The violent energy raging through him died to chilling confusion. I was no less afraid now than when he’d been about to lay his hands on Taelon. “Who are you, then, that you should call me uncle?”
“Tessana. I am your sister’s daughter, Tessana Hadlyn Allisand, oldest daughter to the hundredth king of Elysia.”
His raspy whisper seemed to be dragged from his throat. “It cannot be.”
My voice broke with desperation. “It is I. On the day my parents were murdered a monk rescued me from the palace. I have been living in secret for these last eight years.”
“Where?” he demanded.
I swallowed, feeling as though I’d said too much. “Heprin. I’ve been living in a monastery in Heprin.”
His harsh laugh was unexpected. “In a monastery? Well of course you have! No one would ever think to look in a monastery!”
I swallowed back a fresh wave of panic.
He stepped back and raised his voice so the whole room could hear. “You expect me to believe that you were kidnapped from this palace by a monk from Heprin. Living in total secrecy for the last eight years? And now, you have decided to emerge from hiding and reveal your existence. Now, after I have believed you to be dead for the better part of this last decade. Now after the wounds from losing my sister have finally closed, you have appeared to rip them open and cause me fresh grief?”
If he felt sorrow for my mother’s death, he did not show it. And while he might not have felt the anguish like a hot blade in his gut, I did. I ignored Taelon’s tight grip on my elbow and said in a low voice, “I can prove it.”
Tyrn leaned in. He had pale blue eyes the color of ice, hard as the diamonds that adorned the crown on his head. “Then by all means, Tessana Hadlyn Allisand, prove it.”
I let go of Taelon’s arm, immediately regretting the separation. My whole body trembled as I felt every eye in the room boring into me. My uncle hovered over me, his gaze as cruel and bitter as his words.
I needed to proceed carefully. When my uncle mistook me for my mother, he had made it very clear that he would not have the crown taken from him.
And that was, in fact, what I’d come to do.
I reached into my satchel. My numb fingers found the hidden clasp, opened the false bottom, then wrapped around the Crown of Nine.
Energy hummed beneath my skin and that familiar buzzing I felt every time I touched this precious gold filled my body. There was something inside this crown, something otherworldly and mystical. Magic had been banned for longer than I had been alive, but if I didn’t know better, I could easily believe this crown held powers, held magic that should not exist. I pulled the unmistakable crown from my bag and held it for my uncle to see.
The room echoed with a collective gasp. Chairs pushed back as people rushed to stand. But I focused on my uncle’s reaction, which was greed and depthless hunger and an equally otherworldly need.
His hands twitched and I braced myself for his attack, even while my grip around the crown tightened. He leaned forward and I saw the truth of his nature. He would take the crown. He would rip it from my hands if he had to.
Taelon stepped swiftly in front of me. His hand fell to the hilt of his sword and I held my breath.
“You recognize the Crown of Nine,” Taelon declared over the din of voices. “Who else would have had access to it since the day it went missing? You mistook her for her mother when you first saw her. Your Majesty, this is Tessana Allisand of the house of Extentia.”
Tyrn stepped forward, closing the distance between the crown and himself. “The Allisands are dead,” he argued. “Every last one of them. And that crown belongs to me.”
Taelon’s entire body tensed, readying for a fight. I felt Haemon and the other guards come to life behind us. “It belongs to the Allisands.”
“It belongs to me!” Tyrn bellowed. “Guards! Fetch me my crown and throw these imposters in the dungeon where they can rot for the rest of time!”
“You will have war if you touch me!” Taelon shouted back. “My father will tear this kingdom apart piece by piece until there is nothing left for you to rule!”
I grappled for a solution. This hadn’t gone exactly like I had planned.
Actually, it had gone nothing like I’d planned.
“Bring your war!” Tyrn’s face turned a blotchy red and his entire body shook. “You will not make it beyond my wall!”
“Conandra!” I shouted above the two men about to tear each other to pieces.
The room fell silent. Just like that. Taelon’s shoulders sagged with defeat and my uncle’s shrewd eyes fell on me again. “What did you say?” he asked.
I held my chin high, “I called for Conandra.”
“Do you even understand what you’re asking for, child?”
“If you ignore who I am and take this crown from me, you will have war,” I told him. “After all of these witnesses saw me and after you yourself mistook me for my mother and your sister, word will spread and the entire kingdom will be infected with doubt. However, should you enter into Conandra, culpability is removed from your shoulders. The council will decide if I am who I say I am. If this crown belongs to me or to you. And when they decide, then you can either peacefully forfeit the throne to me or…” I struggled to say this last part. It was too much. Too wrong. “Or, I shall be the one that forfeits the crown to you.”
He leaned in, a smile lifting the corners of his thin mouth. “Very well, Niece, Conandra it is.”
I breathed out and tried not to look too relieved. “Thank you,
