They Broke the Duke's Bastard, Now She Is His Only Heir novel · Chapter 20 of 24
Chapter 20: Two Rings
"I will tell the court what I know," the Duke said again.
His voice shook, and then it steadied.
"Father," Odette said sharply. "You are unwell. Sit."
"No."
He turned from her, and he faced the King.
"Your Majesty, I have been given a draught every night this week by my own physician at my daughter's order. It makes me forget my own name. I have taken none of it since last night. I have a clear head, and I am going to use it."
Odette's smile came apart.
"Guards," she said.
Not one of them moved.
The King lifted a hand.
"Let him speak."
The Duke put his hand on the bench to hold himself up.
"Twenty-five years ago I married a seamstress in the abbey of St. Verren. Her name was Marit Ashdown. We were wed by the old chaplain, with two witnesses, before the hawthorn altar."
A rustle went through the Hall.
"I wed another woman two years later, on my father's order and for my father's debts. I knew the first marriage still stood. I told no one. I let my wife die in a kitchen, and I let our daughter be raised as a servant's child."
He pointed at me with a trembling hand.
"Liora Ashdown is my only lawful child."
I did not move.
I had known it since the abbey, and it still hit me hard in the chest.
"Liar," Odette said. "He is a liar."
"Here is the proof," I said, and my voice came out steady.
I put the cedar box on the clerk's table and took out the brown paper.
Doran set the lower half beside it, the half the abbey clerk had pulled out of the fire.
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