Chapter 2 - The Woman With Evelyn's Face
The palace physician arrived eight minutes later.
Dr. Mira Lang knelt beside the cage while two nurses unpacked emergency equipment.
"We need her out."
Adrian looked at the lock.
"Then cut it."
Beatrice shouted, "No!"
Everyone turned.
Mira stood.
"Your Majesty, she is in active labor. Her blood pressure is dangerously high."
"You don't understand."
"I understand that if she stays inside this cage, both mother and child may die."
Adrian stepped toward Beatrice.
"If you interfere again, I will have you removed."
"I am the Queen."
"And I am commander of the Royal Guard."
That silenced the room.
Adrian turned to Rowan.
"Bring bolt cutters."
Rowan hesitated.
Adrian's voice dropped.
"Now."
The guard ran.
Evelyn rested her forehead against the bars.
"Adrian."
He knelt again.
She whispered, "I don't understand what she meant."
"Neither do I."
"Do you believe her?"
He touched Evelyn's fingers.
"No."
It was true.
But the medical report had planted something cold inside him.
He hated himself for even feeling it.
Evelyn saw the uncertainty anyway.
Her eyes closed.
"Ask me something."
"What?"
"Something only your wife would know."
Adrian shook his head.
"You don't have to prove yourself."
"Ask."
He looked at her.
"The first night we met."
"You spilled champagne on the ambassador from Norland."
Adrian almost smiled.
"You laughed."
"You deserved it."
"What did you say?"
Evelyn opened her eyes.
"I told you that princes should not be allowed near crystal glasses."
Adrian leaned closer.
"The night before our wedding."
"You were afraid."
"I was not."
"You were terrified."
Despite everything, a faint smile touched her cracked lips.
"You asked me if I would still love you if you lost the crown."
Adrian remembered the dark balcony.
The rain.
Her head on his shoulder.
"What did you say?"
"I said I didn't fall in love with the crown."
His throat tightened.
Evelyn whispered, "I fell in love with the idiot underneath it."
Adrian pressed his forehead against the bars.
Beatrice watched them.
For the first time, something like grief crossed her face.
Then it disappeared.
Rowan returned with tools.
The lock was massive, an antique mechanism built into the cage door.
A guard positioned the cutters.
Beatrice stepped backward.
"Adrian."
He ignored her.
"If you open it," she said, "you will trigger a constitutional crisis."
The cutters snapped one chain.
Adrian turned.
"What crisis?"
Beatrice looked at Evelyn.
"Her name isn't Evelyn Marlowe."
The second chain broke.
"Mother."
"Her real name is Eleanor."
Adrian stopped.
Evelyn stared at Beatrice.
"No."
"Your biological father was not Thomas Marlowe."
"No."
"Your mother did not die in a car accident."
"Stop."
Beatrice took another step.
"You were born beneath this palace."
Evelyn's breathing changed.
Adrian moved toward Beatrice.
"Enough."
But Beatrice kept speaking.
"You were taken away before sunrise and given to another family."
Evelyn shook her head.
"No."
Beatrice pointed toward the medical pages in Adrian's hand.
"Read the final genetic sequence."
Adrian looked down.
A handwritten note appeared on the last page.
MATERNAL LINE COMPATIBLE WITH HOUSE OF BELLMONT.
His stomach turned.
House of Bellmont.
His family.
Evelyn screamed through another contraction.
The third chain broke.
The cage door opened.
Every light in the gallery went out.
Darkness swallowed them.
Someone shouted.
A gunshot exploded from the corridor.
Glass shattered.
Adrian threw himself toward Evelyn.
Another shot.
Then the emergency lights flickered red.
Captain Rowan was lying near the doorway.
Blood spread across his uniform.
A masked figure stood behind him.
The intruder raised a pistol toward the open cage.
May you like
Not toward Adrian.
Toward Evelyn.
