“Leo?” Haydn asked. “Why didn’t anyone tell me the king had a nickname?”
Evelyn ignored him. “Is this why my father didn’t want me to marry him?”
“It might be,” Damien admitted.
“Could King Gerard have known? Is that why he hated me?”
“I doubt it. I can’t imagine him keeping that secret when he could have insulted you with it.”
Evelyn squeezed her eyes shut to fend off the growing headache.
“Let me take you back to your room,” Damien said.
Haydn smirked. “My room is available.”
“Shut up!” Damien yelled. “What part ofshe’s marrieddo you not understand?”
Mercifully, Haydn stopped talking.
“Evelyn,” Damien said softly. “You know everything Ritter and I can tell you. Let’s get out of here.”
“That may be the end of the secret,” Haydn said, “but it doesn’t mean it’s the only thing I can show you.”
I could see my mother again?
“You’ve done enough already,” Damien hissed at him.
My real mother.
“Evelyn, please?” Damien held up her wrist. “Your tattoo is gone, see? It’s over.”
Her eyes blinked open. The little heart tattoo that had been on her wrist since the ball wasn’t there anymore. She nodded, and Damien all but dragged her out of the room.
“We’ll talk later, my love!” Haydn called after her.
Evelyn was shaking by the time Damien got her up to her suite. She so badly wanted to deny what Haydn had shown her, but even Damien had confirmed it.
My father had an affair during the war. My mother is Katrina from Lochmatten. No one knows what happened to her.
Evelyn’s mind conjured her father’s words.
“Your mother and I met at a ball… She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen… We danced the whole evening… My heart cracked into pieces when I had to leave her…”
My father hadn’t been drunk and rambling. That was the most honest he has ever been, except I hadn’t understood who he was talking about.
“Evelyn,” Damien said carefully. “I’m so sorry. I was planning to talk to your father and convince him to explain everything. You should’ve heard this fromhim.”
“I’m…” Evelyn wasn’t sure what to say. Suddenly, there were so many things she was and was not.
Damien gripped her shoulders. “You are Evelyn Ducasse, Queen of Gryon. That doesn’t change.”
“But I wasn’t supposed to be.”
“You’re right. Hannah was supposed to be queen. But Leo lovesyou. He defied the courts to marry you. Who gives a shit about your bloodline?”
Evelyn curled up on her bed. Damien waited in the main room so she wasn’t totally alone.
This means Hannah and Rowan are only my half-siblings. And maybe that doesn’t change anything, but I’ve spent my whole life listening to their stories about our mother. Except Gwyneth was their mother, not mine. I never knew her and I never got to meet my real mother. I can’t even prove Katrina is still alive. Does my father know where she is? Was he ever going to tell me about her?
