Page 58 of Legacy of Succession

The anger grows within me. This letter was from a woman four hundred years ago — my fate, and the fate of the generations before me, has been determined because of her decision. It ends now, though. Enough!

I jump to my feet and am at my bedroom door in seconds. I pull it open and jump back when my father stands there with a gun. The man who delivered the letter to me lays at his feet — dead I assume.

“Your mother always did like to interfere where it wasn’t needed. It’s why I had to throw her off the roof of Oakfield Hall.”

I growl my livid response and leap at him just as the gun goes off. Pain rips through my right shoulder, and I slump back against the wall.

“And this is why I’ve planned your succession the way I have. It’s all been a game from day one. Elizabeth knew she would be Duchess from birth. I only needed you present for the wedding to take place. Thankfully, Elizabeth’s father is a very helpful Bishop.”

My father looms over me, as I slide down the doorway. I’m trying to focus on him, but the world’s spinning and darkening.

“You were never destined to become the Duke of Oakfield. I was always going to be the one to take it on for another thirty years.”

He kicks me in the shoulder, and I grunt in pain.

“Your destiny was to die.”

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