Page 216 of The Fifth Heir

“You believed him?”

“He was the Keeper of Trials.”

“So was the person who erased the fifth heir.”

Camilla stared at me. “What?”

Sebastian placed the rubbing beside the structural plan.

The hidden word remained visible beneath the loosened seal.

FIVE ENTER. ONE EMERGES.

Camilla read it. Her lips parted, but no sound came.

“The Keeper’s authority mark was used to conceal the first word,” Sebastian explained. “We cannot prove Malcolm placed the original seal, but his office has protected the alteration for centuries.”

“I didn’t know.”

“No,” I said. “You didn’t want to know.”

She recoiled.

The words hurt me too, but I did not take them back.

“You wanted the Prism to choose you so badly that you gave him everything he needed to test how much power my body could survive.”

“I thought he would prove you weren’t an heir.”

“And when the demonstration nearly killed me?”

“I started looking.”

She pushed the structural diagram toward me.

“At first, I was trying to prove the reversed channels were a mistake. I thought a stone worker had installed them incorrectly. Then I found an order authorizing repairs beneath the Hall of Crowns.”

“Signed by Malcolm?” Leander asked.

“The order was issued under Keeper authority, but the signature page had been removed.”

Again, the office. Not the man.

Enough to know what was happening. Not enough to prove who had done it.

“When were the repairs completed?” Sebastian asked.

“This afternoon. I found the completed work order near dusk and came here as soon as I matched it to the foundation plan.”

After Malcolm’s suspension.

“He no longer had his keys,” Rafe said.

“He didn’t need them,” Camilla replied. “The workers were admitted before the headmaster suspended him. They remained below the Hall all day.”

Torren looked toward the summons glowing on the wall. “Then someone needed the chamber finished before first light.”

The transparent torc tightened against my throat.