The Hidden King

Chapter 19

Angelina glided over, her touch tender as she wrapped her arms around Kenny's neck from behind, leaning in to plant a gentle kiss on his forehead. "Fear not, my love, I do indeed possess a means to liberate you. Moreover, my actions aim to sever the final ties binding you to Milia. Without this, you'd struggle to muster the resolve."

"And is this current predicament what you desired?" Kenny snapped up a slice of bread, his frustration evident. "The High Priest had already interceded on my behalf regarding the charade of my demise, yet here I remain, unable to return."

"Fret not, for I still hold a stratagem," Angelina's gaze gleamed with cunning.

"Didn't anticipate your audacity in visiting me," Liam remarked from his seat in the tribal council's chief's office, Kenny seated across from him. Once, they would convene here for matters of import, but today marked a complete reversal of their roles.

Kenny removed his hood, revealing his countenance, now oddly alien to Liam. The erstwhile air of composed confidence in the leader had somehow morphed into a shade of malevolence and distrust. His strained smile and aloof demeanor melded into a facade of deceit. "You've just ascended to chieftaincy, burdened with myriad concerns. Rather than you scouring for traces of me, it's prudent for me to come forth and elucidate matters with you."

"Hah, truly magnanimous of you. So, enlighten me, how did you dispatch Joseph?" Liam's disbelief dripped from his words, observing Kenny's performance with a derisive sneer.

"I swear by the heavens, I am innocent of such deeds. Thomas had me in his grip, threatening harm to my wife, thus I relented," Kenny's earnest demeanor, tinged with a hint of sorrow, carried weight. Had it not been for Liam's prior knowledge, he might have been swayed by this erstwhile leader.

Liam cast a skeptical glance toward Kenny, propping his feet up on the table and reclining in his chair. "It is alleged that Mrs. Ann surrendered that vial of the Death Oath. How do you account for this? Though High Priest Osha has since seized it, it still exists. How could Mrs. Ann have acquired it? And who uttered this Death Oath? How do you rationalize these?"

Kenny persisted with his sincere countenance, as if bearing a slight grievance. "Indeed, I have been ensnared by another's machinations. Thomas had me in his thrall, employing his son, Burke, as a messenger to summon Joseph to meet him at the cliff's edge within the forest. When I laid eyes upon Joseph at the threshold of the olive tree courtyard, he was already inebriated. I merely administered a tonic to clear his wits. I had no inkling of who bore witness to this scene and falsely accused me of poisoning Joseph."

"Shifting the blame to Thomas? A convenient recourse, isn't it?" Thomas harbored no belief in Kenny's words.

"At the time, I found myself bound by a considerable debt to Thomas, and he threatened the lives of my wife and me. I succumbed momentarily. It was only upon hastening with the carriage and arriving at the forest's edge cliff that I discovered Joseph's demise."

"And then you feigned your own demise with his body?"

"Aye, 'twas a lapse in judgment," Kenny asserted with unwavering confidence.

"Isn't it rather convenient that you happened to carry a forged moonstone ring with you to put on Joseph?" Liam scoffed.

"You're aware of the lengths the Cheno tribe, led by Thomas, will go to. I've always been on the lookout for an opportunity to escape. As for the fake moonstone ring, it's true that I always had it with me," Kenny's baritone narrated eloquently, his hand brushing against his forehead in anguish. "Although it may seem too coincidental, I trust that time will prove the truth of my words."