Chapter 1 - The Lock That Could Not Be Broken
The bell sounded seven times.
Every servant in the corridor stopped moving.
Adrian looked around.
"What is that?"
Nobody answered.
The guard holding the medical envelope seemed more frightened by the bell than by the imprisoned woman screaming in labor.
"Captain Rowan," Adrian said sharply.
The guard straightened.
"Yes, Your Highness."
"What does the document say?"
Rowan hesitated.
Beatrice stepped between them.
"It says nothing that concerns you."
Adrian laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
"My pregnant wife is locked inside an iron cage in my mother's private gallery, and you believe there is something here that does not concern me?"
Beatrice lowered her voice.
"You don't understand what she is."
Adrian's eyes hardened.
"She is my wife."
"She is a threat."
Evelyn cried out again.
Adrian turned instantly.
She had dropped to her knees.
Her face had gone gray.
He knelt beside the cage.
"Evelyn, look at me."
She gripped his hand through the bars.
"Don't leave."
"I won't."
"She said you were dead."
Adrian went still.
Evelyn's eyes filled with tears.
"She told me your transport crashed in the mountains. She said there were no survivors."
Adrian slowly looked at his mother.
Beatrice said nothing.
Three weeks earlier, Adrian had returned from a diplomatic military mission on the eastern border.
There had been an attack.
His convoy had been cut off from communication for four days.
The palace officially announced that Adrian was safe after forty-eight hours.
Apparently, Evelyn had never received that announcement.
"How long?" he whispered.
Evelyn closed her eyes.
"Twenty-two days."
Adrian's face emptied.
Twenty-two days.
His wife had been imprisoned while he slept in military tents, negotiated ceasefires, and sent letters home every night.
Letters she had never received.
"Rowan."
The guard stepped closer.
"Open it."
Rowan stared at the lock.
"I don't have the key."
"Who does?"
No answer.
Adrian stood.
"Who has the key?"
Beatrice spoke quietly.
"I destroyed it."
Adrian turned toward her.
For the first time, he saw fear beneath his mother's arrogance.
Not fear of him.
Fear of the cage being opened.
He took the medical papers from Rowan.
Beatrice reached for them.
Adrian pulled them away.
The first page contained Evelyn's name.
Below it was a warning.
SUBJECT E-17 MUST NOT LEAVE CONTAINMENT UNTIL ROYAL BLOOD VERIFICATION IS COMPLETE.
Adrian reread the sentence.
Then again.
"Subject?"
Evelyn looked confused.
Rowan looked at the floor.
Adrian turned the page.
There were blood-test results.
Pregnancy records.
Genetic markers.
And at the bottom, a signature Adrian recognized.
Dr. Sebastian Vale.
The royal physician who had delivered Adrian himself thirty-two years earlier.
Adrian looked at Rowan.
"Where is Vale?"
"Missing."
"Since when?"
"This morning."
Adrian stared at the document.
Another line caught his eye.
If premature release occurs before confirmation, Protocol Winter Crown must be initiated.
"What is Winter Crown?"
Nobody answered.
The bell beneath the palace rang again.
Once.
Beatrice whispered, "We are already too late."
Evelyn screamed.
Her water broke across the marble.
Adrian grabbed the bars.
"Get a doctor."
Rowan ran.
Beatrice stepped toward the doorway.
Adrian blocked her.
"You aren't going anywhere."
"Move."
"Not until you tell me why my wife is in this cage."
Beatrice's mouth tightened.
"You want the truth?"
"Now."
She looked at Evelyn.
Then at Adrian.
"The child she is carrying may not be yours."
Evelyn stared at her.
Adrian did not blink.
May you like
Beatrice continued.
"And if the medical records are correct, Evelyn may not be the woman you married."
