Chapter 4 - The Princess Who Officially Died
Marcus Vane was taken to the underground holding rooms.
Adrian ordered four guards outside Evelyn's temporary medical suite and another four at every corridor leading to it.
Queen Beatrice was confined to her apartments.
Not arrested.
Not yet.
But Adrian removed every member of her personal staff.
At midnight, he entered the royal archive.
Captain Rowan, wounded but alive, joined him with his arm in a sling.
"The bullet passed through."
"You're fortunate."
"I've been told."
Adrian placed the genetic report on a table.
"Find Helena."
Rowan frowned.
"Helena who?"
"Princess Helena Bellmont."
It took three archivists less than twenty minutes.
They returned looking uncomfortable.
"There are no official records."
Adrian stared at them.
"None?"
"Not in the royal genealogies."
"Search births."
They did.
Nothing.
"Photographs."
Nothing.
"School records."
Nothing.
Adrian slammed his palm against the table.
"My mother said Helena was her twin."
One elderly archivist, Mr. Calder, went pale.
Adrian noticed.
"You know something."
Calder shook his head.
"Sir..."
"Tell me."
Calder glanced toward the doors.
Adrian dismissed the others.
Only Rowan remained.
Calder sat slowly.
"When I was a boy, my father worked here."
"In the archive?"
"Yes."
"He told you about Helena?"
"He told me never to say her name."
Adrian leaned forward.
"Why?"
Calder opened a locked drawer beneath his desk.
Inside was an old brass key.
He carried it to the oldest wall of the archive.
Behind a tapestry hung a narrow door.
The key opened it.
Inside was a single shelf.
On it sat one red leather book.
Calder placed it on the table.
Adrian opened the cover.
ROYAL BIRTH REGISTER.
Thirty-two years before Adrian's birth, Beatrice Bellmont and Helena Bellmont were listed as twin daughters of King Edmund IV.
Helena was born eleven minutes first.
Adrian looked up.
"She was the older sister."
Calder nodded.
Which meant Helena, not Beatrice, had been first in line.
"What happened?"
Calder turned several pages.
A handwritten note had been added fifteen years later.
HELENA B. DECLARED DECEASED FOLLOWING PRIVATE MEDICAL INCIDENT.
No death certificate.
No burial record.
No physician's signature.
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"Private medical incident?"
Rowan said, "That means nothing."
Calder looked frightened.
"It meant disgrace."
Adrian read further.
A photograph had been inserted between pages.
Two girls stood beside King Edmund.
Both had pale hair.
Both looked nearly identical.
But one girl had a crescent birthmark visible above the collar of her dress.
Helena.
Adrian turned the photograph over.
A message was written in pencil.
THE WRONG DAUGHTER WILL WEAR THE CROWN.
Adrian stared at the words.
"Who wrote this?"
Calder shook his head.
Suddenly the archive doors opened.
A guard entered.
"Your Highness, Lord Marcus is requesting to speak with you."
"He can wait."
"He says he knows why Princess Helena disappeared."
Adrian closed the book.
Minutes later, he stood across from Marcus in a stone interrogation room.
Marcus's wrists were chained to the table.
"You threatened my wife and child."
Marcus smiled faintly.
"I protected your dynasty."
"You shot at her."
"I aimed beside you."
"You expect gratitude?"
"No."
Marcus leaned closer.
"I expect you to ask the correct question."
Adrian stared at him.
"Where is Helena?"
Marcus's smile disappeared.
"I don't know."
"Then what do you know?"
Marcus looked toward the one-way glass.
"Your mother didn't put Evelyn in that cage because she hates commoners."
"Why?"
"Because thirty years ago, another pregnant woman escaped from the same cage."
May you like
Adrian felt cold.
Marcus whispered, "Her name was Helena."
