The morning after our midnight escape brought unwelcome news: three of the young nobles who'd attended our secret meeting had been arrested during the night. Lord David, Lady Margaret, and Thomas Blake were currently locked in the palace dungeons, charged with conspiracy against the crown.
I learned this from Sarah, who appeared at my door before dawn with tears streaming down her face and panic in her eyes.
"They took my brother," she whispered, collapsing into a chair by my fireplace. "Royal guards came to our quarters at midnight. They said they had evidence of treasonous activities."
My blood turned to ice. "What kind of evidence?"
"Letters, supposedly. Communications between Thomas and agents of the Eastern rebellion." Her voice shook with barely controlled fury. "Complete fabrications, but the charges are already filed. They'll be executed within the week unless..."
"Unless what?"
"Unless someone confesses to being the conspiracy's true leader." She looked up at me with desperate hope. "If the real mastermind comes forward and accepts responsibility, the others might be spared as deceived followers."
The trap was elegant in its simplicity. Someone had observed our meeting despite the magical darkness I'd created, probably through magical means I hadn't anticipated. Now they were using the captured nobles as bait, hoping to draw out whoever had the power to make a dozen people vanish from a sealed room.
"It's a setup," I said.
"Of course it's a setup. But my brother is still going to die if we don't do something." Tears continued to flow down her cheeks. "Please, Alex. You're the only one with enough magical ability to have any chance of rescuing them."
The emotional manipulation was so obvious it was almost insulting, but that didn't make her distress less real. Thomas Blake and the others were genuinely in danger, and I was probably the only person who could save them.
The question was whether I could do it without revealing my true identity.
"I need to think," I said finally. "And I need information. Can you arrange a meeting with Duke Robert Kane?"
Sarah's eyes widened. "The Duke? Why would you want to meet with him?"
"Because he's the one behind this, and sometimes the direct approach works better than elaborate schemes." I helped her to her feet, noting the way she leaned into my touch. "Can you do it?"
"I... yes. My family has trading agreements with his estates. I can request an audience on commercial matters."
"Good. Arrange it for this afternoon. And Sarah?" I caught her hand as she turned to leave. "Whatever happens, don't try to rescue your brother yourself. The people who orchestrated this are hoping someone will do exactly that."
After she left, I spent the morning preparing for what might be the most important conversation of my life. Duke Robert Kane was no ordinary nobleman—he was a master politician, a powerful mage, and according to the evidence I'd found, one of the people responsible for murdering my parents.
If I was going to face him directly, I needed every advantage I could get.
The Duke received me in his private study, a room that managed to be both luxurious and intimidating. Expensive tapestries covered the walls, but they depicted scenes of historical battles where rebels had been crushed by royal forces. The message was unmistakable.
Duke Kane himself was a man in his late forties, with graying hair and the kind of sharp features that suggested intelligence and ruthlessness in equal measure. He studied me with pale eyes that missed nothing.
"Lord Winters," he said, gesturing for me to sit across from his desk. "Lady Sarah mentioned you had urgent business to discuss."
"Indeed, Your Grace. I believe you have something that belongs to me."
His expression didn't change, but I caught a flicker of interest in his eyes. "And what might that be?"
"Three young nobles who were arrested last night on fabricated charges." I leaned back in my chair, projecting confidence I didn't entirely feel. "I'd like them back."
"An interesting request. What makes you think I have any influence over criminal proceedings?"
"The same thing that makes you think I was responsible for organizing last night's gathering."
Now I had his full attention. Duke Kane set down his pen and gave me the same careful scrutiny he might give a potentially dangerous animal.
"You're quite direct for someone in your position," he observed.
"My position being that of a minor noble with no political connections?"
"Your position being that of someone who just confessed to organizing a treasonous conspiracy." His smile was razor-thin. "Though I appreciate the honesty."
We stared at each other across the desk, two players in a deadly game trying to read each other's intentions. The Duke was good—I could sense the layers of deception and calculation behind his pleasant exterior, but my Blackwood abilities were growing stronger every day.
"What do you want?" I asked finally.
"Straight to the point. I like that." He leaned forward, steepling his fingers. "I want to know who you really are, Lord Winters. Because everything about you suggests you're far more than a bastard tavern keeper with delusions of nobility."
"And if I told you?"
"Then we might be able to reach an arrangement that saves your friends' lives." The threat was delivered with casual politeness, but it was no less real for being understated.
I had reached the moment of truth. Either I maintained my cover and watched three innocent people die, or I revealed enough of my identity to secure their release and painted a permanent target on my back.
"My name is Alex Blackwood," I said quietly. "I'm the heir you thought you'd killed sixteen years ago."
The effect was immediate and dramatic. Duke Kane went perfectly still, his face draining of color as the implications hit him. Then, faster than I could react, his hand shot out and magical chains of light wrapped around my wrists and ankles.
