Page 134 of The Fifth Heir

I folded it.

Rafe watched me. “Good news?”

“No.”

“Bad news?”

“Family.”

He nodded as though the answer explained both.

The North Council Chamber had been reserved for my family since Crown Wing Academy opened for the Choosing.

No law granted us the room. Tradition did. The current king belonged to our bloodline, as had three rulers before him. My grand-uncle would never describe the space as ours, but no other delegation attempted to use it.

My father waited inside with two council advisers.

The advisers left when I entered.

That concerned me more than their presence.

Father stood beside the long window overlooking the academy grounds. Frost-white hair at his temples was the only sign that he had aged since I completed my first military examinations. He wore no formal court mantle, only the dark blue coat of a northern magistrate.

His eyes went to my torc.

They always did now.

“You completed the First Trial,” he said.

“No one completed it.”

“Your Crown Gate opened.”

“I turned away.”

“Yes.”

He indicated the chair across from him.

I remained standing.

“What do you need?”

“The council is preparing a petition for clarification of the fifth selection.”

“Malcolm’s review remains open.”

“Which is precisely why a legal position must be established before he closes it.”

“Whose position?”

“Ours.”

“I am an heir of the entire realm.”

“You are a son of the North.”

“Those identities are not in conflict.”