"Does Amaru know the king is dying?" Arion asked.
"I have no idea."
The answer came without hesitation.
Dean frowned. "You have not spoken to him since he was exiled?"
"No one has, as far as I know." Eryx returned to the sofa, though he no longer reclined against it. "He could know everything. He could know nothing. He could be dead."
"You said he was sent to a neutral island," Arion said.
"I said that was the official sentence."
Dean's expression hardened. "What do you think happened?"
"I do not believe anything. That is the problem." Eryx rested his elbows on his knees, the loose fabric of his robe falling around them. "Father wanted him removed without creating a martyr. Sending him to a neutral island accomplished that. It also placed Amaru somewhere no Draxilian officer, minister, or former supporter could reach him."
"But your father would still have wanted control over him," Arion said.
"He always wanted control."
Eryx looked away from the screen for a moment.
