The boy twisted.
The soldier shoved him against a column.
The Prince drove an elbow backward.
The man cursed.
The Prince kicked his shin.
The soldier grabbed again.
Then the Queen struck him across the head with a bronze ceremonial staff.
The man fell.
The Prince stared at her.
She adjusted her gown.
“What?”
He smiled.
“Nothing.”
The Captain defeated the commander.
The citadel surrendered.
By midnight, the kingdom had both King and Queen again.
But no one pretended everything could simply return to how it had been.
Seven years changed people.
The King had scars.
The Queen had ruled alone.
The Prince was no longer five.
The Regent’s corruption reached through courts, trade houses, army contracts, and grain stores.
Removing one man did not remove what he built.
So the trials began.
Publicly.
The Queen insisted.
The Regent stood before the same courtyard where he had ordered the Prince arrested.
Thousands watched.
The golden seal rested on a table.
The forged death reports beside it.
The blood-stained Black Star records.
The Captain testified.
So did the Old Archer.
The captured raider commander’s documents were presented.
The traitorous sailor testified about threats against his family.
Then the King spoke.
The Regent listened without emotion.
When the testimony ended, the presiding judge asked whether he denied the charges.
The Regent smiled.
“No.”
Murmurs spread.
The Prince frowned.
The Regent looked toward him.
“You think you defeated me?”
The boy remained silent.
“You revealed an old king and saved a frightened city.”
The Regent gestured toward the crowd.
“Do you imagine they love you?”
The Prince answered.
“I don’t need them to love me.”
“Then you understand nothing.”
The Regent smiled.
“A throne survives because people fear what happens without it.”
The Prince thought of his father.
His mother.
The Oath Stone.
The sailors.
The bread lines.
“No.”
The Regent raised an eyebrow.
“A throne survives when people believe what happens with it is better.”
For the first time, the Regent’s smile disappeared.
He was convicted of treason.
The King refused execution.
Many protested.
The Prince asked why.
The King answered quietly.
“Because killing a traitor can become easier than repairing what made his treason possible.”
The Regent was sent to a remote fortress.
Not the Black Star.
The King refused to make anyone live where he had suffered.
The Captain’s wife was found alive.
The Regent had kept her in a northern estate under another name.
Their reunion happened privately.
The Prince only knew because the Captain appeared at training three days later looking exhausted and happy.
“You’re smiling.”
“No.”
“You are.”
“Draw.”
The Prince lifted his bow.
“Did she slap you?”
The Captain stared.
“How did you know?”
“My mother likes that greeting.”
The Captain laughed.
The kingdom spent two years rebuilding.
The King returned to the throne, but differently.