Michael didn’t allow a single emotion to be revealed.He struggled to keep back the surge of resentment.Mrs.Turner had known about his past, all these years, and had never once said a word about it.She’d known that his parents were not his own.
But if he revealed any of his frustration now, she might slip into a fit of madness, and he’d never hear the entire truth.
Carefully, he asked, “What happened after you took me from my nurse?”
She continued weeping, clutching her hands together.“I almost gave you over to them, God forgive me.You were asleep in my arms when I got inside the coach.”Her hand went to her middle.“But I had recently learned that I was expecting a child of my own.Henry.”A mournful smile crept through her tears.“And I thought about how I would feel if anyone harmed my own child.I couldn’t bring myself to do it.Even if it meant losing Sebastian.”
She dried her eyes, seeming to pull her thoughts together.“I stopped the coachman and bribed him to drive me home instead.”Her gaze turned solemn with regret.
“I gathered up all the money and jewels that I could, and I used it to buy our passage to London,” she continued.“I kept you for a few months until I was about to give birth.It was then that I met Paul and Mary Thorpe.They were childless and they promised to take care of you and help me with my own baby.”
Mrs.Turner let out a heavy sigh.“I was afraid of anyone finding us.I also knew I would have to live in poverty for the rest of my days.It was the only way to avoid notice.”
He’d often wondered how Mrs.Turner had managed to survive without a husband to support her.He’d always believed it was his parents’ charity.
“Did my parents know about my past?”
She shook her head.“It would have made them uncomfortable to know you were a prince.They’d have treated you like a bit of glass, and then what sort of man would you have grown into?”
She took a deep breath, blowing her nose in the handkerchief he gave her.“I told them you were orphaned in Lohenberg and that I’d promised to find a home for you.I let them raise you as they chose.But the one thing I insisted on was your education.Dear heaven, how I pestered Mary about that.I told her that you might be a fishmonger’s son, but you deserved a chance for a better future.”
“How could they possibly have afforded my schooling?”Michael voiced aloud.“I never understood it.”
“I sold some jewels I’d kept from Lohenberg.”She dabbed at her eyes.“Mary let her husband believe that she’d inherited a small sum from an aunt who died.”She patted his cheek.“You needed it more than I did.”
“What happened to your husband?”
Silent tears rolled down her face.“I’ve never known.I haven’t seen Sebastian since that night.”She shivered at the memory.“I hoped that somehow he managed to survive.But I couldn’t write to him or ever learn what happened; otherwise, they might have found you.”
The burden of her secret seemed to grow lighter, now that she had laid it before him.But Michael felt its weight suffocating him.He didn’t want a royal life or the difficulties it would bring.
“I sent the last of my funds to bring you back from Malta, after I learned you were wounded,” she admitted.“I had hoped that both you and Henry would return.”
Michael embraced her while she wept for her son.With Abigail Turner’s confession, he could no longer deny the truth staring him in the face.He would have to confront the impostor Prince Karl, as well as the king and queen.God help him.
Mrs.Turner leaned her head on his shoulder, patting his back.“I am sorry for keeping this from you, Michael.I thought the only way to save your life was to keep it a secret.”
She was asking for his forgiveness, but right now he was having trouble thinking clearly.He forced himself to give her a light squeeze, but inside, his thoughts were churning.
Mrs.Turner pulled back from him.Her face still held the melancholy, but it was soon replaced by stubbornness.“I will go to Queen Astri in the morning and tell her everything.”
He wasn’t so certain that was a good idea.“We’ve already been forbidden to see the queen.I don’t think—”
“I was one of her ladies-in-waiting for over five years.The queen will see me.”
“Not if she believes you stole her only son.”
Mrs.Turner’s face crumpled up with tears, as though he’d struck her across the face.But she needed to understand that any contact with the royal family could mean her own imprisonment, possibly death.
“If you try to speak with her, you’ll face punishment for what you did.The men who took your husband might find you again since they know I’m still alive.It’s too grave a risk.”
“I have to atone for what I did.I have to bring you back to her, so she knows that I never meant to betray her.”
“In time.I will face her first, before you.”He crossed his arms in front of him.“But even if she does agree to see me, she might not believe it.There’s no proof that I am her son, except for my resemblance to the king.”
The corners of Mrs.Turner’s mouth turned up.“You’re wrong, lad.There is proof that you are the prince.”
He waited for her to continue, and she came up behind him.“You have a scar here.”She pointed to his left leg.“On the back of your calf.”
