Chapter 352 – Duke

Ella

“D-duke?” I stutter out, completely overwhelmed by the information, my eyes going wide. “There are dukes? And I had I have an uncle!?”

“I’m sorry,” Henry says, and I can see the guilt written all over his face. “I overlooked this – honestly, no one has heard from him in years – and, considering what we think he was actually getting up to, it makes a great deal of sense that he wanted everyone to believe that.”

“Who,” I say, frantic now, looking between Henry, and Sinclair, and Roger – Cora, I see, looking at me with worried eyes, but I know she doesn’t have any answers – “who is he?”

“Relax, Ella,” Sinclair murmurs to me, leaning close. “It’s all right -”

“It is absolutely not all right -“I snap, not wanting to be mean but completely panicked right now. “My father is dead but I have an uncle? Seriously? And no one told me?”

Henry continues to hang his head, shaking a little, and I instantly feel guilty. It’s not his fault – it’s so complicated, the politics, and why would he tell me about an uncle if he hadn’t spoken to the man in 30 years had genuinely a*sumed he was dead –

“I’m sorry, Henry,” I say quickly, leaning forward to put a hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry – I’m behaving so poorly – ”

is absolutely correct. I have failed you in this.” His eyes shift to Sinclair now. And

to stop this,” Sinclair says, shaking his head. “Honestly, the blame game does no one any good. No one blames you, dad and Ella, you don’t have anything to apologize for. We all know this is a lot. So,

and that I love him dearly and am grateful for him

so that we can decide to do something, instead of just talking about it. I smile at him a little, loving my all-action Alpha mate who is ready to go even

was his biological father. Either way, Xander was recognized, but he was never the favored son. That is why Xavier – stronger, faster, smarter,

I actually think is quite clever,” Roger quips, and I’m shocked to find a smile on my mouth as he delicately raises his brows, looking up at the ceiling. “I mean,

Sinclair growls and Cora elbows Roger not-too-gently in the stomach to get him to stop, I grin at my brother-in-law,

his brother, “Xander was never a popular figure in politics – he was always fringe, always very much the King’s sullen brother rather than a real player. When Xavier died, Xander…he wasn’t even

adds, “was perhaps… the mistake. That started

I

throne when his brother died but he coveted it anyway 1 that Xander wanted it, perhaps

sitting back against my chair. “To – to reclaim the

Rafe now, cooing gently in his father’s arms. My baby, the grandson of a King. The nephew of a Duke that,

sense that we were fools not to consider it before now. Who benefits from Rafe being born? The man who intends to kidnap him and put him on the throne as a puppet, acting

in quiet obscurity. He’s taken great pains, I think, to ensure that everyone a*sumed that he did. He is playing the long game – we’re not

eyes and gathering my thoughts, “is the a*sumption that we’re making here that Xander wanted Rafe to be born so

his deathbed he must have found a way, somehow, to communicate your existence to his brother before,

come for me?” I ask, brisk. “To be the

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