Chapter 3 - The Lie Beneath the Crown
Dominic crossed the room before Genevieve could breathe.
Varrick did not flinch.
The old councilor stood in the doorway wearing a dark winter coat, silver hair immaculate despite the storm.
He looked exactly as he always had.
Calm.
Respectable.
Fatherly.
Dominic grabbed him by the throat.
“Give me one reason.”
Varrick’s voice remained steady.
“You should ask the correct question first.”
Dominic tightened his grip.
“Where is my signet?”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“With the person who has been using it longer than you realize.”
Dominic froze.
Genevieve saw it.
A hesitation.
Varrick smiled faintly.
“Still impulsive, Dominic.”
Dominic threw him against the wall.
“You murdered my father?”
“No.”
“My brother?”
“Clearly not.”
“Margaret Crane?”
Varrick’s face changed slightly.
Enough.
Elias lunged.
Genevieve stepped between them.
“Stop!”
Elias glared.
“He knows.”
“Yes,” Genevieve said. “Which means we need him alive.”
Varrick smiled.
“Miss Hayes continues to be the smartest person in your household.”
Dominic turned.
“Do not speak about her.”
Something in his voice wiped the smile from Varrick’s face.
Dominic released him.
“Talk.”
Varrick straightened his coat.
“Not here.”
“Why?”
“Because the men outside do not work for me.”
Elias frowned.
“Convenient.”
“They came to kill all four of us.”
Genevieve looked toward the door.
“Four?”
Varrick met her eyes.
“Yes.”
“You included yourself.”
“I came because I knew the warrant would flush Dominic out.”
Dominic stared.
“How did you know I was here?”
“I have known Genevieve was meeting Elias for months.”
Genevieve’s stomach dropped.
“Then why let me?”
“Because I needed someone Dominic trusted to find what I could not.”
Elias looked furious.
“You used her.”
“Everyone uses everyone in a royal court.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“Not anymore.”
Outside, a horse snorted.
Varrick lowered his voice.
“There is a cellar tunnel beneath this building.”
Elias frowned.
“There’s no tunnel.”
“Yes, there is.”
“How do you know?”
“I built it.”
Silence.
Varrick pulled aside an old cabinet.
Behind it sat an iron ring in the floor.
Dominic looked at Elias.
“You lived here how long?”
“Apparently not long enough.”
Genevieve almost laughed despite herself.
They descended.
The tunnel was narrow.
Varrick led.
Dominic stayed directly behind him.
Genevieve followed Dominic.
Elias took the rear.
Seconds after they entered, the watch-house door shattered above.
Men rushed inside.
Genevieve heard boots.
Shouting.
Then a voice.
“Find the woman first.”
Dominic stopped.
Genevieve touched his arm.
“Keep moving.”
His eyes met hers.
He hated retreat.
But he obeyed.
They emerged half a mile away beside a frozen creek.
Varrick turned north.
Dominic grabbed his shoulder.
“Castle is south.”
“We’re not going to the castle.”
“Then where?”
“To the only person alive who knows who ordered Edmund’s death.”
Elias’s eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
Varrick looked at Dominic.
“Your mother’s physician.”
Dominic frowned.
“Doctor Hale died ten years ago.”
“That was the official record.”
Genevieve closed her eyes.
Another dead person who was not dead.
Dominic’s expression showed similar exhaustion.
“How many ghosts are hiding in my kingdom?”
Varrick gave him a grim look.
“More than you can imagine.”
They walked until dawn.
A cabin appeared near an abandoned mining road.
Varrick knocked three times.
Waited.
Twice more.
The door opened.
A woman in her seventies stared at Dominic.
Then tears filled her eyes.
“You look like Edmund.”
Dominic went rigid.
“Doctor Hale.”
She bowed her head.
“Your Majesty.”
“No titles.”
He stepped inside.
“Truth.”
The cabin contained shelves of medicine and old documents.
Doctor Miriam Hale looked at Elias.
Her face crumpled.
“Oh, child.”
Elias stiffened.
“You knew me?”
“I delivered you.”
He looked away.
Dominic sat.
Genevieve stood behind him, one hand resting on his shoulder.
He covered her fingers with his.
Small.
Automatic.
He needed the contact.
Doctor Hale opened a locked chest.
Inside lay a medical record.
Edmund Ashford.
Date of death.
Cause—
Blank.
Dominic stared.
“You signed the official death certificate.”
“I was forced.”
“Was my father alive when you last saw him?”
“Yes.”
The word broke something.
Dominic stood so quickly the chair fell.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who took him?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who ordered you to declare him dead?”
Doctor Hale looked toward Varrick.
Dominic turned.
Varrick said nothing.
Dominic walked toward him.
“You.”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Varrick’s face hardened.
“Your mother.”
Dominic stopped.
No one moved.
Genevieve felt the room tilt.
Dominic looked at Doctor Hale.
“Tell me he’s lying.”
She lowered her eyes.
Dominic whispered, “Tell me.”
