‘Obviously.’
‘Noneof you,’ she adds sharply, looking at Danya and Zaitsev.‘Promise?’
Zaitsev solemnly nods.‘Yes.’
‘Promise,’ Danya says, eating an apple slice.
‘Fine.’Blaire closes her eyes.‘Isabel had another child.’
‘Mimi?’
‘No.This child was born two years before Julian.A little boy who died after only a few weeks.’
Lachlan isfloored.‘I’ve never heard any part of this.’
‘Why would you?’
‘I just…’ He shakes himself.‘Does Jules know?’
‘No, and this is why I never told you before now because if Julian finds out, there is no reasonable way to prevent it from reaching his father.This knowledge was locked down into near non-existence.’
‘How doyouknow, then?’
‘Clara told me.’
‘Claratold you?’Lachlan echoes incredulously, mind reeling.‘Fucking hell.Wait, so, Julian isn’t the firstborn?’
‘No.’
‘How did the baby die?’
‘Clara said it was birthing complications, but there is no official record of the birth whatsoever.None.Isabel died having Julian two years later and, as you know, Julian himself was sickly.Alistair was so desperate to keep him alive that he founded Helixx.’
‘What was the baby’s name?’
‘Jean-Marie.’
Lachlan frowns to himself, wondering why the name sounds so familiar, the wrinkle ironing out when he makes the connection.Mari.
‘Who was Isabel?’
‘Isabel Seravienne was the eldest of three children born to the sovereign of Aurelion in his prime.’Blaire beats Lachlan to the punch, answering before he can ask.‘Aurelion is a small, forgotten principality in the Alps.It still exists technically.Sovereign territory, royal line, old treaties, all of it.But after centuries of escalating debt crisis, the country has vanished into economic dependency and obscurity.Twenty years ago, a deal was struck between the sovereign and Alistair.Isabel was the exchange.’
‘She was sold to him?’
‘Married to him in exchange for an inordinate amount of money.Not enough to revive the country, of course.Just enough for the sovereign to live in outrageous comfort for the rest of his rotten life.’
‘Wait,’ Danya says, looking at Blaire with a deep frown.‘Does that mean Charlie Foxtrot is royalty?’
Lachlan expects Blaire to shut down such a notion, but instead she nods and says, ‘By the rules of dynastic succession, he’s technically a prince, yes.’
Lachlan stares at her, thunderstruck.
‘Are you fuckingserious?’
‘Very.’
‘How could you not tell me this?’
