Chapter 5 - The Bloodline Secret
|
The estate’s underground medical bay was sterile and blindingly white. Elias, the tech specialist Damian had called earlier, was drawing a vial of blood from Norah’s arm. She watched the dark red liquid fill the tube, feeling entirely detached from reality.
"This will take an hour to sequence," Elias said, adjusting his round glasses. "I'll cross-reference it with the founding clan’s genetic registry."
Damian stood by the door, arms crossed, his gaze fixed on Norah. "Has anyone else ever contacted you about your biological parents?"
"No," Norah said, pressing a cotton ball to the crook of her arm. "I was left on the steps of an orphanage in the middle of a blizzard. The nuns said I didn't even have a blanket. Just a small silver locket."
Damian’s eyes narrowed. "Do you still have it?"
Norah reached into her shirt, pulling out a delicate silver chain. At the end hung a tarnished locket shaped like a falcon with its wings spread. She unclasped it and handed it to Damian.
Damian traced the engraved wings with his thumb. The air in the room suddenly grew freezing cold.
"This isn't just a locket," Damian murmured. "This is the crest of the old regime. My grandfather's inner circle."
Elias turned away from his computer screens, his face pale. "Damian... the sequence is finished."
"And?" Damian demanded.
"She has the marker," Elias said, his voice trembling slightly. "But it's not a secondary branch. The marker is pure. Norah is the direct genetic descendant of Don Lorenzo Beluchcci. Your grandfather."
Norah felt the room spin. "That's impossible. Lorenzo Beluchcci had two sons. Your father, and your uncle."
May you like
"He had a daughter," Damian said softly, staring at Norah as if seeing her for the very first time. "Isabella. She was exiled thirty years ago for falling in love with a rival. All records of her were erased."
Damian stepped forward, holding the locket out to her. "You aren't just a secretary, Norah. You are the true heir to the Beluchcci throne."
