The Mystical Attraction of Alpha

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.”

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, can we please?” he says, pausing now to

let him know 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

that we can decide to do something, instead of

always…rumors about whether or not his father was his biological father. Either way, Xander was recognized, but

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, some of us think that the better-looking brother should always take the throne –

at my brother-in-law, grateful for the laugh which has drained some of my tension away. He gives me a

was always fringe, always very much the King’s sullen brother rather than a

“was perhaps… the mistake. That started

what?” I

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 died, but when no one mentioned him as a potential heir he started to devise a new plan to get what he

plan,” I whisper, sitting back against my chair. “To – to reclaim the throne. To

eyes drift back to Rafe now, cooing gently in his father’s arms. My baby, the grandson of a King. The nephew of a Duke that, perhaps, always wanted to

sense,” Roger says softly. ” Honestly, it makes so much 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 as regent for

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

gathering my thoughts, “is the assumption that we’re making here that Xander wanted

must have found a way, somehow, to communicate your existence to his brother before, or directly after, his death