Accidental Surrogate

Accidental Surrogate Chapter 353-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 assumed 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 – ”

“No, Ella,” Henry says, moving his attention back up to me. “Your reaction is absolutely correct. I have failed you in this.” His eyes shift to Sinclair now. And you, son.”

no one any good. No one blames you, dad and Ella, you don’t have anything to apologize for. We all know this

I don’t blame him for any of it, and that I love him dearly and am grateful for him every day. At least, I hope he gets all that from a squeeze, but the little smile he

on the table now so that we can decide to do something, instead of just talking about it.

always…rumors about whether or not his father was his biological father. Either way, Xander was recognized, but he was never the favored son. That is why Xavier

is quite clever,” Roger quips, and I’m shocked to find a smile on my mouth as he delicately raises his brows, looking up

in the stomach to get him to stop, I grin at my brother-in-law, grateful for the laugh which has drained some of my tension away. He gives me a little wink

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 considered for the throne. No one said

Henry adds, “was perhaps… the mistake. That started all

what?” I ask,

is that…well, that Xander put this in motion. That he knew he was never a contender for the throne when his brother died but he coveted it anyway 1 that Xander wanted it, perhaps his whole life, and certainly after his brother

my chair. “To – to reclaim the throne. To keep it…in his family’s

cooing gently in his father’s arms. My baby, the grandson of

were fools not to consider it before now. Who benefits from Rafe being born? The man who intends to kidnap him and put him

I, too, thought he died in quiet obscurity. He’s taken great pains, I think, to ensure that everyone assumed that he did. He is playing the long game – we’re not total idiots for falling into the traps he’s taken twenty years to lay. We’re simply

“is the assumption that we’re making

on his deathbed he must have found a way, somehow, to communicate your existence to his brother before, or directly after, his death – I don’t know.