Chapter 10 - The Daughter Between Two Mothers
The second Helena pushed the first into the bedroom.
Adrian raised his weapon, but the woman in black pressed the pistol harder against Helena’s spine.
“Lower it, Your Majesty.”
Adrian did not move.
Elara stepped between them.
“Do not.”
His eyes flashed toward her.
“She is aiming at your mother.”
“One of them is.”
The woman in black smiled.
“You always were intelligent.”
“Who are you?”
“I am Helena Vale.”
The injured woman shook her head.
“Her name is Selene.”
The pistol struck her shoulder.
“Silence.”
Elara looked from one identical face to the other.
“Which of you gave birth to me?”
Selene’s expression softened.
“I did.”
The room seemed to lose air.
The woman Elara knew as her mother closed her eyes.
Elara could not look away from Selene.
“You expect me to believe you?”
“No. Belief is a luxury for people who were not raised inside conspiracies.”
“Why did Helena raise me?”
“Because your father chose her.”
Helena spoke quietly.
“Marcus did not know we had been switched.”
Selene laughed.
“He knew eventually.”
“Explain,” Elara demanded.
Selene motioned toward the bed.
“Sit.”
“No.”
“Then stand and listen.”
She kept the pistol trained on Helena.
“At Saint Orlan, we were raised as one subject. H-17. When the Directorate needed a daughter for the Lorne family, Helena was chosen. I remained as a substitute.”
“A substitute for what?”
“For illness. Scandal. Disobedience. Death. Noble placements were too valuable to lose because a child developed inconvenient morals.”
Helena’s face twisted.
“I did not know she existed.”
“Not until you were nineteen.”
“What happened then?” Elara asked.
Selene’s gaze shifted.
“I was sent to replace her for three months after she refused an assignment.”
“What assignment?”
“To gain Marcus Vale’s trust.”
Helena whispered, “I already loved him.”
Selene’s mouth hardened.
“The Directorate did not care.”
Elara understood slowly.
“You pretended to be Helena.”
“Yes.”
“And my father?”
“He noticed changes. Preferences. Memories. The way I held a glass. He began asking questions.”
“Did he know which of you he was with when I was conceived?”
Silence answered first.
Helena began to cry again.
Selene looked directly at Elara.
“He believed I was his wife.”
The truth landed without shape.
Elara stepped backward.
Adrian moved close enough to catch her if she fell, but did not touch her.
Selene continued.
“When I became pregnant, the Directorate ordered the child removed after birth. Marcus discovered the plan. He hid me at Rosehaven with Queen Isabelle’s help.”
“Why would the queen help you?”
“Because she had been trying to dismantle Crownfall from inside the palace.”
Elara remembered Marcus’s recording.
Queen Isabelle had been beside him.
“Then why did Helena raise me?”
“Because I nearly died giving birth,” Selene said. “The Directorate found Rosehaven. Isabelle moved me. Marcus took you home and told Helena you were hers.”
Helena looked at Elara.
“I had lost a child months earlier.”
Elara stared at her.
“No one told me.”
“No one knew. Your father and I had not announced the pregnancy. When he brought you to me, I believed you had survived.”
Selene’s voice sharpened.
“He used her grief to hide you.”
“He saved Elara’s life,” Helena replied.
“He gave my daughter to another woman.”
“To my wife,” Helena said bitterly, repeating what Marcus must once have told her.
Elara’s knees weakened.
Her life had been built from protection, deception, and stolen identities.
“Why did Father hide the truth from both of you?”
“Because the Directorate needed heirs,” Selene said. “Children who could inherit companies, enter courts, and obey instructions. You were not merely a child. You were a future asset.”
Elara thought of Julian.
Secure her shares.
The marriage had never been about affection or even ordinary greed.
It was a recovery operation.
“Why come now?” Elara asked.
Selene’s eyes moved toward Adrian.
“Because you are about to become queen.”
Adrian’s hand tightened near his weapon.
“And that threatens the Directorate?” he asked.
“It completes its plan.”
Everyone went still.
Selene smiled without humor.
“Did you truly believe meeting in a riverside café was chance?”
Elara looked at Adrian.
He appeared equally shocked.
“The broken clock,” Selene continued. “The pocket watch. The absence of guards close enough to interrupt. Your escape route from the Vale estate. Every detail was arranged.”
“No,” Elara said.
“You were directed toward him.”
“By whom?”
“By the person who wanted Crownfall’s final heir beside the throne.”
Adrian’s voice became deadly quiet.
“Who?”
Selene raised the pistol.
Not toward Helena.
Toward Elara.
“The same person who ordered me to kill her before the wedding.”
Adrian moved.
A shot exploded.
Helena threw herself between Elara and the weapon.
The bullet struck Helena beneath the collarbone.
Adrian fired at Selene, but she vanished behind the door as smoke flooded the corridor from hidden vents.
Elara caught Helena before she hit the floor.
Blood spread across the cream fabric.
“No,” Elara whispered. “No, stay with me.”
Helena gripped her hand.
“I was cruel,” she gasped. “I thought cruelty would make you strong enough to survive them.”
“You should have told me.”
“I was ashamed.”
“Of what?”
“That part of me still wanted to keep you, even after I learned you were hers.”
Elara pressed both hands against the wound.
“You are my mother.”
Helena’s eyes filled.
“Do you mean that?”
“You raised me.”
“And destroyed so much.”
“Then live long enough to repair it.”
Footsteps thundered through the corridor.
Captain Rian entered with guards.
Adrian lifted Helena into his arms.
As they carried her toward the waiting carriage, Elara looked back at the bedroom.
Selene had escaped.
On the floor where she had stood lay a black lion seal.
Beneath it was a wedding invitation.
May you like
Elara and Adrian’s names were printed in gold.
The date was only seven days away.
