mother was Gwynlyn Fennick Allisand, Queen of the Realm. My brothers were Alesk, Benedict, Erix, and Brayne. My younger sister was Katrinka. All were taken from me more than eight years ago—massacred in our home.” My voice broke as memories surfaced. “I saw their throats slit and their bodies drained of blood.” Tears fell from my eyes, but I hardly noticed. “They were murdered. Here in this palace. I am who I say I am. And I have returned to claim what is rightfully mine.”
When I had blinked away the last of the tears and could see clearly again, I noticed some of the council watched me with glassy eyes.
And some looked as though they would be very happy to end Conandra now. As well as my life.
A gruff, hard king leaned forward. His hair was as white as the snow-capped peaks of the Diamond Mountains, but his skin was tanned and weathered. The navy blue and forest green of his crest identified him as the King of Kasha, Devonish Katansa. “So, you can cry, child. Now give us something real. We want facts and proof.”
He had a point. “The morning my family was murdered, I was with Taelon Treskinat. His family had come to visit the palace to celebrate my newest brother, Brayne. I’m not sure if you remember, but at that time I was betrothed to Taelon. My father had six children that he wished to marry off. I was meant for Soravale and their oldest prince. A monk by the name of Father Garius from the Brotherhood of Silence was also visiting the palace. It will be in the records books. He is the high priest at the Temple of Eternal Light in Heprin near the Rolling Hills of Gane. When I found my family dead, Taelon urged me to go with Father Garius before my family’s murderer found me as well. Taelon believed that I would not survive the day, that whoever killed my family would hunt me down. He took the Crown of Nine from my father and gave it to Father Garius. Father Garius then smuggled me from the palace and through the eastern half of the realm. He kept me at the Temple of Eternal Light until only a few months ago. At which point he gave me the Crown of Nine and told me it was time to return home.”
“The priest told you to return home?” The King of Barstus, Maksim Zolotov, asked this time. His official titled declared he was the ruler of the Serpent’s Sea and Defender of the Ice Mountains. In other words, he was a powerful ally for my uncle. “But how can this be since the Brotherhoods do not speak?”
“You are right in saying that. They do not speak. But I do. And after living with them for eight years, we developed ways of communicating.”
Maksim snorted. “It must be quite the method if he could communicate such subtleties as that.”
“Despite their silence, they are highly intelligent, well-educated men. It is simply that they don’t communicate verbally.” I tried to keep my patient tone, but it wasn’t easy. “Father Garius saved my life, your majesties. We shared a bond that transcended verbal communication.”
Maksim snorted again. I couldn’t tell what it meant, but I hoped he believed me, even if it was reluctantly.
The rulers peppered me with questions, and I answered as best as I could. They wanted to know exact details about my parents and brothers. They asked about their lives and their behavior while they were alive. Then they asked about their deaths and what it was like to find them the way I had.
They asked me to explain in as much gory detail as I could remember how my parents died. Exactly how had their throats been slit? In what direction? How much blood had there been?
They wanted to know how the last years of my life had been lived and who I associated with. How I got here from Heprin. They especially wanted details of my education and training. I answered them as best as I could, while still retaining a few secrets about my journey here and especially about my training. The questions went on for a long time. One monarch after the other jumping in.
“And you just walked from the castle?” Ravanna Presydia, the queen of Blackthorne demanded. “Nobody recognized you or tried to stop you?”
I had already answered this question countless times. Frustration bled into my words when I clipped out, “Father