The False Prince (Ascendance 1)

“Oh?” Tobias asked. “Who is it?”

“You.” Now I sat up entirely. “You’re the most willing to do anything he wants, the most pliable. He knows I’d be difficult to manage, and he can’t be sure about Roden. But you, you’re a puppet master’s dream.”

Tobias’s mouth opened wide, then closed. Finally, he said, “Conner may think what he likes. I’m also the smartest of the three of us, and if I become the prince, then I will rule, no one else.”

“If Conner puts you in, then he can take you out,” Roden said. “How do you know it won’t be the way Sage says?”

Tobias shook his head. “Don’t you two worry about me. Worry about your own necks instead.”

Lessons the next day were much the same as the day before. Master Graves rapped my knuckles several times for staring off into space when he thought I should stare at his chalkboard instead. Mistress Havala educated us on the names of everyone connected with King Eckbert’s family.

“Very few members of Eckbert’s family remain alive, and most of them are distant relations, so there is little chance of meeting anyone who knew the prince well enough to identify him,” she said. “But everyone will expect you to know these names.”

Tobias took steady notes. I ate most of his lunch and he never noticed.

Mistress Havala spent the remainder of our time after lunch describing Prince Jaron’s older brother, Darius.

“He was everything a future king ought to be,” she said. “Educated, compassionate, wise.”

“That’s what Carthya will expect from whichever of us is chosen, then,” Tobias said. “We have to do better than just imitate Jaron. We have to exceed the people’s expectations for Darius.”

“Leave it to you and by the end of the week, the chosen prince will have to raise the dead too,” I scoffed. “None of us is going to exceed Darius.”

“You won’t,” Roden said.

I had no comeback for him. My whole life was a testament to the truth of that fact.

There’s an old saying in Avenia that goes, “Just because it’s calmer than a hailstorm doesn’t mean it’s calm.” Several times during our horseback lessons later that day, that thought ran through my mind. The tension in the air was thick and tangible. Cregan and I quickly settled into a truce of not speaking.

Or rather, I wasn’t speaking to him. He had plenty to say to me.

“Conner blamed me for you losing Windstorm,” he said. “You get to say whatever you want to me, challenge my authority here, and I take the blame? You think you’re a fine gentleman now, so you can look down on me? Well, you’re still that pathetic orphan, Sage. You smelled like a pig when you came in here, and no matter what scents they add to your bathwater, you always will.”

I gritted my teeth and reminded myself that in all fairness, I probably had smelled pretty bad before.

“I’ll have to pay for that horse, the master says,” Cregan continued. “Paying it off will take so many years of service, I can’t count them. But I won’t be his servant much longer. I have plans of my own.”

He wanted me to ask what his plans were so he would have the satisfaction of telling me it was none of my business. I didn’t care an inch about his plans. So I stared at him steadily, which infuriated him further.

“From now on, any horse you ride will be tethered to mine. And you will get the calmest, least excitable horse in the stables. You won’t be able to get it to do anything I don’t want it to do.”

“Wait!” Tobias said. “If he gets the easiest horse, then it will appear to Conner that he’s the best rider.”

I smiled at Tobias, whose eyes narrowed.

“That was your plan all along,” Roden whispered.

“I don’t have Tobias’s brains or your strength,” I said to them. “Give me this one area to compete with you two.”

Cregan stared at us for a moment, clearly trying to decide whether to give me the easiest horse or not. He didn’t want to help me, nor did he want to risk getting himself in trouble again with a horse out of my league.

“I’m not even best with horses,” he said. “I’m a swordsman, but Mott ordered me here so he could teach swords.”

“Teach us both,” Roden said. “I’ll learn.”

Tobias rolled his eyes. “So far, you’ve taught us neither horses nor swords. Our lesson time is passing fast, sir.”

“The devils are punishing me for everything I’ve ever done wrong in my life,” he said, marching to the stables to get the horses. “They’ve sent me you three.”