Doctor Hale began to cry.
“Queen Helena signed the order.”
Dominic backed away.
“My mother loved him.”
“Yes.”
“She died grieving him.”
“Yes.”
“Then why?”
Doctor Hale shook her head.
“She wasn’t protecting herself.”
Elias stepped forward.
“Who was she protecting?”
Doctor Hale looked at Dominic.
“You.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps claiming they destroyed my life to protect me.”
“No,” Hale said. “She was trying to keep you alive.”
“How?”
“Because Edmund discovered the council was not the highest authority behind the conspiracy.”
Dominic stared.
“What does that mean?”
Varrick answered.
“There is an older organization.”
Genevieve frowned.
“What organization?”
“The Circle of Nine.”
Elias scoffed.
“A bedtime story.”
“No.”
Varrick walked toward the fire.
“Nine bloodlines. Wealthy. Old. They existed before the regional crowns. They believe kings are temporary but bloodlines are permanent.”
Dominic’s expression sharpened.
“And they control rulers.”
“They influence them.”
“Not me.”
Varrick looked at him.
“You sure?”
Dominic fell silent.
Genevieve understood the implication.
Appointments.
Treaties.
Finances.
Marriages proposed and abandoned.
Conflicts that began with conveniently timed information.
Dominic had ruled.
But perhaps the board beneath him had been arranged by someone else.
“Who leads them?” Genevieve asked.
“No single person.”
“Names.”
Varrick hesitated.
Dominic’s voice turned cold.
“Names.”
Varrick listed seven.
Genevieve recognized families.
Powerful ones.
Bankers.
Judges.
Industrialists.
Two Alpha dynasties.
Then Varrick stopped.
“You said nine,” Elias noted.
“One seat belonged to the Ashfords.”
Dominic stared.
“Belonged?”
“Your father withdrew.”
“And the ninth?”
Varrick looked toward Doctor Hale.
She whispered, “Vale.”
Genevieve thought of Seraphina Vale Ashford.
Dominic did too.
“My sister.”
Varrick nodded.
“Her mother’s family.”
Dominic turned away.
“So Father discovered the Circle.”
“He joined it when young,” Varrick said. “Then tried to dismantle it.”
“Why?”
“Because they ordered Seraphina eliminated.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Why?”
“She had blood rights through both Ashford and Vale.”
Elias understood first.
“She could unite two seats.”
“Yes.”
“And Father protected her.”
“Yes.”
Doctor Hale stepped closer.
“Helena helped him.”
Dominic looked shocked.
“My mother protected Father’s daughter by another woman?”
“She protected a child.”
That silenced him.
Genevieve saw tears in Dominic’s eyes.
He blinked them away.
Doctor Hale continued.
“When the Circle discovered Elias had also survived, Helena faced an impossible choice. If she exposed the conspiracy, all three children would become targets.”
“So she declared Edmund dead.”
“She believed disappearing him would end the hunt.”
“Did it?”
“No.”
Dominic looked at Elias.
Obviously not.
“Where was my father taken?”
Hale swallowed.
“He was wounded. Badly. Helena arranged transport.”
“To where?”
“A monastery near the Idaho border.”
Dominic stared.
“Is he alive?”
“I don’t know.”
Genevieve’s heart tightened.
After seventeen years, hope might be crueler than grief.
Dominic turned toward Varrick.
“And you?”
“I worked inside the Circle.”
Elias reached for his knife.
Varrick raised a hand.
“To destroy it.”
“Convenient again,” Elias said.
Varrick ignored him.
“Edmund asked me to remain after he disappeared.”
Dominic stared.
“You served them while pretending to serve me.”
“I served you by convincing them you were controllable.”
Dominic’s face became dangerous.
“You let them think I was weak.”
“I let them think you were predictable.”
“Difference?”
“You’re alive.”
Dominic moved closer.
“So every betrayal becomes acceptable if the victim survives?”
Varrick had no answer.
Genevieve touched Dominic’s arm.
He looked at her.
“We still need Seraphina’s daughter,” she said.
Elias nodded.
“She disappeared from Oregon yesterday.”
Doctor Hale suddenly looked alarmed.
“What is her name?”
Elias answered.
“Clara Vale.”
Hale dropped the cup in her hand.
It shattered.
Dominic stared.
“You know her.”
Doctor Hale’s face had gone white.
“She isn’t Seraphina’s daughter.”
Elias frowned.
“I verified the records.”
“The records were created to protect someone else.”
“Who?”
Doctor Hale hurried to the chest.
She pulled out another envelope.
Old.
Sealed.
Dominic recognized his mother’s handwriting.
The front said:
FOR DOMINIC—ONLY IF CLARA IS FOUND.
His hands trembled as he broke it open.
Genevieve watched him read.
His face changed line by line.
Then he sat down.
“What?” she whispered.
Dominic looked up at Elias.
Then at Genevieve.
“My mother says Clara isn’t my niece.”
May you like
His voice cracked.
“She’s my daughter.”