"Guards!" he shouted.
The study door burst open, admitting four armed men who moved with the precision of elite soldiers. They surrounded my chair, weapons drawn, while Duke Kane rose from behind his desk like an avenging angel.
"The lost Blackwood heir," he said, his voice mixing awe and terror. "After all these years, you walk into my study and announce yourself like you're ordering dinner."
"I want my friends released," I said, testing the magical bonds that held me. They were strong, probably too strong for me to break without revealing the full extent of my abilities.
"Your friends are the least of your concerns now." Duke Kane walked around his desk, studying me like a fascinating specimen. "Do you have any idea what your existence means? What chaos your survival could unleash?"
"I know what you did to my family."
"What we did was necessary." His voice hardened. "The Blackwood line had grown too powerful, too dangerous. Your parents thought their magical abilities made them above the law, above the crown itself."
"So you murdered them."
"We eliminated a threat to the kingdom's stability." He stopped directly in front of me, close enough that I could see the old scars on his hands—marks left by magical combat. "Your parents were planning a coup, boy. They would have torn the realm apart to satisfy their ambitions."
"And you're not?"
Duke Kane laughed, a sound devoid of humor. "I serve the crown. Everything I've done has been to preserve the natural order, to ensure that power remains in the hands of those qualified to wield it."
"People like Prince Ryan?"
"Ryan will learn. With proper guidance, he'll become the king this realm needs." The Duke's expression grew thoughtful. "Though I admit, your survival does present interesting possibilities."
I didn't like the tone of that statement. "What do you mean?"
"You're young, untrained, and completely alone. With the right... education... you could be molded into a valuable asset." He gestured to his guards. "Take him to the secure chambers. I need to consult with Her Majesty about how best to proceed."
As the guards moved to escort me from the room, I made my decision. The magical chains around my limbs suddenly felt as substantial as morning mist, dissolving under the pressure of my true power.
Shadows erupted from my body like living creatures, wrapping around the guards and slamming them against the walls with bone-crushing force. Duke Kane stumbled backward, his eyes wide with shock as he witnessed abilities that shouldn't exist in someone so young.
"Impossible," he breathed. "You're barely seventeen. No one develops that level of control without decades of training."
"I'm not just anyone," I said, rising from the chair as darkness continued to swirl around me. "I'm the last of the Blackwood line, and I carry the accumulated knowledge of every mage who came before me."
It was a lie, but a convincing one. The truth—that my abilities came from inherited memories triggered by trauma and awakened by coming of age—was far more complicated and potentially more frightening.
Duke Kane raised his own magical defenses, light blazing from his hands to push back my shadows. For a moment, we stood locked in a contest of wills, raw power against experience and training.
Then I did something that surprised us both, I stopped attacking and let the shadows fade.
"I didn't come here to fight you, Your Grace," I said calmly. "I came to make a deal."
The Duke lowered his hands but kept his magical shields active. Around us, his guards groaned as they picked themselves up from the floor.
"What kind of deal?"
"The kind where we both get what we want." I straightened my clothes, projecting calm despite the adrenaline coursing through my veins. "You want the Blackwood threat eliminated. I want my friends freed and the people responsible for my parents' murder brought to justice."
"Those are contradictory goals."
"Not necessarily." I met his gaze directly. "There's more than one way to eliminate a threat, just as there's more than one form of justice."
Duke Kane studied me for a long moment, weighing options and calculating odds with the skill of someone who'd survived decades in royal politics.
"What do you propose?" he asked finally.
"A test," I said. "Three months from now, on my seventeenth birthday, my abilities will be fully manifested. If I can prove that I'm not a threat to the kingdom's stability—that I can use my power responsibly and in service to the crown—then we end this peacefully."
"And if you can't?"
"Then you'll have three months to prepare whatever defenses you think will be sufficient to contain the last Blackwood heir." My smile was sharp as a blade. "Either way, the uncertainty ends."
The Duke was quiet for nearly a minute, considering my proposal. When he finally spoke, his voice carried the weight of someone making a decision that could reshape the kingdom.
"Very well. Three months. But the young nobles remain in custody until then—insurance against any premature attempts at revolution."
"Agreed, with one condition. They're treated as political prisoners, not traitors. Comfortable cells, adequate food, no torture."
"Done." Duke Kane extended his hand. "Though I should warn you, young Blackwood, if you fail this test, if you prove to be the threat I believe you are, I won't hesitate to finish what we started sixteen years ago."
I shook his hand, feeling the magical oath that bound our agreement settle over both of us like invisible chains.
"I wouldn't expect anything less, Your Grace."
As I left his study, I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd just made a deal with the devil himself. Three months to prove I wasn't a threat to the kingdom, while simultaneously preparing for a confrontation that might tear the realm apart.
But at least now I had time—time to grow stronger, to gather allies, and to prepare for the final confrontation that had been inevitable since the night my parents died.