Chapter 125: The Prince’s Duties

“I think we should talk about the prince,” Laurel said as they lay in bed early the morning after they’d held open court.
Raven had been beside herself after the dinner was over, teary and emotional as she was shown back to her old rooms. Irene dabbed at her eyes and tried to maintain a brave face, but he had a feeling that Henry, Dorian, and Liam would all be dragged through the castle exploring all of their favorite places from their old studies to the gardens. The rest of his cousins would be doing the same, likely, happy to explore the castle with new eyes.
Maybe they would end up chasing a frog or two around the pond. Whatever they did, it would be nice to have more than him, Laurel, and Basil at formal meals going forward from time to time.
They would return to their packs at the end of the week to check up on things and carry on with their duties, but there would no longer be such a ceremony around them coming to visit.
He imagined Basil would be pulled out of his drunken stupor more often than not and, hopefully, before he could manage to reach for a bottle by his rambunctious cousins. He hoped so. He had never thought about how isolated Basil’s childhood had been.
He sighed and turned them in bed, pulling Laurel close.
“I think that man who owes you ten silvers said that you promised me *a lot of midnight picnics in the future and a lot of days off* for our honeymoon in the future as an apology.”
Laurel’s face turned bright red. She scowled and turned her head into Adolph’s bare shoulder.
“Yes… I did say that.”
“Has that man paid you?”
“He hasn’t had the time while in the *dungeons*!”
Adolph chuckled. If he had his way, he wouldn’t ever have the time, but that was wishful thinking. He strove to be fair in his reign and for all the commotion kidnapping Laurel had caused, Eden’s movements had done more good than harm for the kingdom.
As much as he was loath to admit it.
“Well, just as well…” Adolph said, nuzzling her, “What are you thinking?”
“Given how Prince Basil has behaved and been educated…” Laurel began, “I don’t believe that he is ready to do much of anything on his own.”
That went without saying.
“However, he will never learn to be if he is not forced to do so.” Laurel said, “I believe if we can… keep Minister Mirabelle busy trying to protect himself and hold on to power for as long as possible, we’ll have the time to pry his claws out of Prince Basil.”
Adolph listened, his lips twitching. He wondered if these thoughts had been ones she’d had during her life as Laura or if they were completely new.
“When I was Basil’s age, I worked with the ministers of justice and peace for military and civil affairs.”
His lips twitched thinking back. His father hand shoved the job on him to get the military in order shortly after he’d finished his training and it was clear that Morrigan would be bringing war to their border. He’d argued and threatened the ministers to increase the military budget for better armor for the warriors and weapons as well as higher pay. He’d been the reason for the literacy requirement in the military as the minister of general affairs had cut the budget for general education.
He needed soldiers who could read and write messages and plans for intel and operations.
“Were you involved with any civil sentencing?” Laurel asked, stroking his hair.
Adolph growled in satisfaction at the feeling of her fingers through his hair.
“Yes, several… Treason too.”
She swallowed, “Your mother’s death?”
Adolph nodded. It had been a dark time, but he had not disagreed with his father’s decree and had even carried out the displaying of the body though his father had actually executed the people behind her death.
“Do you think he could handle sitting in on some of the civil trials with you? Maybe while you held an open court?”
Adolph groaned, “You want to stick him in court with me?”
“Minister Mirabelle has tried to put him in a very narrow mold of what it means to be prince, but all Prince Basil wants is to make you proud.” Adolph lifted his head to meet her gaze. “He looks up to… I think he will follow your example and do his best to learn from you given half the chance.”
He held back his questions about how she knew that, knowing that she would likely deny the possibility that she had once been his daughter-in-law.
“I think it’s probably the one thing that Minister Mirabelle was counting on not being an option.”
Adolph narrowed his eyes, “You think he never intended for me to come back from war.”
She didn’t respond, but he didn’t need her to answer. A feeling at the back of his mind poked at his suspicions. Gavin may have not been prepared to murder before, but with things as they were, he would be more inclined to do whatever it took.
He nodded, “I’ll take him to court with me… among other things.”
Laurel smiled, “Sounds like a plan.”
Adolph shook his head, “Why did you ask about Laura?”
She flinched, “What?”
“When Eden was dying… you asked him if he killed Laura… How do you know she was killed and it wasn’t an accident?”
Her heart raced and he waited for her to come up with a plausible lie, interested in her reaction.
“You… don’t think it's strange?” She asked tentatively. “She just happened to run off into the forest and end up over a cliff after being divorced?”
Adolph listened to her heart ease, “Coincidence maybe. Suicide?”
She scoffed, “I doubt she and Prince Basil had such a loving relationship that it drove her to that.”
“Oh?”
“He divorced her on the day of his engagement… and married within a few months of her death.”
“That’s Basil’s feelings for her… and his immaturity. What of her?” He lifted his head to meet her gaze.
Her heart sped up and she tried to remain calm. There was something in his eyes that told her he was asking a very different question than the one he posed.
“Is there… something you want to ask me, Adolph?”
His lips twitched and he leaned up, pressing a kiss to her lips, “I have asked all that I want to know.”
He sat up in bed, “I can only assume you asked because of the attempt on your life. It would stand to reason that if someone was trying to get rid of you, they would have wanted to get rid of Laura as well.”
“... well, what about Delia?”
He chuckled, “Delia has never been named luna. She wouldn’t be a threat until that was official and it would be too obvious to kill her right after killing Laura…. It might not have been Eden’s hand moving things behind the scenes, but the person behind it isn’t stupid.”
Though they could be desperate. Adolph tilted his head thoughtfully and stood from the bed.
“Since you are determined to still do work today,” Adolph said and offered his hand, “Shall we begin the day? Breakfast?”
Laurel took his hand and nodded, “I was planning to take Delia to the orphanage to help with registration.”
Adolph laughed, “I see you have your own entertainment planned for the day!”
She winced at the thought and glowered as Adolph continued to laugh. Of course, he got to laugh. Basil adored him and if he even hinted at wanting to teach Basil something, Basil would happily trail after him like a little duckling.
Laurel was certain that Delia hated her. She probably hated Laura too to some degree, though Laura was a much smaller threat to her. She scoffed at the thought, Laura hadn’t been a threat to her at all, no matter how Basil was acting now.
The thought gave her pause. Why was Basil acting like that if they were mates? They already had a mating bond due to the ceremony, Laurel knew that. There was no reason that Basil should be seemingly pining over Laura now.
It didn’t make sense, but it wasn’t her problem either. Whatever went on in Basil’s life wasn’t her business in so far as it didn’t interfere with her and Adolph’s plans for the kingdom.
“Go ahead and laugh,” Laurel pouted, “But when you have to get Basil onto a training pitch…”
Adolph grimaced, his nose wrinkling with distaste. He wasn’t looking forward to it. He had considered pawning the duty off on Chasel or a general that Basil had annoyed at some point or another. Even Dorian or Henry were options, but Laurel was right.
He was the best option to get Basil to fall in line quickly and without complaint.
“I’m not looking forward to it.”
Laurel smiled and kissed his cheek, “You’ll be fine… but say a prayer to the goddess for me?”
Adolph chucked and kissed her lips, “You are always in my prayers.”
She beamed and headed out the door to formal breakfast with him.