I gape. “Rosier as in…?”
“Your aunt’s married name, yes. The nobleman could’ve been her husband Jocor. Did he have dark hair and thick eyebrows?” he asks Tira. She nods.
“But what does that mean?” I ask. I’ve been through too much today for it to make sense. I need him to lay the pieces out for me.
Leon gets up, pacing as he thinks.
“We know the purge was a trap—someone wanted to draw you out to kill or capture you by targeting your hometown and the people in it.”
“It didn’t work though, did it?” Tira says smugly.
“Not the way they intended,” Leon agrees. “I don’t think they expected you to put up such a fight—and they wouldn’t have counted on you having backup because they know that the rumors about our alliance are propaganda.”
I feel Tira giving me a confused look.
“He kidnapped me,” I say. “It’s a long story.”
“And we know someone at the palace likely ordered the purge,” Leon continues. “That’s the only explanation for why Nunias was there. He answers to the Temple, but he’s still officially the palace cleric. Whoever gave him his orders is someone at the palace who was powerful enough to have your guards removed the night they tried to kill you. The same person who murdered your parents.”
“You’re saying Jocor is behindeverything?” I ask.
“I can’t be certain he’s the one in charge, but he’s certainly involved. His presence in Otscold confirms it,” he says.
The evidence is compelling, but something occurs to me.
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “In Hallowbane, Corrin told me someone tried to assassinate Oclanna.”
“They did,” Tira says. “We even heard about it in Otscold.”
“If Jocor wants to be king, killing Oclanna makes no sense. She’s the one with the birthright—it’s not as if he could take the throne without her. Besides, I saw the way Jocor looks at her,” I continue. I remember it so clearly, even a month later. I thought they were a strange pair at the time, but it was like Oclanna was the center of his world. “Helovesmy aunt, I don’t believe he’d try to murder her.”
Leon shrugs.
“Perhaps the assassination attempt was faked, and she’s in on it. All of this could be her plan, not his, and he’s just her loyal assistant.”
My head spins. She was so kind to me at the palace. Why was that, if she wanted the throne and I was in her way?
“She didn’t know about me,” I say slowly, putting the pieces together. “She thought once she killed my parents, the throne would be hers. But then I popped up.”
“And maybe when you first arrived, she thought she could control you,” Leon says. “A young woman raised in isolation—she assumed you’d be easy to manipulate. Your existence might have ruined her initial plan, but she adapted. She thought she could make you into a puppet, and with you under her thumb, she’d be queen in everything but title.”
His eyes are bright as he works through his theory. “But then you didn’t play by the rules,” he says. “You didn’t execute me even when she encouraged you to. It would’ve played right into her attempt to frame me for your parents’ murders.”
I remember that day, standing in the throne room. Oclanna did seem put out when I said we’d give Leon a trial. Who knew that my parents’ actual murderer was probably standing right next to me?
“And the fae knife used to kill my parents? The sensic magic found in their room?” I ask.
“Both things that can be bought and deployed without a fae present,” Leon says.
I close my eyes, thinking.
“If she is behind this, she’s insane,” I say. “Who would kill her own sister just for power?”
I know what it’s like to feel powerless, to look at those stronger than you and yearn for what they have. But I would never think that power was worth killing for.
“It’s the kind of thing people have done throughout history,” Leon says. “Welcome to royalty, princess.”
I know he’s just trying to get me to see the facts. He wants to give me some idea of what I’m up against. But I’m still reeling from the last forty-eight hours and don’t have the ability to accept all this right now.
