So here we continue the drama of "The False Prince." It continues about a week or two after the first book ends. Jaron is still the slightly arrogant cunning sarcastic little thing I cannot say on here from the first book, so nothing has really changed there; which I'm glad because his character is really three dimensional and him as the POV character is the only thing getting me through this story.
And at the point where I stopped I'm not sure he'll be worth it.
So the book starts off at his family's funeral with the sentence
"I had arrived early for my own assassination."
Well then. That sure is one hell of a first sentence.
He isn't ever really at the funeral though, mind you, because all of the lesser nobility is there and it's really just an elaborate waste of time because no ones really and truly mourning.
Instead he goes to the garden and climbs the wall to get rid of some energy and take his mind off of things. Like how the neighboring Kingdom Avenia is threatening war and his regents refuse to believe him. This is when he see's a cloaked figure enter and go hid in the bushes with a knife. Proceeding this event is a fight where the person is revealed to be Roden, a boy from the last book, who still refuses to believe that Jaron is in fact Jaron and was just in hiding as Sage. (I strongly suggest you go back and read my blogs about The False Prince if you want to actually know what's going on because I'm not going to bother summing up that one here for you when I've done it elsewhere) During this fight it is told that Pirates who are on Avenia's land are out to kill him because it is humiliating that they failed the job four years ago when they were hired to by Conner. After he gets knocked in the head he blacks out and wakes up when his attackers are gone. He has a cut on his arm and is soaking wet from falling into the fountain so he decides to don a cloak to hide that and listen to the service outside of one of the windows. There Imogen, once a servant girl who he befriended until he gave back her family's title of nobility, finds him and gives him a makeshift bandage from one of her skirt layers.
Previously it had been stated by Roden that they would target all of his loved ones. The only three people who are truly his friends, and the best one of them, is her. Which means, of course, that she is not safe now. That realization sadly causes this to transpire....
As much as I hated the thought of it, I knew it must be done. Imogen had to leave the court. Worse still, she had to want to be as far away from me as possible, so that nobody could ever suspect there was any benefit from harming her.
My stomach twisted, as if the lies I was about to tell were knives pulled from my gut. I slowly shook my head and said,
"You're wring Imogen. We're not friends and never were. I only used your help to get back to the throne."
She froze for a moment,unsure of wehether she had heard me correctly. "I don't understand-"
"And you're using me to stay here at the castle. Where you don't belong."
"That's not true!" Imogen stepped away with a look of sock as if I had just slapped her. Once she recovered, she said, "When you were Sage-"
"I'm Jaron, not Sage." My lip curled as I added the worst thing I could think to say. "Did you really believe I could ever truly care about someone like you?"
Imogen's struggle to contain her emotions was clear. That tore at me, but I did not, could not, flinch. She bowed to excuse her self and said, "I'll leave at dawn."
"You'll leave at once. A carriage will be prepared to take you home."
Shaking her head, she said, "If there's something you need to tell me-"
I turned away from her, so as not to betray my own feelings. "I don't want you here. Gather your things and go."
"I have nothing here." Imogen said. "I will leave just as I came."
"As you wish."
She left without looking back at me with her head held high. Watching her hide the pain I had just caused was worse than if she'd let it show. I had never been so cruel to anyone, and I hated myself for it. She would hate me as well, and I'd never be able to explain that sending her away with such indifference, even hostility, would save her life.
A new sort of pain flared inside me, something different than I had ever felt before. If there was ever someone I could one day give my heart to, I had just sent her away from my life forever.
To be completely honest I'm really not as mad about this as I could be. It's a perfectly understandable thing to do. If he had told her why she just needed to go away from him for her own protection, people would know she just left out of the blue. She needs to hate him and it needs to be authentic. If he had told her the circumstances it wouldn't be. Also there will be word around the staff and such about what happened above so the Pirates will think she isn't a weak spot. Which is smart thinking, although it does not make up for what will come later.
This will be a two part post so it isn't dreadfully long so look for part two in a couple of days or hours or when I next feel productive.
