THE EXILED PRINCE SON-IN-LAW STRIKES BACK
Thirty days. That's how long I have before my uncle crowns himself forever.
Twelve years ago, he murdered my parents, burned our palace and sent his soldiers to hunt a sixteen-year-old prince through the snow.
I survived. I hid. I waited.
Now I'm the useless son-in-law of the Ashworth family, a poor refugee with no name worth saying. My mother-in-law calls me "the stray." My wife's cousin makes me park the cars at family parties. And my wife married me only because her family needed a husband for appearances.
They have no idea that every night, while they sleep, I move money, soldiers and secrets across three continents.
Then my uncle went on television and announced that he will dissolve parliament and rule Kestrovia alone.
The clock started.
If I strike too early, his assassins will kill everyone I love. If I wait too long, my country is gone forever.
And tonight, at the most glamorous ball of the year, my wife is dancing with my uncle's spymaster.
They called me a stray.
They're about to kneel to a king.
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Chapter: Chapter 10: A Name on the Guest ListThe frame of Winter Over Kestrograd came apart in my hands at two in the morning.After the auction, the fake painting had been put back in its crate in the loading bay of the auction house, waiting for Rask Energy's van to collect it in the morning. Nobody guarded it. Who guards a fake? The only person in the building was the night porter, and the night porter had keys to everything.I knelt beside the crate with Sasha on the phone in my ear and a small screwdriver in my hand. Carefully, I loosened the four corners of the golden frame. The bottom piece was heavier than the others. When I tapped it, it sounded hollow."There," Sasha breathed in my ear. "That's it. Open it."Inside a narrow hollow, sealed with old wax, was a single sheet of thin paper, folded small. I slipped it into my pocket, closed the hollow, tightened the corners and laid the padding back over the painting exactly as it had been.An hour later, in the room beneath the bookbindery, I unfolded the paper under the la
Last Updated: 2026-10-30
Chapter: Chapter 9: Raven HoldingsTO THE BOARD OF ASHWORTH FINE ART AND AUCTIONS.The words appeared on the giant screen one line at a time, white on black, and the whole showroom fell silent to read them.AS OF 9:41 THIS EVENING, ALL DEBTS OF ASHWORTH FINE ART AND AUCTIONS, TOTALING THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS, HAVE BEEN PURCHASED FROM ITS CREDITORS BY RAVEN HOLDINGS.Someone gasped. Beatrice grabbed the back of a chair.THE DEBT WILL NOT BE CALLED TONIGHT. THE FAMILY WILL HAVE FIVE YEARS TO REPAY IT, AT FAIR TERMS.ONE CONDITION APPLIES.ALL DECISIONS REGARDING THIS DEBT WILL BE MADE BY MS. VICTORIA ASHWORTH, AND BY HER ALONE.RAVEN HOLDINGS.The screen went black.For a long moment, nobody in the room said a word. Then the auctioneer, Mr. Pell, lowered his wooden hammer very slowly to the podium, as if it had suddenly become very heavy."Well," he said into the microphone. "I believe... I believe the Ashworth family is not going anywhere tonight."The room burst into noise again, louder than before. Buyers turned to eac
Last Updated: 2026-10-30
Chapter: Chapter 8: Five Years Old"Stop the sale."Her voice wasn't loud. It didn't need to be. In the hush of the showroom, it carried to every corner.The auctioneer froze with his hammer in the air. "Ms. Ashworth?""I'm sorry, Mr. Pell." Victoria walked to the podium and laid her hand gently on his arm. "Please put the hammer down. This painting cannot be sold tonight."Three hundred people stared at her. A murmur ran through the room, rising fast.In the front row, Beatrice's face went white. "Victoria," she hissed. "What are you doing?"Victoria didn't look at her mother. She turned to face the buyers."Ladies and gentlemen, the Ashworth name has stood behind every painting sold in this room for two hundred years. My great-great-grandfather built this house on one promise: that we never sell a lie." She took a deep breath. "Tonight, I have to keep that promise."She nodded to the technician at the side of the stage. He looked confused, then pressed a button.The giant screen behind her changed. The snowy city van
Last Updated: 2026-10-30
Chapter: Chapter 7: The Night of the Auction"The landlord of my old flat," I said. "He says I still owe him for a broken window."Victoria didn't move from the lift. The purple flashlight hung from her hand."At midnight," she said flatly."He works nights. Like me."She looked at me the way she'd looked at the back of that canvas, slowly, carefully, searching for the place where the paint didn't match. I held still and let her look."Go home, Leon," she said at last. "It's late.""I'll lock up.""I'll lock up." She stepped out of the lift and walked past me toward the back door. Then she stopped with her hand on the handle and spoke without turning around."Leon. If someone wanted to warn me about something, but couldn't tell me to my face... why do you think that would be?"I was quiet for a moment. "Maybe they were afraid you'd stop listening if you knew who it was."Her shoulders went still. Then she opened the door and walked out into the night.The next three days passed in a blur of gold paper and polished floors.Victor
Last Updated: 2026-10-30
Chapter: Chapter 6: A Note on Her DeskThe note was only six words long, in plain capital letters.CHECK THE BACK. UNDER PURPLE LIGHT.I printed the three photos on the old machine in the auction house's back office at five in the morning, before anyone else arrived, and folded them inside the note. Then I let myself into Victoria's office with the cleaner's key and laid the envelope in the middle of her desk, on top of the Spring Auction catalog with Anton's painting on the cover.Her office smelled like old paper and coffee. Books about painters filled every wall. On her desk sat a small framed photo of her as a little girl, standing in front of a huge painting in this very building, holding her grandfather's hand.I left and locked the door behind me. My heart was beating faster than it had in a fight. Strange, how a small piece of paper could be harder to carry than a painting.At eight o'clock, Victoria arrived, as she always did, before everyone else. I was in the hallway outside her office, on a ladder, changing a l
Last Updated: 2026-10-30
Chapter: Chapter 5: The Ashworth MuleThe next morning, I came back to Ashworth Hall at seven to find my things on the lawn.Not all my things. I didn't own much. Two driver's suits, a grey coat, a few shirts, a shaving kit and a box of old books. Someone had carried them out of my small room above the carriage house and dumped them in a pile beside the garden shed at the bottom of the lawn, next to the lawnmower and the bags of fertilizer.Beatrice stood on the terrace in a silk robe, drinking coffee."Oh, good, you're back," she said. "I've given your room to the new gardener. He's a hardworking man, and he deserves it. You'll sleep in the shed from now on."I looked at the shed. Its door hung crooked on one hinge. "The shed.""You'll be leaving by summer anyway." She sipped her coffee."Does Victoria know?" I asked."Victoria agreed it was sensible." Beatrice smiled. "She didn't argue at all. Doesn't that tell you something, Leon?"I didn't know if it was true. With Beatrice, it rarely was. "You may as well get used to
Last Updated: 2026-10-30
