“There was a loud crash,” she said. “By the time I got to the hallway, he was lying at the bottom of the stairs. Rachel was standing at the top.”

She closed her eyes, reliving the moment.

“She looked at me, Emily. She didn’t look sad. She looked completely cold.”

“Did she push him?” I asked.

“She told the police he tripped over the rug,” my mother said. “But she threatened me. She said if I told anyone about the argument, she would make sure you never returned from your deployment.”

I felt a cold rage settle deep in my chest.

“She kept me in a private clinic in the countryside for years,” my mother continued. “Drugged. Lonely. I didn’t know where I was.”

“How did she get you into the palace?” Alexander asked, stepping closer.

“When she got engaged to you, she moved me,” my mother said. “She said she couldn’t risk the clinic being searched by foreign journalists. She smuggled me in during the estate renovations last month.”

Alexander looked physically sick.

He turned to his guards.