Chapter 10 - THE FALSE HEIR:
The young man’s name was Julian Crowe.
He was thirty-eight years old.
For most of his life, he believed Sebastian was his biological father.
Catherine had raised him for only a few months before Sebastian took control.
Victoria stared at her mother.
“You had another child?”
Catherine’s face filled with pain.
“Before you.”
“With King Alexander?”
“No.”
Sebastian laughed.
“Still protecting him?”
Catherine looked at Julian.
“You are not Alexander’s son.”
Julian’s weapon remained pointed at Adrian.
“Sebastian showed me the records.”
“He created those records.”
“He showed me photographs of you with the king.”
“I worked as Alexander’s military adviser.”
Sebastian tightened his hold on Victoria.
“Tell him the truth, Catherine.”
“I am.”
Catherine explained that Julian’s biological father was David Mercer, a Royal Guard captain who died while helping her escape Blackwater Hospital.
Sebastian altered Julian’s birth documents.
He raised the boy to believe he possessed royal blood.
The lie gave Julian a purpose.
It also gave Sebastian a replacement heir he could control.
Julian looked toward Adrian.
“You would say anything to protect your claim.”
“I have never wanted the throne,” Adrian said.
“Everyone wants power.”
“No.”
Adrian glanced at Lily.
“Some people want family.”
Daniel Hart moved near the wall.
Though weak, he listened carefully.
He noticed a red emergency switch beside the archive cabinet.
Victoria saw it too.
Sebastian demanded the drive.
Adrian placed it on the floor.
“Let Victoria walk toward us.”
Sebastian shoved her forward.
As she moved, Daniel struck the switch.
Fireproof shutters crashed between Sebastian and Julian.
Catherine pulled Victoria to safety.
Julian fired through the narrowing gap.
The bullet struck a cabinet.
Adrian grabbed the archive drive.
The team escaped through the wine tunnel with Daniel and the documents.
Sebastian and Julian fled toward the private airfield.
Catherine’s soldiers surrounded the runway.
A jet waited with its engines running.
Sebastian ordered Julian to shoot the guards.
Julian hesitated.
His entire identity had begun collapsing.
Sebastian struck him.
“You are the heir.”
Catherine stepped onto the runway.
“You are my son.”
Julian pointed his gun toward her.
“Why did you leave me?”
“I did not choose to.”
“You chose Victoria.”
“No.”
Catherine lowered her weapon.
“I searched for you both.”
Sebastian shouted.
“She is lying!”
Julian’s hands shook.
Victoria approached her brother.
She remembered him only as a blurred childhood dream.
For years, Sebastian told her that she had imagined the older boy who once sang beside her bed.
“You used to call me Little Star,” she said.
Julian’s face changed.
He remembered.
“You were afraid of thunderstorms,” he whispered.
“You hid under my blanket.”
Victoria took another step.
“You promised you would always find me.”
Sebastian raised his gun toward Victoria.
Julian turned and shot the weapon from his hand.
Soldiers rushed forward.
Sebastian ran toward the jet.
Adrian tackled him near the stairs.
They fell onto the snow.
Sebastian was older, but rage made him strong.
He struck Adrian with a metal flashlight.
Adrian rolled aside.
Sebastian reached for a fallen pistol.
Alexander’s voice sounded from behind them.
“Do not touch it.”
The king had arrived with a military escort.
Sebastian looked at the man he had imprisoned for sixteen years.
“You should have remained dead.”
Alexander stepped closer.
“You should have understood that truth does not remain buried.”
Sebastian smiled.
“Truth is whatever survives.”
Lily appeared inside the armored vehicle behind Alexander.
She watched through the window.
Sebastian saw her.
He grabbed the pistol and fired toward the vehicle.
Adrian threw himself into the line of fire.
The bullet struck his shoulder.
Catherine fired once.
Sebastian fell into the snow.
He was alive.
His weapon slid away.
Soldiers restrained him.
Lily ran toward Adrian.
Blood spread across his coat.
“You’re hurt!”
“I’m all right.”
“You got in front of the bullet.”
“So would your mother.”
Daniel and Eleanor were reunited at the command center.
At first, Daniel did not recognize her.
Eleanor sat beside him and hummed The Seven Stars.
He looked into her eyes.
Fragments returned.
Their hidden apartment.
The yacht.
Lily’s birth.
He reached for Eleanor’s hand.
“I tried to come home.”
“I know.”
“I forgot the road.”
“We found you.”
Lily entered slowly.
Daniel stared at her.
She was no longer the baby from his broken memories.
“You know who I am?” he asked.
Lily nodded.
“My daddy.”
Daniel fell to his knees.
She wrapped her arms around him.
For the first time in years, the family stood together.
Sebastian was transported to a military prison.
Julian surrendered.
He agreed to testify.
Edmund was arrested for conspiracy and kidnapping.
The archive files were copied to independent courts and international investigators.
Yet one problem remained.
The government feared the truth would cause national chaos.
The prime minister asked Alexander to delay publication.
“Give us time to protect institutions,” he said.
Alexander looked toward Adrian.
Sixteen years earlier, he might have agreed.
This time, he refused.
“Institutions that survive through lies do not deserve protection from the people they harmed.”
He ordered the evidence released.
Within hours, Valeria erupted.
Families gathered outside government buildings demanding information about missing relatives.
Former officials denied involvement.
Banks froze accounts connected to Project Nightfall.
Crowds surrounded the Royal Palace.
Some demanded the monarchy be abolished.
Others demanded Alexander return to the throne.
News networks called Lily the Lost Princess.
Her photograph from the ballroom appeared across the world.
The child who had been mocked for cheap silver hairpins became the most famous girl in Valeria.
Lily looked at the television and began to cry.
“I don’t want everyone looking at me.”
Adrian turned off the screen.
“You do not belong to them.”
“They say I have to be a princess.”
“No one gets to decide that except you.”
Eleanor entered the room.
Her memory remained fragile, but her voice was clear.
“The succession law may not give her a choice.”
Adrian looked toward his sister.
“What do you mean?”
Eleanor placed an old constitutional document on the table.
Because Alexander had been declared dead and Adrian had formally renounced royal succession when he entered international business, Eleanor became the lawful heir.
Her daughter followed her.
If Alexander resumed the throne, Lily would stand second in line.
If Eleanor was judged medically incapable, a regent would govern in Lily’s name.
The Royal Council had already selected a candidate.
Adrian read the name.
Prince Edmund Vale.
Despite his arrest, ancient law still allowed him to claim the regency until convicted.
Eleanor stared at the document.
“Sebastian’s conspiracy is exposed.”
“But Edmund may still win through the law.”
Adrian looked at Lily.
The little girl had survived poverty, abandonment, and kidnapping.
Now the same royal system that failed her wanted to use her as a symbol.
Outside, the crowd began chanting her name.
Lily Vale.
Lily Vale.
Lily covered her ears.
Then King Alexander entered the room carrying the crown everyone had killed to control.
He placed it on the table.
“There is one way to end the succession crisis.”
Adrian looked at him.
May you like
Alexander’s answer shocked every member of the family.
“We destroy the throne”:
