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“The Duchess of Kintyre and Lorne is Ambrose Stewart’s sister?” he gasped.

Hugh nodded. “Ambrose promised me a great alliance should I marry her,” he said. “But he lied. He lied about so many things. Marjorie wasna a wife; she was a dictator. She tried tae manipulate everything I did and told her brother everything that happened in my household. Ye must understand something, Titus… I loved yer mother. Whatever ye think of yer birth, know that ye were conceived in love. Marjorie knew this, and when ye were born, it was she who sent ye and yer mother away tae get ye both away from me. She could never be the wife I wanted and she could never be the woman I would love, and she knew it. Marjorie was a bitter, nasty woman.”

Titus was coming to learn a great deal, more than he ever expected to know about himself or his origins. It was shocking and it was horrific, but as he looked at Hugh, he could see that he was the one who had really taken the brunt of Ambrose and Marjorie Stewart’s vitriol.

Hugh was the real victim in all of this.

“Bloody Christ,” Titus muttered. “Then it was Marjorie who made sure I was seized away from my mother’s family when I was a wee lad and taken hostage by Ambrose.”

“’Tis true,” Hugh muttered, reliving those horrible memories. “By the time I found out about it, there was nothing I could do. They had ye. I tried everything I could tae get ye back – money, property – everything. But Ambrose kept ye. He said it was insurance against me. As the years went on and Ambrose told me that ye hated me, I just stopped trying tae contact ye.”

Titus could see it all so clearly, but there was still part of him that was wounded by it all, wounded that his father perhaps didn’t fight harder for him.

Wounded because he had always felt unwanted.

“He told me ye wanted nothing tae do with me,” he said. “That was all I ever knew of ye. And my mother’s family told everyone I was a servant’s child. Did ye know that?”

Hugh nodded. “I did,” he said. “They said that tae protect ye because the brother of a king has many enemies.”

“That was the only reason?”

“I swear tae God it was the only reason.”

“What about my mother? Where is she now?”

For the first time in the conversation, Hugh didn’t appear so distraught. “She is well,” he said. “Ye’ve not had contact with her in many years, I’m told.”

Titus shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “Once I was taken away from her and spent those years at Culroy, I never heard from her. I thought it was because she dinna want anything tae do with me, but now I’m coming tae think that Ambrose burned anything she might have sent me, also.”

Hugh nodded at the sad realization. “I know yer mother wouldna have let ye go without a word. She loved ye deeply.”

Titus was feeling all kinds of turbulent emotions, more so when it came to his mother. “I’ve not forgotten her,” he said. “I’ve fond memories of my childhood with her, and there were times when I missed her. But I dinna return tae her when Ambrose released me.”

“Why?”

“Because I was free. I dinna want tae return tae my mother and her family and become their burden. I had tae find a life for myself.” He shrugged. “And mayhap the fact that I hadna heard from her the entire time I was at Culroy had something tae do with it.”

Hugh sighed faintly. “Titus,” he said quietly, “I know she sent missives tae ye, but ye never responded tae them and, much like me, she thought ye dinna want anything tae do with her.”

Titus’ brow furrowed. “How would ye know that?”

“Because Marjorie died around the first of the year,” Hugh said, watching Titus closely for his reaction. “I married yer mother two months ago.”

Titus’ eyes widened. “Ye married my mother?”

Hugh nodded. “Aye,” he said. “That makes ye my legitimate heir.”

Titus’ jaw dropped. “Are ye serious?”

Hugh dipped his head. “I swear I am,” he said. “But no one could tell me where ye were, least of all Ambrose. He dinna want me tae find ye. But I did, and here I am tae make sure ye know the truth. Even if ye never want tae see me again, I thought ye should know. I thought ye should know everything.”

By now, Titus had calmed down a good deal. He could recall a few momentous occasions in his life – when he was taken to Culroy Castle, when he was released from Culroy, when he was brought to the Ludus Antonine, and when he married his wife. But this moment… this one ranked among the biggest events in his life. His very own father, a man he thought had hated and disowned him, was telling a dramatically different story than the one he had always believed, and Titus could see that the root of all of his troubles, the seed of all his evils, was Ambrose Stewart. A man who was still trying to ruin him.

A man who had already ruined his father.

After a moment, he shook his head.

“I dunna even know what tae say,” he said. “’Tis as if everything in my life has been a lie, and the anger I feel towards Ambrose threatens tae consume me. I dunna know if it’s an anger I can control.”