alive.”

“Maybe King Eckbert should’ve been more paranoid. Then he wouldn’t be dead right now.”

I stopped and grabbed on to the wall for support. It took every bit of my concentration not to be sick all over him.

“You okay?” Tobias asked. Not that he cared. When I began walking again, he followed, adding, “What’s the point of wandering around here every night?”

The sting gradually eased. It was still fierce, but the whipping had hurt worse. Maybe he hadn’t cut me as badly as I first thought.

“Conner has you and Roden in his control,” I said. “Not me.”

“Not me either,” Tobias quickly said, but from the tone of his voice, it was obvious that even he didn’t believe it.

“I’d like to go to our room now,” I said. “I’m tired and you hurt my back.”

“I’m not apologizing for that. I’d rather keep you weak.”

“What a person of honor you are.”

Tobias snorted. “A statement like that, coming from you?”

That brought a faint smile to my face. “Then let’s hope Conner chooses Roden, so that Carthya has some hope of an honorable king.”

Tobias didn’t like that and he strutted ahead of me. “Roden would have this kingdom destroyed in a generation, with or without Conner’s lead. He has no thought that someone else hasn’t put there. I shudder to think either of you has any chance of being chosen.”

“If Conner’s choice was that obvious, my back wouldn’t hurt so much right now.”

“My warning is real,” Tobias said. “And if you try to tell anyone about this, I’ll see that Roden takes the blame. I know how to persuade Conner.”

“You have no control over Conner. You may wear the crown one day, but he’ll be king.”

“I’ll let him think he has control, then get rid of him. Where are we?”

Despite the pain I still felt, I couldn’t help but smile wickedly. “Conner’s room is on the other side of this wall. Pray he is a deep sleeper, or else he heard every word you just said.”

Tobias made a sound in his throat and put his ear to the wall, to see if he could hear Conner on the other side. I used the moment to grab his arm and twist it behind his back, and then withdrew my own knife from inside my clothes.

“Where’d that come from?”

“You’re not the only one who stole from the kitchen.” I withdrew his knife from his belt and whispered in his ear, “You’re in a lot of trouble, Tobias. Conner knows about the notes you made, your plans to get rid of him. You’ve already lost. In a few days, he’s going to kill you.”

Then I hit him over the back of the head with the butt of my knife and he fell unconscious.