“Speaking of panic,” Owen began.
I spun to look at him.
“Did you see the king’s face when you went for the keys?”
I smiled. “He looked utterly terrified. For his life.” It might be weird of me to admit, but I was going to cherish that moment for the rest of my life.
“I wish the two of you could’ve seen it,” Owen added to the princes, who had been behind the king at that juncture. “In all my life, I have never seen him look s—” Owen trailed off, his eyes going big.
“What?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”
His eyes went to Krew’s then bounced to Keir’s. “It’s the sword.”
“I’ll admit I thought about grabbing it instead and shoving it into the king’s chest,” I provided. “But with all of parliament at my back, I wasn’t sure I’d survive long enough to complete the job.”
“No.” Owen was shaking his head, but his eyes were lit up. “It’sthe sword.”
“The object?” Keir asked, moving to stand. “You believe the sword is the object which holds my mother’s magic?”
Owen smiled. “I know it is. You didn’t see his face when she reached for the keys. That was why he wanted his guards to do it and not Jorah. He was only beginning to understand how powerful she was, but he knew if she had the sword, it was over for him.”
My jaw fell open. “You mean to tell me I was that close to it? That close to it and didn’t know?” I thought back to the moment I had stepped onto the dais. I had thought I felt the king’s magic building to retaliate. What if it hadn’t been his magic? What if instead it’d been the sword? The magic of the queen.
I slumped down onto the couch next to Krew. “I didn’t realize. I could’ve ended it had I just gone for the sword. This would all be over.” Angry tears filled my eyes. Why couldn’t we have figured that out before this morning? We were an hour too late.
I’d been so close to being able to end it all. So close. And now in the days to come we’d have to wait for the king’s punishments, in whatever mind game he deemed necessary. It was likely we’d walk on eggshells in these halls until the day the king was gone. I had been mere inches from my dream of picnics in the meadow with Warrick coming true. Of a future with Krew by my side, not as a widow.
And it had all just slipped through my fingers back there in the throne room.
Krew put a hand on my back, rubbing circles. “Do not beat yourself up with the what-ifs. We didn’t know. And we still wouldn’t know had it not been for what you did today.”
Keir was grinning like a lunatic, while I wiped at my eyes. “What now?” I snapped.
He sat down and put up his feet, crossing them at the ankles, looking pleased. “Not only do we have the two most powerful Enchanted in the realm at our disposal, myself and Owen coming in at a close third and fourth, respectively, but now we also know which object we need to remove from him.” Keir looked to each of us. “He can’t kill us after what Jorah said down there. And he cannot touch her without parliament turning on him.” He again grinned. “His days are numbered.” He paused. “Next time, we finish him.”
There was one quick knock and the door opened.
Instead of it being George with the food we had ordered to make my sound barrier fall, it instead was the king.
Krew immediately stood and put himself between me and his father. Though he had been somehow weakened, I could still see the navy slithering beneath his skin.
We were all standing, magic flaring, ready for whatever came next.
The king rolled his eyes and flicked his wrist. “I did not come here to harm her. I would’ve done that in the throne room if that was my intention. So calm down, son.”
Krew didn’t move. He didn’t trust his father at all. None of us did. Owen slowly moved in, likely ready to grab me and jump off the balcony if needed.
“I only came to inform Jorah that she will be needed for all parliament sessions from here on out. Since she is likely the strongest woman in Wylan, based on her earlier stunt, parliament has decided it is time for your mother’s proxy. Having just seen what she can do and that she is officially a Valanova, they’ve of course chosen her and demanded her presence.”
What?This day just kept getting weirder and weirder. I was now the queen’s proxy?
I also looked down toward the floor as if I was scared, but really I was searching for the stupid sword. It wasn’t on him.
I turned over my shoulder to look at Owen, who gave me the barest of nods. He noticed it too. The king knew I’d been so close to figuring it all out and removing the item from his person which was keeping him as the strongest Enchanted in the realm. So he’d taken it off before coming to talk with us. I tried to think of a time I’d seen him without it, but I couldn’t think of a single time the sword hadn’t been there. Even on the night of the poker game where he’d killed Nico, the man who’d attempted to use magic on Krew, the king had used his dagger, never once unsheathing the sword.
But maybe that was because it wasn’t just a sword, now was it? It was amplifying his magic.
“And you are allowing a proxy?” Keir snapped. “Now?To what end, Father?”
