“She never knew.”
The Prince suddenly understood.
The Regent had not needed the King merely for legitimacy.
He needed royal blood to reveal the hidden military network.
Seven years of imprisonment.
Seven years waiting for the King to yield.
Then the Prince arrived and accidentally gave him what he needed.
The boy’s stomach turned.
“I helped you.”
“Yes.”
The Regent smiled.
“Finally useful.”
The King moved.
The Regent raised his sword.
The Prince looked at the bow lying near the entrance.
Too far.
Then at the Oath Stone.
His bleeding hand remained against it.
The map responded to him.
Not the Regent.
To him.
The Prince focused.
The bright line beneath the capital shifted.
Another symbol appeared.
A sun.
The same sun as the palace throne.
The Prince smiled.
“What?”
The Regent noticed.
“You still don’t understand.”
“Understand what?”
“The roads don’t obey whoever finds them.”
The boy looked at his father.
“They obey the blood touching the stone.”
The King’s eyes widened.
The Prince pressed his palm harder.
The golden map changed.
Lines vanished.
One by one.
The Regent’s smile disappeared.
“No.”
The Prince thought of his mother.
The capital.
The throne.
Home.
The map folded inward until only one route remained.
The sea route back to the kingdom.
Then darkness.
The Regent struck him.
The Prince fell.
The King attacked.
The Captain joined.
The Regent fought desperately.
He cut the Captain’s arm.
Kicked the King to one knee.
Shoved the Old Archer into the wall.
Then turned toward the Prince.
The boy had recovered the bow.
The Regent laughed.
“You won’t shoot.”
The Prince nocked.
“You’re a child.”
The Prince drew.
The Regent spread his arms.
“Do it.”
The Prince’s hands trembled.
He could kill him.
End everything.
The Old Archer watched.
The King watched.
The Captain watched.
The Regent smiled.
“If you want the throne, learn what kings do.”
The Prince lowered the bow.
The Regent’s smile widened.
Then the Prince shot the rope holding the ceremonial bronze bell above him.
The bell crashed.
The Regent jumped aside.
The Captain tackled him.
The King kicked away his sword.
The Prince smiled.
“My father taught me to look down.”
The Regent was chained.
Alive.
The King insisted.
“He will stand before the Queen.”
The voyage home took eleven days.
The King slowly regained strength.