Chapter 9 - The Child They Already Stole
Gabriel led Adrian into the city that night.
Not in royal vehicles.
Not with guards.
They wore plain coats and left through an old service tunnel beneath the chapel.
Adrian disliked every second of it.
"I don't trust you."
Gabriel shrugged.
"Good."
"That doesn't bother you?"
"Trust gets people killed in this family."
They reached an abandoned printing shop in the old quarter.
Inside waited a woman in her seventies.
Her name was Miriam Holt.
She had been a midwife.
When she saw Adrian, she began crying.
"You look like Julian."
Adrian sat across from her.
"You knew my father?"
"He saved my life."
"And Helena?"
Miriam nodded.
"I delivered Evelyn."
Adrian felt the room shift.
"Tell me."
"Helena and Daniel lived under false names. They moved constantly. Gabriel was six when Evelyn was born."
Gabriel stared at the floor.
"Why don't I remember?"
"You were taken three days later."
Gabriel looked up sharply.
"Taken?"
Miriam nodded.
"Council agents raided the house."
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
"My mother told me she sent me away."
"To protect you from the truth."
Evelyn had been hidden with Thomas Marlowe, Daniel's older brother.
"Why separate them?" Adrian asked.
"Because the Council believed only one child survived."
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
"So I was the decoy."
Miriam looked ashamed.
"You were supposed to be rescued within days."
"Instead I spent eleven years in institutions."
"I'm sorry."
Gabriel turned away.
Adrian said, "What happened to Helena?"
Miriam hesitated.
"She was wounded during the raid."
"Died?"
"I thought so."
Gabriel looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
Miriam walked to an old cabinet.
She removed a photograph.
It was dated six years ago.
A woman stood at a train station.
Older.
Thin.
But unmistakable.
Helena.
Evelyn's mother had been alive six years earlier.
"Where was this taken?" Adrian asked.
"Norland."
"Who took it?"
Miriam's hands trembled.
"King Julian."
Adrian's heart stopped.
"My father died ten years ago."
Miriam looked at him.
"No, Your Highness."
Gabriel slowly turned.
Miriam whispered, "Your father survived the ravine."
Adrian stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
"That's impossible."
"The body buried in the royal crypt wasn't Julian."
Adrian grabbed the table.
"I saw him."
"You saw a closed coffin."
Adrian remembered.
The palace physician had insisted the injuries were too severe.
Dr. Vale.
Gabriel cursed under his breath.
Miriam continued.
"Julian knew the Council was trying to kill him. He staged his death."
"And abandoned us?"
"No."
Miriam shook her head.
"He continued fighting them."
"Where is he?"
"I don't know."
Adrian stepped forward.
"You know something."
Miriam's eyes filled.
"Two months ago, I received this."
She gave him an envelope.
Inside was a single note.
If Evelyn's child is born inside Bellmont Palace, they will come for him.
Do not allow Adrian to repeat my mistake.
J.
Adrian stared at his father's initial.
Then he noticed the postmark.
Three weeks ago.
His father might still be alive.
A sound came from the rear of the shop.
Gabriel drew a pistol.
The lights went out.
A window shattered.
Adrian heard Miriam gasp.
When emergency light from the street spilled inside, she was on the floor.
A dart protruded from her neck.
Gabriel checked her pulse.
"Alive."
Adrian looked toward the broken window.
Something had been left on the sill.
A black envelope.
Inside was a photograph of baby Alexander sleeping in the palace.
Taken less than an hour earlier.
Written beneath it:
May you like
ONE HEIR HAS BEEN BORN.
ONE HEIR ALREADY BELONGS TO US.
