Laurel woke up, curled up to Adolph underneath the early morning sun. She blinked blearily up at him and smiled at how peaceful he seemed in the early morning light. Birds twittered nearby. The sun was just starting to warm the air. “Adolph?”One of his eyes opened and focused on her before he threw his arm over his face and turned to bury his face in her shoulder.“Go back to sleep before Chasel comes out to interrupt us with castle nonsense.”She snickered, “Oh no, Your Majesty… all the petal jam is gone.”He narrowed his eyes at her and seized her by her waist, tickling her until she shrieked. “You find such an event funny, do you?”She twisted, trying to get away from him and shrieking, “Forgive me, Your Majesty! I was merely joking!”He grinned, watching her laugh and squirm around beneath him. “Oh? Were you? I’m not sure if you’re being sincere in your remorse!”Chasel walked towards the guards he’d set up to keep a guard over Adolph and Laurel’s dinner the night before. The
If there was one thing Delia could be sure of, it was Basil's physical attraction. He was a man, after all. She eyed herself in the mirror, examining every inch of her naked form beneath her robe.She thought back to Eden's comment and huffed. She never thought she'd be reduced to trying to get pregnant by the idiot prince, but desperate times called for desperate tactics. She closed her robe and resolved herself to walk to Basil's chambers. She'd put off sleeping with Basil since they got married with excuses, but that ended tonight.She wondered if Laura had ever slept with Basil and sneered as the thought came to mind. She had no reason to compare herself to a dead woman who was too stupid to use her station to her advantage. The woman hadn't even needed to use any tricks to get there and she'd been ousted with ease.She walked down the corridor to reach Basil's room and found it empty as she entered. She looked around with a sigh before closing the door behind her and going to h
Basil swallowed, hazarding to ask. What he was implying was preposterous, but he needed to know for certain whether or not it was what he was expecting.“We?”Henry nodded, “We.”“But… what about the gardener?”Dorian shook his head, “You know nothing…”Basil flinched and Henry shoved Dorian, “Really Dorian? You’re as bad as your wife.”“That’s why we’re great together.”Liam snickered and Henry let out a long put upon sigh. While he agreed that Dorian and Irene were a match made, ordained, and blessed by the moon goddess, that didn’t mean he appreciated him stepping on Basil’s likely fragile ego. They’d all agreed that they would do their best to educate Basil as a favor to Adolph. The man had nearly lost his life several times over protecting them all and had lost over two decades of his life to a loveless marriage so that he and Raven could raise Liam in peace and safety. Whipping Basil into shape and undoing all the damage Gavin had done over the years was the least they could do
Sarah hurried to gather a simple traveling bag for Laurel. Chasel had given her very specific instructions about what was needed for the journey, so it was an easy task to complete. What worried her was that Laurel had barely said a word after Adolph found her, content to stare off into space for hours at a time without even glancing towards the door no matter what time of day it was. She hadn’t even asked about Lily and the movements of the castle. Sarah had reported to Adolph Laurel’s state and he promptly had Lily take over as much of Laurel’s duties as she could to give Laurel time to collect herself. Everything else was to be put on hold. Sarah agreed that Laurel was in no state to be working, but she didn’t know how to help her either. Sarah had tried to ask her, but Laurel had turned away from her, barely managing to say she didn’t want to talk about it before Sarah decided to leave her with her thoughts and focus on getting her things together. Maybe Adolph had something pl
Laurel and Adolph ate lunch and dinner with the priestess. She was a bit too tired to brave a tour of the temple, but Adolph escorted her to her quarters with a chaste kiss on her cheek and told her to sleep well. She didn’t remember falling asleep, but she awoke refreshed. She slept without dreaming and woke up calm. Maybe there was something to be said about the moon goddess’ presence in the temple. She had never felt so safe while being conscious before. She rolled out of bed and wiggled her toes against the warm stone beneath her feet. It was a bit weird, walking around barefoot, but she left her room in the plain white robes she'd been given. She walked down the corridor and found Adolph lounging beside one of the fountains reading a book. He looked up and smiled at her. “Hello, Laurel,” he said and sat up. “Did you sleep well?”She nodded. She almost didn’t want to get up. After several days of waking up screaming or not sleeping at all, she had begun to wonder if sleep would
It wasn’t an odd question, but the timing felt strange. He was serious when he said it was unlikely that the vampire queen’s forces would try to poison him again, but did she think that they would attack the capital? Or rather, did she believe that he couldn’t protect her?“Why?”Her lips twitched and she nodded at the depiction. Adolph looked at the window and winced. “You don’t think it’s just a metaphor?”“Can you handle a sword?” She asked with a wry smile. He sighed, “I suppose you have a point…”“If something happens,” Laurel said. “I don’t want to be a useless shield.”She looked up at him, “You wouldn’t begrudge me that, would you?”Adolph grumbled. She knew he would never begrudge her anything. “Very well,” Adolph nodded. “As soon as we get back, I’ll arrange someone to train you.”She smiled, “Thank you, Your Majesty!”He growled, backing her up against the wall and leaning in her space. Her face turned red and she let out a shuddering little breath. “Call me by name,” h
Sam stepped closer and took Laurel by her shoulders.“Breathe.” He said and watched her take in a deep breath and look up at him fearfully. “You were poisoned and spent a week in a coma. It is not unheard of that your wolf is still recovering from the ordeal. His Majesty couldn’t shift for a few days after being poisoned and you were exposed to a far greater dose than he was.”Laurel swallowed and nodded shakily, “O-Okay.”“When you can shift, we’ll start on that part of your training. For now, we’ll start with basic moves.”“Okay.”She tried to regain her calm as Sam lifted his fists and told her to mirror him. He corrected her posture and the grip of her fists kindly and guided her through the basics of how to throw a solid punch. Then, it was a kick. He moved on to a combo, showing her the proper way to hold her balance and how to move.It felt a bit like learning formal dances. She was almost grateful for the strict instruction from the etiquette teacher. Her balance wasn’t perfec
Laurel forced herself to breathe, her mind started to race. Eden was a vampire. Was he dangerous? Was he a spy or just taking refuge in the werewolf kingdom? Why would he be here if that were the case? His hands began to shake as the nurse came back with more towels, breaking the silence in the room. Laurel wrapped her hand in one of the towels and stood. “I should get this seen to,” Laurel said, “I’ll see you later, Eden!”He nodded, turning a kind smile on her, but the hunger in his eyes was still there. She hurried out of the backroom and snagged a bandage and rushed back to the castle.She went to her room and closed it behind her without a word before setting to pacing.How could Eden be a vampire? How had he managed to hide it all this time? Was he connected to the poison attempt? Was he connected to Laura's death? She stopped and shook her head. Eden had been nothing but kind to her. There was no real reason to suspect him other than being a vampire. In the same way that th