I leaned forward, heart hammering. “Tell me.”
She took a slow breath. “Your mother didn’t die just from complications of childbirth. Reginald made sure of that. He found out about her relationship with Sebastian and the truth about your paternity. He started poisoning her slowly,small doses in her tea, in her food. She figured it out too late. In her last letter to me, she begged me to protect you and to make sure you never ended up under his full control.”
The words hit like a punch. I felt the blood drain from my face. “He killed her?”
“Not quickly. But yes. He poisoned her.” Evelyn’s voice cracked. “She wrote about the pain, the weakness. She knew she wasn’t going to make it, so she made plans. She reached out to me, asking me to watch over you. That’s why I became your maid. I was n
