The Kingkiller’s Execution
"Cassian Valcor, by order of the cil of Lords, you are senteo death for the murder of King Aldric Orvus."
Rain poured from the heavens as the iron gates of Bckthorn Prison creaked open. A boy—barely thirteen—was dragged forward, his hands bound in s, his once-fine noble clothes reduced ts.
Beyond the prison walls, the gathered crowd roared with fury.
"Death to the Kingkiller!"
"Murderer!"
"Traitor!"
Cassian barely heard them. His mind was still trapped in that night, the night that had rewritten his fate.
The night he had killed the king.
Or had he?
As the guards forced him to his knees, a hooded figure approached—the High Inquisitor, the one who would announce his final judgment.
But instead of a death sentehe Inquisitor simply whispered:
"Your father has decided otherwise."
Before Cassian could react, a needle pierced his neck. The world spun, the torches around him turning to streaks of gold. And then—
Darkness.
---
Ten Years Earlier
The halls of Val Keep were filled with the st of burning dles and part.
A thirteen-year-old Cassian Valcor, son of Duke Magnus Valcor, k before a strategy table, trag the borders of the kingdom with his fingers. His father loomed behind him, watg.
"Tell me, Cassian," Magnus said. "If the kio die tomorroould rule?"
Cassian frowned. "Prince Dorian, of course."
"And if the prince were to die?"
Cassiaated. "Then... the cil would choose a successor."
Magnus smiled. "And if the cil were to be... persuaded?"
Cassian turo face his father, uirring in his chest.
"Are you asking me how to take a throne, Father?"
Magnus ughed, ruffling Cassian’s hair. "I'm only asking you to think like a ruler."
"But we already serve the king."
Magnus's smile didn’t waver, but his eyes hardened. "No, my son. We serve power."
---
The Night of Betrayal
The sted outside the pace as Cassian followed his father through the grand corridors of Ivory Hold, the royal pace of Draythar.
"Remember," Magnus said as they walked. "The king trusts you. He will not suspeything."
"Suspect what?" Cassian asked.
His father only smiled. "You’ll see soon enough."
Cassia uneasy. He had always obeyed his father, but tonight felt... different.
Ihe throne room, King Aldric Orvus stood alone, waiting.
"Cassian," the king greeted him warmly. "You’ve grown taller since I st saw you."
Cassian forced a smile. The king had always been kind to him—a distant figure, yet never unkind.
"My father said you needed my help," Cassian said carefully.
The king’s expression darkened. "Is that what he told you?"
Before Cassian could respond, the doors smmed shut behind him.
A sudden movement—hooded figures emerging from the shadows.
And then—chaos.
---
The Fall of the King
Cassian didn’t uand what was happening.
One of the figures luoward the king. Aldric drew his sword, slig through the assassin’s throat. But more came—too many.
Cassian turo his father. "What’s going on?!"
Magnus’s voice was calm, too calm. "Watch closely, my son. You are witnessing history."
The king fought bravely, but a bde pierced his side. He fell to one knee, blood staining his royal cloak.
Cassian’s heart pouhis wasn’t what he had expected. This wasn’t right.
A wounded Aldric turo him, his expressiorayed yet pleading.
"Cassian… help me."
Cassian’s grip tightened around the dagger his father had given him.
His mind screamed at him to run—to refuse—to do anything but what was expected of him.
A, in that moment—with his father watg, with the weight of expectation crushing down on him—Cassian stepped forward.
And pluhe dagger into the king’s chest.
Aldric gasped, staring into Cassian’s eyes.
Not with anger. Not with hatred.
But with sadness.
The king colpsed.
And the doors burst open.
The royal guards flooded in—
Only to find Cassian standing over the dying king, blood on his hands.
----
The Betrayal
Cassian stumbled ba horror.
"No… I didn’t—"
But then his father’s voice rang through the throne room.
"My son… what have you done?"
Cassian’s breath caught. What?
The guards hesitated, staring at Magnus in shock.
"The boy has lost his mind," Magnus said, voice heavy with false grief. "He struck the king down before I could stop him."
Cassian froze.
"No! That’s not what happened! Father, tell them!"
Magnus lowered his head—as if in m.
"Take him away."
Cassian screamed as the guards rushed forward, seizing him. He fought, he struggled, but it was no use.
The st thing he saw as they dragged him from the throne room—
Was his father pig up the fallen king’s .
---
The Aftermath
The world believed the story.
The young heir of House Valcor had sin the king in a moment of madness.
Instead of exeg him, Magnus exiled Cassian to the wastends, where he was meant to rot.
For ten years, Cassian lived in the shadows.
Until the day his father called him back.
And pced him ohrone.
---
End of Chapter 1
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