The False Prince (The Ascendance Trilogy #1)(41)

Tobias was asleep in bed when I woke up, so he must have found his way back to our room sometime in the night. The idea that I’d slept through his walking freely around the room made me uncomfortable. Usually, I was a light sleeper, and I didn’t like the idea of wondering what he might have been tempted to do to me in my sleep.

Roden was already awake and still working on the book he’d taken off Tobias’s desk the night before. “I can figure out a lot of these words,” he said. “You should’ve paid more attention to Master Graves. I think he could’ve helped you.”

“I can’t pretend to be interested in someone who’s so boring,” I muttered.

Roden rolled his eyes and went back to his book while I got out of bed and began to get dressed. It would irritate Errol, I knew, but lately that fact was more motivation than deterrent.

“There’s blood all over your shirt!” Roden said.

“Noticed that, did you?”

Roden closed the book and came closer to me. “It looks like your shirt was cut too. What happened?”

“Do I need a bandage?”

“How should I know? Let me call Errol.”

I pulled off my shirt and threw it into the fireplace, which still bore a few smoldering ashes. The alcohol that Imogen had used for me was in the corner of our room. I poured just enough of it onto the shirt to stir up the fire again.

“What did you do that for?” Roden asked.

He made enough noise that Errol and the other two servants took it as a sign that it was time to enter from the hallway. I was never sure what time they arrived each morning, but they always came in when they heard us talking.

“I’ll help you finish dressing, sir.” Errol said the words as if he were tired of speaking them. He knew I didn’t want his help, and that was especially true right now.

I turned so that my back was facing the wall. “I’ll dress myself and I’ll do it privately.”

Tobias opened his eyes. “Will everyone speak quieter? I have a terrible headache here!”

“Sage’s back is bleeding again,” Roden said to Errol.

Everyone’s eyes turned to me. Errol walked between me and the wall. A gasp escaped his lips, then he said, “This is a new wound. Where did it come from?”

I shrugged, not yet ready with an explanation. Whatever I said, it’d have to be a lie. Although the truth would ruin Tobias’s last hope to become the prince, it did me no favors either.

Errol gave up asking for details and said, “The cut isn’t so deep, but we have to take care of it.”

“Just give me a bandage and I’ll wrap it myself,” I said.

Errol shook his head and left the room. It was a good thing the two weeks were almost ended. I doubted whether he could tolerate me for much longer.

“I’m already dressed.” Roden scowled at his servant, who was tugging at his shirt. “Get out!”

“You’re dismissed too,” Tobias told his man, a new servant who avoided me as often as possible. “We need to talk in private. Shut the door behind you.”

Immediately after we were alone, Roden leapt across the room, grabbed Tobias by the shoulders, and shoved him hard against the wall. “You did that to him? Were you going after me next?”

“Check me for a knife if you think I did it.” Tobias looked sideways at me. “I don’t have anything that could make a wound like that, do I, Sage?”

“You’re afraid of what Roden would find if he searched?” I asked.

Tobias threw up his hands, and Roden pulled back Tobias’s blanket and checked his pillow. Then he lifted Tobias’s mattress and gasped.

Tobias’s face paled as Roden withdrew the knife Tobias had used against me the night before. Dried blood still stained the tip of the blade. I’d made sure of that.

“How’d that get there?” Tobias whispered. His eyes narrowed as they met mine. “Oh, of course. Well, Sage has a knife too.”

“Do you think so?” I said. “I’m sure the kitchen staff will find there’s only one knife missing.” But I let Roden search my things anyway. No knife was there, and Tobias’s face paled even further.

“I’ve got to tell Conner,” Roden said. “This goes too far, Tobias.”

“Please don’t,” Tobias begged. “Conner already thinks I have a plan to get rid of him. If he thinks I tried to do anything to Sage — he’ll have my head.”

“Conner should punish you,” I said. “Being chosen as the prince is the least of your worries now.”

Tobias’s eyes filled with tears. “Help me, then.”

“You nearly killed me last night. Should I care what happens to you now?”

“Please. I’ll do anything.”

“You’re asking me to lie for you? Then I’d be the one in trouble. Why would I do that?”

His voice raised in pitch. “Please, Sage. Anything you want. Help me, and I’ll fight for you.”

He looked terrified, probably exactly as I had looked when Conner told Mott to take me to his dungeon. Tobias had played into my hands, but I felt sorry for him nonetheless. “I’ll help you, but at this price. It’s time to fail. You will be less intelligent, less impressive, and certainly less princelike.”