Chapter 7 - The Queen's Confession
Queen Beatrice entered the council chamber at ten in the morning.
She wore black instead of white.
Adrian noticed immediately.
His mother wore black only for funerals.
Evelyn sat beside Adrian.
Gabriel stood near the opposite wall under guard.
Beatrice saw him.
Her knees nearly gave way.
"Gabriel."
Adrian watched.
"You know him."
Beatrice gripped the back of a chair.
"I haven't seen you since you were a child."
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
"You mean since your guards threw me into a state orphanage under a false name?"
Evelyn looked at Beatrice.
"What happened to Helena?"
Beatrice sat.
For several moments, she looked older than sixty.
"Our father discovered Helena was pregnant."
"You helped her escape," Adrian said.
Beatrice nodded.
"I stole keys from the guard captain. Daniel was waiting beneath the old chapel."
"And the cage?"
Beatrice closed her eyes.
"Helena had been locked there for eleven weeks."
Evelyn's hand tightened around Adrian's.
Beatrice continued.
"She escaped and disappeared with Daniel."
"They had two children?" Evelyn asked.
"Not immediately."
Beatrice looked at Gabriel.
"You were born first."
Gabriel's face remained hard.
"Two years later, Helena became pregnant again."
"With me," Evelyn whispered.
Beatrice nodded.
"By then my father was dying. I had become Crown Princess because Helena was legally dead."
"Did Helena want the throne back?"
"No."
That surprised everyone.
"She hated the palace," Beatrice said. "She wanted her children free of it."
"Then why hide us?" Gabriel demanded.
"Because others wanted you."
"Who?"
Beatrice looked at the closed doors.
"The Council of Nine."
Adrian frowned.
"What council?"
"An unofficial group of aristocratic families who believe the monarchy belongs to blood, not people."
Marcus Vane.
Adrian understood.
"Marcus."
Beatrice nodded.
"He was one of them."
Gabriel laughed.
"One?"
Beatrice looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
"There are still eight."
Silence.
Gabriel walked toward the table.
"Helena discovered they planned to replace you."
Beatrice stiffened.
"Replace me?"
"With Gabriel?" Adrian asked.
Gabriel shook his head.
"With a child they could control."
Evelyn whispered, "Me."
Gabriel looked at her.
"Eventually."
Adrian felt sick.
"Why?"
Gabriel placed a folder on the table.
"Because after our grandfather died, Bellmont adopted constitutional reforms. The monarch lost authority over the military budget, intelligence appointments, mining rights, and royal land."
Adrian knew the history.
Those reforms had prevented Bellmont from becoming an absolute monarchy.
"The Council wants those powers restored," Gabriel said.
"How does Evelyn help?"
"They need a legitimacy crisis."
Evelyn understood first.
"They expose me as Helena's daughter."
Gabriel nodded.
"Then challenge Adrian's succession."
"And present Evelyn as rightful queen," Adrian said.
"Or Alexander."
Beatrice stared at the baby sleeping in a nearby cradle.
"My grandson."
Gabriel's expression darkened.
"A newborn is easier to control than an adult."
Adrian turned toward his mother.
"So you locked Evelyn away."
Beatrice's voice broke.
"I thought I was protecting her."
"You starved her."
"No."
Evelyn stared.
"You kicked food at me."
"I was performing."
"For whom?"
Beatrice pointed upward.
"The cameras."
Adrian looked around.
"Where?"
"Everywhere."
Beatrice stood.
"The Council has watched this palace for decades."
Evelyn whispered, "You called me worthless."
"I needed them to believe I hated you."
"You could have told me."
"I didn't know who to trust."
Adrian's anger returned.
"You could have trusted your son."
Beatrice looked at him.
"I trusted your father."
Adrian went still.
King Julian had died ten years earlier.
May you like
Beatrice's eyes filled with tears.
"And the Council killed him."
