Crown of One Hundred Kings (Nine Kingdoms Trilogy #1) - Rachel Higginson Page 0,101

“Do you? Or rather, did you?”

“No,” I grumbled. “There were no ladders. But I did hear a snap. Something snapped the rope.”

“Or it’s old and it snapped on its own,” Ravanna suggested. Her cold black eyes found mine and she murmured, “How unfortunate.” Did she mean the accident was unfortunate? Or that I hadn’t been killed? She raised her voice so that the other sovereigns could hear her and said, “It would appear that our alleged princess attracts tragedy wherever she goes.”

“Or always avoids it,” I replied.

Her eyes narrowed and her tongue moved over her front teeth as she sized me up. “I guess time will tell.”

Another chandelier crashed to the ground halfway down the next hallway. Screams rang all around me and royal guards covered their sovereigns with their bodies.

After the clattering had ceased and the onlookers had stopped shrieking, King Maksim of Barstus shouted, “Get us out of the hallway, Tyrn, before someone dies!”

Tyrn stood up tall, shaking off Crenshaw who had tried to cover my uncle’s body with his own. “Yes, I think that is a good idea. In light of the close calls this morning, we shall suspend Conandra for the remainder of the day. In the morning, we will hear final witnesses and concluding arguments. Supper will be served in the great hall this evening with entertainment following.”

I stood there, speechless, as the monarchs picked themselves up and dispersed to their corners of the palace. While I was locked in my room, fretting over tomorrow’s outcome, they would be enjoying entertainment?

Were any of them taking this seriously?

My thoughts must have been all over my face because Hugo and Anatal stepped over. Anatal put her shaking hand on my shoulder, her blue eyes glittering with concern. “Are you all right?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” I answered. “I’m a little shaken up, but Taelon saved me from the worst of it.”

Taelon leaned in and whispered, “That was calculated, Father. I don’t know how, but I know it was planned. She was alone out here. Not a guard in sight.”

Hugo absorbed this information with a stony expression. Finally, he turned to me and said, “Don’t worry about it tonight. Tyrn is obviously hoping to distract us from the facts of the trial, but I have spoken with several sovereigns who believe you. I do not know if we can count on their vote tomorrow, but I do know that you have done a very good job of revealing your true identity.”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“Girl!” Crenshaw barked at me.

I let out a weary sigh.

“Go,” Hugo encouraged. “Tomorrow Taelon will give his testimony and produce the crown. There will be no doubt after that.”

I returned a shaky smile. That was good news. As long as I could count on Taelon to show up.

“Now, Imposter,” Crenshaw snarled. “I haven’t got all day.”

I closed my eyes and said to the Treskinats, “Tomorrow I will have the power to have him flogged.”

Taelon’s dark laugh contrasted with his parents’ matching looks of horror. I nodded goodbye and turned toward Crenshaw.

His cruel smile stretched across his face with new life. Something had made him especially happy and if I had to guess, I would bet it was my near-death experience.

The rest of my guard detail stayed to provide extra protection for the fearful monarchs. As we moved farther and farther from the main hallway, nerves began to prickle at my skin. I did not trust this man.

He turned down a dark hallway and I realized we were going back to my room a different way than we had come. An icy sweat broke out on the small of my back.

There was less light in this part of the castle. The hallways were filled with shadowy alcoves that hid statues of dead royals and monuments to the Light. My hands started trembling and I had just decided that Crenshaw was going to kill me when someone called his name from behind us.

Crenshaw cursed and turned to meet the fellow guard.

“I have orders,” the other guard said.

Crenshaw turned to me. “Stay here,” he commanded.

I nodded innocently. Crenshaw gave me one last look of warning before following the other guard to the end of the hallway. When they disappeared, I spun around in hopes of finding something to use as a weapon just in case I needed to protect myself.

I walked further down the hallway, anxious for anything I could hide in the folds of my skirts. If Crenshaw was as deranged as I believed him to be, he