CHAPTER 2: THE KING'S GREATEST SECRET
CHAPTER 2: THE KING'S GREATEST SECRET
The ballroom fell silent.
Even King Adrian looked shocked.
Beatrice smiled.
For the first time all night, she seemed confident.
"Tell them, Adrian."
The King didn't move.
His silence was answer enough.
Elena stared.
"What is she talking about?"
No one spoke.
Finally, Beatrice did.
"Your mother wasn't kidnapped because she was a princess."
She pointed at the King.
"She was kidnapped because of who her father was."
The room seemed to stop breathing.
Elena turned slowly toward Adrian.
The King lowered his head.
Twenty-one years earlier, before he became king, Adrian had fallen in love with a common woman.
A woman forbidden by royal law.
When she became pregnant, powerful nobles saw an opportunity.
A scandal.
A weakness.
A threat to the throne.
They plotted to remove both mother and child.
Princess Sophia's disappearance became the perfect cover.
The public believed a royal heir died.
In reality, a future queen was stolen.
And Beatrice helped make it happen.
Tears filled Elena's eyes.
All her life she had dreamed of finding family.
Now she wasn't sure she wanted any of it.
"You knew?"
She looked at Adrian.
"You knew I existed?"
The King nodded slowly.
"I searched for twenty years."
His voice broke.
"Every day."
Before Elena could answer, another voice interrupted.
"Then you're all fools."
A young nobleman stepped forward.
Prince Nathan.
The King's nephew.
Second in line to the throne.
His face was filled with rage.
"If she's alive, I lose everything."
The room tensed instantly.
Nathan pulled a hidden dagger.
Guards rushed forward.
Too late.
Nathan lunged directly toward Elena.
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END OF CHAPTER 2
TO BE CONTINUED...
