CHAPTER 13: THE SON WHO CAME HOME
CHAPTER 13: THE SON WHO CAME HOME
Returning home was harder than escaping.
Noah had his own bedroom in the palace.
It had blue walls, shelves of books, and windows overlooking the gardens.
But he slept on the floor for the first month.
Beds felt too soft.
Closed doors made him panic.
Footsteps in the hallway woke him instantly.
Evelyn never forced him to behave like a prince.
She sat on the floor beside him.
She left the door open.
When nightmares came, she stayed until sunrise.
One night, Noah asked the question she had feared.
“Did you have another child after me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because losing you took up all the space inside me.”
He thought about that.
“Do I have to become the heir?”
“You don’t have to become anything.”
“But everyone keeps calling me Prince Oliver.”
Evelyn reached for his hand.
“What name feels like yours?”
“Noah.”
“Then Noah is your name.”
“What about Oliver?”
“That is the name I gave you when you were born. You can keep it, change it, or carry both.”
He smiled slightly.
“Noah Oliver Ashbourne.”
“It sounds perfect.”
The Duke recovered slowly.
He walked with a cane and complained constantly about his doctors.
Noah adored him.
Clara moved into a protected residence near the palace and began attending school for the first time.
Elias also survived.
He received a royal pardon for the crimes he had been forced to commit inside the network.
When Noah visited him at the hospital, Elias tried to sit up.
Noah hugged him before he could speak.
“You kept your promise,” Elias said.
“What promise?”
“That you would find the woman from the photograph.”
Noah looked at Evelyn.
“I didn’t just find her.”
He smiled.
“She found me too.”
But outside the hospital, reporters were waiting.
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One shouted a question that changed the peaceful moment.
“Lady Evelyn, is it true the royal council refuses to recognize Noah as the legal heir?”
