Chapter 100: Midnight Ball

Laurel couldn’t sleep that night. She had a decent day, but she couldn’t find a restful position, so she rose from the bed and pulled on her dressing gown. Often, she’d take a walk around the castle in her past life trying to calm her mind and find some peace. She walked through the guest wing and down to the ground floor, passing the gallery that faced the garden just behind the palace before she felt someone in the shadows.
Her heart quickened, wondering if it was Laura’s killed. She rounded the corner and grabbed a candelabra before she whirled, setting a fighting stance to defend herself and gasped as Adolph smiled at her.
He hadn’t expected her to try and arm herself, but he was impressed. She had truly come far in her training to think to do so or even to notice him. He hadn’t meant to sneak up on her, but his footsteps were light out of habit.
“I’m impressed you noticed me.”
“Y-Your Majesty, forgive me. I didn’t know you were there….”
“No need to apologize,” he said. “I was looking for you.”
She frowned, "How did you know I was awake?"
Adolph hummed, "A feeling, I suppose."
He offered her his arm and they entered the main ballroom. Most of the decorations for their wedding were up. All that was left were the garlands that would lead the way through the gardens to the temple site behind the castle. To her knowledge, they were still working on gathering the flowers for them and they would be completed in time.
She trusted Raven’s ability to manage the process with Irene and the support of Lily and Sarah. She wondered how the temple was coming along and almost wanted to see it, but she refrained from trying to go down the path.
It would be best to wait to see everything on the wedding day, and she had a feeling that seeing it before would make it feel too real and send her into another panic attack.
She shuddered. She didn’t want to go back into that spiral of panic.
"Would you honor me with a dance?"
"A dance?" Laurel asked. "But… there is no music."
Adolph chuckled and took her by her waist, leading her into a simple waltz around the room. She couldn’t remember dancing much in her past life. Whenever Basil threw a party, he often ignored her in favor of dancing with noblewomen. She knew how to waltz, of course, but it was different being whirled around by Helena with crisp instructions and having Adolph’s heat burning along her front.
Her heart swelled at the easy intimacy of dancing with him. Even dancing with Eden hadn’t made her heart race. She supposed it was because of the nature of the dance and the nature of the men.
“Music? My father would say music is just pretty dressing. Dance is between two lovers.” Adolph grinned, “I happen to agree if the partner is right.”
She chuckled, “Oh?... You don’t speak about your parents much.”
He nodded, “It is… not the easiest topic, but I find what joy I can in their memories…”
Laurel nodded, “If it’s not too much, tell me.”
Adolph grinned, “When I was young, on nights I couldn’t sleep, I’d come down to the ballroom. My mother and father were fond of midnight balls.”
“Midnight balls?”
He nodded, thinking back on it fondly. His father and mother would be alone in the ballroom, waltzing without music, speaking quietly to one another, laughing, and simply enjoying each other’s company away from the prying eyes of the court. He remembered watching them and feeling such comfort in their obvious love for each other.
“They were deeply in love it sounds like.”
He grinned, “They were. My father lived every day like he was still courting her, and she adored him until her last breath…”
When she’d been found dead, his father had been surrounded with red light, flickering and furious that hadn’t stopped even after he found the culprit and displayed his body as a warning to traitors. For a while, they weren’t sure if he would keep his sanity. He went to the front lines with Adolph to work off some of the aggression.
All his father had asked of him as he lay dying was to have his ashes interred alongside his wife. It was a request he’d fulfilled with a heavy heart. The kingdom had never been the same after his death, but Adolph had done his best to lead his people the way his ancestors had.
“I look forward to having our version of midnight balls together,” Adolph said. “How do you feel about picnics?”
Laurel chuckled, her fingers rippling against his shoulder. A little shock of anxiety went through her at the thought of the future. Would she survive this marriage? It was a thought she didn’t like to think, but one she had to consider.
“Do you remember what I told you about the temple’s grounds?”
Laurel nodded and he looked up at him. His blue eyes were searching her face, likely looking for fear or apprehension. She didn’t know what she was feeling at the moment.
“I moved the location of the ceremony for that purpose, but I want you to talk to me about how you’re feeling.”
Laurel shook her head and leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder.
“I understand why you moved it… I read somewhere that the jam made with lunar flowers also acted to neutralize a lot of the poison.”
“Oh?”
“It’s not an antidote, but it stops it from being lethal… Maria’s jam saved my life…”
Adolph smiled, “I think that every time I eat it.”
She shook her head, “Really, Your Majesty?”
He laughed, “I am a simple man at heart.”
Laurel chuckled. He was surprisingly more complex and simpler than she had ever imagined and she loved it. Petal jam and blood auras, tenderness and bloodlust: she loved him.
Laurel sighed, “I am scared… nervous, and hesitant about taking the position of luna, about standing at your side when it seems that people want to kill me…”
She wasn’t sure how long that list was or if it was growing longer without her knowing.
“But, I don’t want to let my fear stop me, or us, from being happy.”
Adolph smiled, looking down at her, “What a marvel you are…”
She smiled and let him whirl her around for a bit longer. She told him more stories of his childhood and she gave him a bit of what Laurel’s childhood seemed to be like from the letters she’d written to Jack. She kept it vague and as close to the details as she knew for certain to be safe.
Adolph had known Jack personally, so there was no telling what sorts of stories Jack had told him about Laurel before they met. They danced for hours, it seemed before she started to feel tired. Adolph kissed her cheek, thanked her for the dance, and led her back to her suit.
“I think midnight picnics wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Laurel said and yawned, “To stay out all night under the stars like before.”
He chuckled, “I am glad you liked it.”
“Though I’m not opposed to midnight balls either,” Laurel grinned. “They’re both quite nice.”
He escorted her back to her chambers and paused at the door.
“I was actually hoping to present you with this gift,” he said reaching into his vest.
“Oh, Your Majesty, please…”
She gasped as he showed her the object. It was small, seeming no longer than a quill, though it was gleaming in the moonlight and well-wrought. Moonlight and scenes of butterflies and flowers covered the outside of it. The little strap that went with it was made of fine leather and seemed too big to be meant for her leg or arm.
“As a celebration of your progress in training,” he said as she pulled it apart to reveal the thin, gleaming blade.
“A dagger?” She looked up at him. “Sam mentioned that he would be teaching me to wield one…”
“It’s meant to be concealed in your gowns. My mother had one like it… I’d like you to keep it on you at all times and get used to having it as your training progresses.”
She slid the dagger back into the sheath and nodded, “I will. Thank you.”
Adolph nodded, “I’ll be sure to keep far enough back that you won’t accidentally stab me the next time you wander around the palace.”
She pouted at him, “It is not kind to tease, Your Majesty.”
He chuckled and pressed a kiss on her forehead, before grazing their lips together.
“Goodnight, Laurel.”
“G-Goodnight, Your Majesty.”
He smiled as she opened the door and ducked inside, peering at him as she closed the door slowly. He sighed leaning against the wall as his heart fluttered before turning and heading to his suite for some much-needed rest.