CHAPTER THREE- THE CHILD OF THE THRONE
971 Words
“The child is your brother.”
Olivia stared at the guard.
For several seconds, she couldn’t understand the words.
Her brother.
A baby.
A royal baby hidden for twenty years.
It was impossible.
“My mother is dead,” Olivia whispered.
The guard shook his head.
“Apparently, she isn’t.”
Lucas stepped forward.
“Take me to her.”
The guard immediately turned.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Lucas started walking.
Olivia followed.
“Wait.”
Lucas stopped.
She hurried toward him.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“He’s my brother.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Neither do you.”
Lucas’s eyes narrowed.
“Olivia, stay here.”
She shook her head.
“I’ve spent my entire life being told what I should and shouldn’t know. I’m done.”
Something flickered in Lucas’s expression.
Then he turned away.
“Fine.”
He started walking again.
“Stay beside me.”
Olivia followed.
For the first time since meeting him, she didn’t argue.
⸻
The palace corridors were filled with guards.
Nobody spoke.
Every servant they passed lowered their head.
Olivia could feel the tension in the air.
Something had changed.
The king was no longer simply dealing with a political crisis.
He was dealing with his past.
And Olivia was somehow at the center of it.
When they reached the old queen’s chambers, two guards stood outside.
Lucas stopped.
“Where is she?”
“Inside, Your Majesty.”
“Did anyone enter?”
“No.”
Lucas opened the door.
Olivia followed closely behind.
The room was exactly as she remembered from the palace archives.
Tall windows.
White curtains.
An enormous bed.
A fireplace.
And portraits of Queen Elena and King Alaric covering the walls.
But there was one thing that didn’t belong.
A woman stood beside the window.
She held a baby in her arms.
Her long silver hair fell over her shoulders.
Olivia stopped.
Her heart pounded.
“Mother?”
The woman slowly turned.
Their eyes met.
Olivia couldn’t breathe.
She had spent years remembering her mother’s face from an old painting.
But the woman standing before her was different.
Older.
Tired.
Alive.
Tears immediately filled Elena’s eyes.
“My little girl.”
Olivia’s lips trembled.
She took one step forward.
Then another.
“You’re alive.”
Elena nodded.
“For twenty years.”
Olivia looked at Lucas.
He stood completely still.
His eyes were fixed on his mother.
There were so many emotions on his face that Olivia couldn’t name them.
Anger.
Relief.
Pain.
Betrayal.
He finally spoke.
“Why?”
Elena looked at him.
“My son…”
“Why did you let me believe you were dead?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Because it was the only way to keep you alive.”
Lucas laughed bitterly.
“Twenty years.”
“I know.”
“I buried you.”
“I know.”
“I spent half my life believing my mother was murdered.”
Elena lowered her head.
“I wanted to come back.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Because they were watching.”
“Who?”
Elena looked toward the door.
“The same people who destroyed your family.”
Lucas’s expression hardened.
“Names.”
“Not yet.”
“Mother.”
His voice became dangerous.
“Names.”
Elena looked at Olivia.
“First, she needs to know the truth.”
Olivia’s heart began racing.
“About me?”
Elena nodded.
“About you.”
She looked down at the baby in her arms.
“And about him.”
Lucas stepped closer.
“Who is the child?”
Elena smiled sadly.
“Your brother.”
Lucas stared at the baby.
“That’s impossible.”
“It isn’t.”
“Father died twenty years ago.”
“Yes.”
“And you disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Then how?”
Elena didn’t answer immediately.
She walked toward Olivia.
“This child was born four months ago.”
Olivia looked at the baby.
He was tiny, sleeping peacefully against Elena’s chest.
“Four months?”
Elena nodded.
“His birth had to remain secret.”
“Why?”
“Because the moment the council learns he exists, they’ll try to kill him.”
Lucas’s eyes hardened.
“They won’t touch him.”
Elena looked at him.
“You said that twenty years ago.”
Lucas went silent.
The words clearly hurt.
Olivia looked between them.
“What happened twenty years ago?”
Neither answered.
She stepped forward.
“I deserve to know.”
Elena reached for her hand.
“Yes.”
She squeezed it gently.
“You do.”
Then Elena looked at Lucas.
“Tell her.”
Lucas stared at his mother.
“No.”
“Lucas.”
“Not until I know everything.”
“You may never know everything.”
His jaw tightened.
“Then I’ll find out myself.”
He turned toward the door.
Olivia grabbed his arm.
“Wait.”
Lucas looked down at her hand.
Then at her face.
“Don’t.”
“I need answers.”
“So do I.”
“Then let’s find them together.”
For a moment, something passed between them.
An understanding.
Neither of them trusted the other completely.
But both knew they needed each other.
Lucas nodded once.
“Fine.”
⸻
That night, the four of them remained inside the queen’s chambers.
Elena told them what she could.
Twenty years earlier, King Alaric had discovered that members of the royal council were secretly planning to overthrow him.
He planned to expose them.
But someone betrayed him first.
The palace was attacked.
The king was poisoned.
Lucas, then only nine years old, was smuggled out through the underground tunnels.
Elena was taken prisoner.
And Olivia…
Olivia disappeared
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