The Runaway King

Following the events of The False Prince, Roden still believes that Jaron is an impostor who has been trained to assume the true prince’s role, rather than the actual prince who had been in hiding for four years. As he was also one of the orphans trained by Conner, Roden thinks that Jaron stole the throne from him and resents his new position and power.

Roden, who is now working for the pirate king and other powerful forces threatening Carthya, gives Jaron an ultimatum: Jaron must give up the throne in ten days, or the pirates will attack Carthya and remove him by force.

After the incident in the gardens, in which the young king sustained an injury to his arm, Jaron watches his family’s funeral from afar. His friend Imogen, for whom he has romantic feelings and one of his rare allies, finds him and advises him to talk to Amarinda, his betrothed. Jaron has been avoiding the princess, unsure of her true loyalty. Jaron realizes, however, that Imogen is in danger because of her closeness with him, so he decides to push her away. Jaron starts acting coldly toward her, pretending that they have never been friends, and orders her to leave the castle at once. Imogen is hurt but promises that she will leave at once.

Jaron then comes across Vargan, the ruler of the neighboring kingdom of Avenia, whom he suspects had a hand in his attempted assassination. During their exchange, Jaron tries to assess what Vargan knows. Jaron understands that Vargan intends to use the pirates’ tenuous allegiance with Avenia to attack Carthya. Their conversation is interrupted by Gregor Breslan, the Carthyan captain of the guard. When they are away from Vargan, Jaron reiterates his suspicion that Carthya is on the brink of war, but Gregor doubts him. Although loyal to Jaron, the captain believes that the young boy is too immature for the throne and that their neighbors only want peace. Jaron claims that, now that he has returned, the other rulers will take offense at King Eckbert’s lying about his son’s death. The pirates, on the other hand, are motivated by their unfinished business. Jaron escaped them four years ago after Conner worked toward provoking a war between them and Carthya, so they still want the young king’s life.

Jaron visits Bevin Conner in the tower where he is locked up. He asks about Conner and the pirates’ plan to assassinate and replace the young prince four years earlier, but Vargan was not a part of it then. Jaron then inquires about the poison that was used to kill his family, dervanis oil, which is extremely rare and expensive. He asks Conner where he got it and how he was able to sneak it into the castle, but the latter suggests that Jaron should “ask the right questions” (28) if he wants to find out the truth. However, Conner eventually confesses that the man he hired to kill Jaron was called Devlin. Jaron also learns that Amarinda has been visiting Conner, which makes him angry at her apparent betrayal.

Jaron realizes that he is more isolated than ever and feels overwhelmed with the looming threat of war. Jaron wants to avoid an attack on Carthya, but he cannot attack his enemies first either. Indeed, the pirates live in Avenia, so bringing troops to fight them would mean fighting Avenian armies as well.

Jaron finds his friends Mott and Tobias waiting for him at his door, having returned unsuccessful from their quest throughout Carthya to find Roden. Jaron informs them that Roden was just there earlier and sends Tobias away to get some sleep. Mott takes care of Jaron’s injured arm while the latter mulls over his options: “If my only choice is between the unacceptable or the impossible, which should I do?” (40). Kerwyn, Jaron’s most trusted regent, then comes to inform him that the regents are gathering without him on Gregor’s orders. Jaron insists on being present at the meeting.

Led by Gregor, the regents deny Jaron’s claims that Avenia is about to attack. They have already decided to take a vote to place a steward in his stead. They argue that this will keep Jaron safe until he is of age since the pirates would gain nothing by killing him if he is not on the throne. In addition, they want the young king to leave the palace the next day. Jaron initially refuses their decision, but he realizes that he is outnumbered. He reluctantly agrees to the regents’ plan, on the condition that they delay their vote for a steward for nine days, or one fewer than the pirates’ ultimatum. Additionally, the young king is still unsettled by his conversation with Conner, which has led him to believe that he has missed a crucial piece of information.

Jaron briefly runs into Amarinda. She tells him that she has been trying to talk to him, but that he seems to have been avoiding her. Jaron resents that she has been talking to Conner behind his back and questions her loyalty. However, he asks her to help Imogen before she leaves, as the two young women have become close friends. Before he leaves the next morning, Jaron goes to the library and spends the night reading as much as he can about pirates.

The next morning, Jaron leaves for Farthenwood, Conner’s former estate, where he and the other orphans were kept in captivity in The False Prince. During the night, he shared his secret plan with his loyal regent Kerwyn. Kerwyn tried to convince the king not to go, but he eventually relented out of respect and loyalty and made Jaron promise to return. Jaron dismisses his guard and only lets Mott and Tobias accompany him, although he does not share his plan with them; however, Mott guesses that it has something to do with the pirates.

As memories of their stay at Farthenwood resurface, Mott and Jaron discuss the time Mott whipped Jaron, whom he believed to be an orphan named Sage. Although he acted on Conner’s orders, Mott asks for Jaron’s forgiveness. Jaron tells him there is no need, but Mott then shows him the scars he got from Conner whipping him for protecting Jaron/Sage at a later time.

At dinner, Mott and Tobias insist on knowing the details of Jaron’s plan. The young king shares the pirates’ threat of war with them. He then tells his friends that he intends on leaving on his own and joining the pirates to either sway them to his cause or find and kill Devlin. Mott refuses to accept Jaron’s plan to proceed alone and asks that Jaron take him along. Jaron eventually pretends to relent to Mott’s demands, but that he needs to sleep on it before he makes a decision. However, he is still planning to find the pirates on his own to keep his friend safe.

During dinner, Jaron slipped some sleeping powder in Mott’s drink. Later that night, the young king wakes Tobias up to tell him the rest of his plan. While he is gone, Jaron does not want his regents to think he is hiding or missing. He tasks Tobias and Mott with returning to Drylliad and pass off Tobias as Jaron in the interim. They look enough alike for the ruse to be believable, and Tobias can pretend to be ill and lock himself in Jaron’s rooms. He also hopes that Amarinda will understand and help them maintain the illusion until Jaron’s return. Before he leaves, Jaron ties up Tobias so Mott would think that the latter only complied with the king’s plan under duress.