Jack (Eidolon Black Ops #8) - Maddie Wade Page 0,62

now, he wasn’t ready.

Jack had always sought his father’s approval, but it was his mum he turned to for love and guidance. She had been, and still was, the bedrock of the Granger family.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Carolyn Granger was sitting up in bed when they arrived at her bedside. Jack bent to kiss her soft cheek and she reached for his hand. “Hey, Mum, what you up to?”

“Scaring myself half to death apparently.”

Jack and Will took seats on either side of her after Will had kissed her too. “You took ten years of my life as well.”

Her cool blue eyes so much like his own met his, and she gripped her hand, the once strong woman looking older and more fragile than he’d ever seen her. “I’m sorry, son.”

“Hey, don’t be sorry, just concentrate on getting better. We need to help you out more.”

Jack looked at Will, who nodded. “He’s right, Mum. How about you come to stay with Brey and me for a while until you feel stronger?”

Carolyn looked at him with some of the fire in her eyes, and he saw a glimpse of the woman who’d chased him up the stairs with a wet dishrag when he gave her lip as a youngster. “I’m not an invalid, and I can take care of myself, thank you very much. I just need to make a few changes, that’s all. This has been a long, arduous night, but I have some things I need to say to you both, and it is well overdue. I should have told you earlier, but a promise bound me. Now it’s time for that secret to be shared.”

Jack frowned and looked at Will, who shrugged his shoulders.

“What is going on, Mum?” Jack felt a knot form in his gut, a premonition of some revelation that couldn’t be unsaid, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear it.

“Back when Victoria was on the throne, she had a protective guard consisting of a small group of men who weren’t part of the official royal guard. They were her own secret group who’d do her bidding and keep her safe from all who would harm her or her family.”

“Like what we do?” Jack nodded his understanding, wondering where this history lesson was going.

“Yes, exactly like Eidolon. The first man who led her guard was called Alfred Granger, and he was your great, great, grandfather.”

Jack felt his eyebrows hit his hairline and saw by his expression that Will was equally surprised by this news. “Wow.”

“Indeed. Alfred was a great man who was loyal and honest, and he had three children, two sons and a daughter. The children would often play at the Palace, or so it is told, and his oldest daughter Eliza was good friends with the princess who would become Queen Louise. But Eliza would often take her younger brother Albie to play with them, as they were close in age. Evidently, Albie and Louise fell in love, and she had a child, a son, but they could never be together, and Eliza was sworn to secrecy. The child was given to Phillip, Eliza and Alfreds oldest brother to raise as his own with his wife barren it worked out perfectly and Albie was assured his child could keep the family name. Eliza and the Queen remained close until the day she died. Eliza documented all of it in her diaries which were unearthed long after her death.”

Jack looked down at his feet as the implications of this story began to unfold in his mind and all of the ramifications that were coming to light.

“That child was your grandfather. The men of the Granger family continued to serve the reigning Monarchs of the family until your father. He got it in his head that he had a claim on the throne and was deemed by the Queen to be unfit to serve as part of her protection. So for the first time in a couple of generations a Granger was overlooked. As you can imagine that didn’t sit well with him.”

Jack stood, his brain struggling to quell the tension in his body that needed an outlet. He paced the small cubicle as Will sat back in his chair, looking as shocked as he was.

“So, let me get this straight. One, our family have always served as the Queen’s guard, which is why she approached me.” He ticked each point on his fingers. “Two, we have royal blood and are what? Distant cousins of the Queen? And three,