Chapter 64 #2
“Just because Evelyn was born here doesn’t mean she has to stay,” Damien argued. “Gryon is her home now.”
“Does it feel like home, Evelyn?” Haydn asked. “A lord’s bastard child would never have received an invitation to enter that palace. And now it belongs to you! Funny how life works sometimes.”
Damien took Evelyn’s hands in his. “Don’t listen to him. You are a queen. Nothing is going to change that, especially something out of your control from a century ago. Your father’s lies will not matter to Leo.”
“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 of she’s married do 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 from him.”
“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 loves you. 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?
The door opened a while later and Leo entered the suite. “Damien? What are you doing in here? Where is Evelyn?”
“In the bedroom,” Damien replied.
Evelyn tracked Leo’s footsteps as he came in and sat on the edge of the bed beside her. She was facing away from him and didn’t have the energy to move.
He put a hand on her arm. “Evelyn? What happened? What’s wrong?”
“Leo—” Damien started.
“What did you do?” Leo snarled.
“I didn’t do anything! You think I would be sitting on the couch without any burns if this were my fault?”
“Then what’s going on?”
Damien hesitated. It wasn’t his secret to share.
“Please tell him,” Evelyn said. “I can’t.”
“Tell me what?” Leo demanded.
Damien sighed before launching into the whole story. The war, the affair, the deal with Haydn, and revealing the secret today. Leo didn’t say anything as Damien spoke. Evelyn listened like it was a story about someone else.
But it’s not. My father is a sentimental fool and a liar.
There was only silence when Damien finished. Evelyn became increasingly anxious at her husband’s lack of reaction. She sat up and saw the mix of surprise and concern in Leo’s expression.
“Please say something,” Evelyn whispered.
Leo opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
Maybe this does matter to him. Does he regret choosing me?
Evelyn shifted her gaze to Damien, silently pleading for help.
“For fuck’s sake, Leo!” Damien’s outburst snapped Leo back to the present. “Tell Evelyn this doesn’t change how you feel about her!”
“Of course it doesn’t change anything!” Leo said in a rush. “It doesn’t matter who your parents are. I love you!”
Evelyn stared at their wedding rings. “If we had known all of this a week ago, would you have married me?”
The delay in Leo’s answer may have only been the length of a heartbeat, but it was there. “Yes! Evelyn, you are everything to me.”
Damien left, slamming the door behind him.
He doesn’t believe Leo, either.