Chapter 136: Ambition & Fear

After the Wiccans were gone, Delia had no choice but to stop putting off working with Maria on the orchard expansion. It burned her pride to even consider working in the orchard, Laura's pride and joy, but until she was sure she was completely safe, she had no choice.
The sun was oppressive overhead, making Delia sweat before she had even managed to reach where the old gates had been.
She sneered at the ruptured earth where the gate had been anchored. It had been so easy to get Basil to put the gate up. She hadn’t even had to whisper much in his ear for him to think it would please her. Now, he rarely even looked at her, let alone sought to please her.
She marched past the entrance and further into the orchard towards where people were congregating. As she walked, it seemed that every stray speck of dirt attacked her silk gown, turning her beautiful gown into a filthy mess around the hem before she had made it to where Maria was directing people.
Maria turned to her and gave her a helpless smile, "Lady Delia, perhaps… next time you should wear something a little more suited to the task."
She glared at the woman, "As if I would own rags."
Maria gave her a slight smile, "Well, all in good time."
Delia clenched her jaw, sneering at her. She thought she was funny, but as soon as Delia had enough power, she’d make her regret such insolence.
"Don't you have work to do?" Delia asked, “What are you doing standing around?”
Maria chuckled, "Of course, I was waiting on my last worker. Her Majesty was clear that you would be assisting in this."
She placed a basket of seeds in her hands and pointed into the distance.
"Just past the treeline is where you'll be."
Delia clenched her hands around the basket and turned sharply towards where she pointed. She broke the treeline to where a vast open field was full of freshly overturned dirt.
The sight infuriated her more, but she lowered her head and walked to the nearest servant. The man smiled at her warmly.
"So glad to have you, Lady Delia!" He said.
She didn't recognize him and barely listened to him as he explained that all she had to do was sprinkle the seeds. He hummed a soft song as he worked a few feet behind her digging up a trough. She threw the seeds as directed. The wind was cool as it swept over the little area. It made her think of a time in her youth when she and her parents had come upon a field just being sown and hated their luck. If they had come earlier or significantly later, they could have made off with the harvest.
After a lifetime of hearing how her father’s pack was cheated out of what should have been theirs and her mother complaining about the life they should have been living, Delia had stopped listening to them complaining and took steps to do something about it.
Her first step had been leaving them behind, and every step since had led her to Eden and Basil.
Her heart clenched in a bit of grief. Eden was gone and all she had now was what she had started with: her beauty and her cunning.
She looked back towards the trees. She could simply give up on having it all now. After all, when Adolph stepped down, Laurel would no longer be luna. So long as she remained married to Basil, her life was guaranteed to remain as carefree as it had been since she’d come to the capital.
Even if she didn’t become luna and Basil was forever just a prince, it was eons better than living on the edge of survival or bowing to that psychotic woman who would have just as soon slit her throat as send her on this mission.
Her fists clenched at the thought. She swore she saw Laura’s ghost standing nearby, looking the same as she had been the night Basil banished her from the castle.
What would happen when Basil met his real mate? Delia didn’t know. Eden had never mentioned how the potion would work then. He hadn’t explained much of anything about the potion either.
She couldn’t allow that to happen.
She couldn’t even let Basil get the chance to throw her out the way he’d thrown out Laura.
Contentment was just as good as losing. The only thing she could do now was to move forward.
She had to get rid of Laurel.
With Laurel gone, Adolph would lose his mind and Basil would become king.
Then, she could get rid of Basil.
She smirked as she tossed the rest of the seeds over her shoulder and ditched the basket.
She had better things to be doing than pretending she cared about this orchard.
She several murderers to plan.
Determined, she left the orchard and headed back to the castle without anyone seeing her. It wouldn’t be easy to kill Laurel quickly, but as long as she got rid of her before the baby was born, everything would work out.
“Stop fighting, you psycho!”
Someone roared and thrashed, “Let me go!”
Her heart clenched in terror and she ducked around the corner to avoid being seen. The scent that drifted down the hallway was familiar as a woman’s voice filled the air.
“What do you want from us?”
“You already know what you’ve done! Move!”
Delia swallowed, leaning to just barely peek around the corner and she gasped. The guards were shoving people in ragged clothing forward. She recognized the style as belonging to the rogues of the neutral zone who were connected to the vampire queen.
She used to wear clothes like that, but she burned them all as soon as she’d ensnared Basil.
Though they were filthy and smelled like the dust that drifted from the canyons around the vampire’s lands, there was no mistaking their voices and faces.
Her mother and father, their entire pack, were in the capital being hauled to the dungeons.
Her heart was racing with anxiety and she hurried away towards the upper levels and to her room.
What were they doing here? How long would they be here? Would they be executed?
She hoped so. This was just as bad if not worse than someone from Eden’s group still being alive and identifying her. At least the werewolves in league with the vampires would be invested in protecting her in the hope that the plan still succeeded.
Her parents were too stupid to know to shut their mouths.
Damn. What was she going to do?
Could she sneak down at some point and slit their throats before they had a chance to speak? Would they even mention her? If they did, what did it matter? They didn’t know her as Delia. No one did except for Eden and he was dead.
She didn’t like the possibility that she would be brought in for their sentencing and they wouldn’t shut their mouths, either. Maybe she could get Basil to keep her out of it.
She worried her lip and thought of Basil. He hadn’t been as drunk as he had been in the days leading up to their wedding, but he wasn’t exactly sober either. Short-tempered and mean-spirited, she couldn’t be sure if he would help her or just ignore her.
She flopped on her couch with a sigh as her jaw trembled.
If Eden was here, he’d have a plan in place. He would have just killed them outright and made sure that no one even knew he’d done it. She closed her eyes, exhaustion made her limbs heavy and soon she fell asleep.

Basil walked quickly through the halls. Adolph’s question had pressed on something in the back of his mind and refused to let him stay asleep for long. Something was wrong. Why couldn’t he remember the last time he’d shifted? It couldn’t have been that long ago.
He pushed the thought away and the mounting fear away as he turned and walked out into the garden. He walked deeper into the garden until he was certain he was alone and closed her eyes, reaching for his wolf to let the shift take over.
Nothing happened. Fear trickled in a slow, cold bead of sweat down the back of his neck. He looked up at the full moon and worried his lip.
If there was any time of the month that it should have been easy for him to shift, it would be tonight.
He closed his eyes and breathed out. He’d been stressing himself out a lot lately. The alcohol and the guilt probably hadn’t been helping, but that was no excuse for how he wasn’t shifting now.
His wolf didn’t even stir as he reached for the shift, straining as if wading through a pool of thick mud.
Nothing happened.
An alpha wolf who couldn’t shift was practically useless. He shuddered as he heard some argument from what felt like a lifetime ago at the back of his mind.
His father couldn’t find out about this. He just had to keep it hidden until whatever was wrong with him went away.
How long could it last?