Chapter 140: By Any Other Name

The name was familiar and horrifying all at once. She clutched her fist and fixed her expression to one of confusion. Stella was a poor, ragged rogue with no hope to do better, alone. She was Delia, princess of the werewolf kingdom, wife of the crowned prince, and future luna.
The guards looked at Delia and then her parents.
“Where the hell have you been, Stella?” Her father asked. “Cozying up to these land-stealers and half-breeds?”
“Who are you talking about?” Delia asked with as much confusion as she could manage. Her heart was racing.
“What’s going on?” She flinched at Adolph’s voice behind her.
“Sir, we’ve just returned from the border with these rogues… They have been calling Lady Delia by another name.”
“I don’t know a Stella,” Delia said stiffly, “W-Where is Basil?”
“His grandfather has taken him to the Mirabelle estate to help with preparations for MInister Mirabelle’s upcoming birthday,” Adolph said calmly. “I can only imagine that he will send for you soon.”
Delia nodded stiffly, “I-If you’ll excuse me–”
“Delia.” She froze at Adolph’s soft voice. “Look at me.”
Delia swallowed and turned slowly to look up at Adolph. Her heart raced in terror, yet his gaze didn’t seem angry. They simply seemed to be observing her, trying to peer into her mind. She didn’t want to continue meeting his gaze. If he looked at her any closer, he would know all the things she’d done and the truth.
“If you remember our conversation a while ago,” Adolph began. “Would you like to clarify what is happening?”
Her heart lurched. She thought back to their conversation and tried to parse through what she remembered she said. She’d kept it simple, hadn’t she? Whatever she said, she couldn’t remember. It would be easier to just call it all a lie.
Her eyes burned with tears of fear and panic.
Adolph watched Delia’s eyes go from anxious to outright panicked. Her eyes welled with tears and she let out a choked sigh, lowering her head and covering her face.
“I-I… I didn’t… I couldn’t… It was terrible, and I… I just didn’t want B-Basil to…”
Adolph looked over at the group, “Do you know her?”
“She’s our daughter!” The man said. “Stella, how could you come to the werewolf kingdom after everything we’ve taught you–”
“Because we had nothing and everything was horrible!” Delia cried. “I didn’t want to live like that any longer! I didn’t deserve to live like that because of you!”
The words rang true to Adolph, but here was something she wasn’t saying.
“Take them to the dungeons and have Chasel interview them. I will speak with Delia privately. No one is to speak further of this.”
The guards nodded and her parents cried out as they were dragged away. Adolph gestured ahead of him, “This way.”
Delia’s jaw trembled and she nodded, walking with him down the hall until they reached a parlor.
He opened the door allowing her inside, “Compose yourself. Have lunch here if you’d like then get ready to go to the Mirabelle estate to be with Basil. I will have a guard ready within a few hours.”
Delia sniffled and nodded shakily, sinking into a couch. He closed the door behind him and went to a nearby servant he recognized easily. Wilhelmina had been with the family as long as Maria had been.
“Serve her lunch and see to her needs,” he said, meeting her gaze. “Take stock of her emotional state and actions, but make yourself inconspicuous.”
She nodded stiffly, “It will be done, and I will report back to you.”
She straightened her spine and fixed a welcoming smile on her face before entering the room. He left the hallway and headed down towards the dungeons to find Chasel.
The guards nodded towards the half-closed cell where he could hear everything that was said.
“You claim that Lady Delia is your daughter, but what proof do you have?” Chasel asked. “If you are angling to gain some sort of leniency, then you’re wasting your time.”
“I know what my daughter looks like!” The man hissed. “Who is this Lady Delia that you’re talking about?”
“The crown prince’s wife and mate.”
A moment passed and the two of them burst into laughter, “Oh, yeah? Who knew our little Stella was such a cunning little thing!”
“How was it that you came to be separated from your daughter?” Chasel asked.
“We got into a skirmish with a human village.” The woman laughed. “She disappeared. We thought she’d been taken or something. We never guessed that she’d found her way all the way here…”
Chasel continued asking questions, but the more the two of them spoke, the more suspicious Delia became. She was young, so perhaps she wasn’t as far entrenched with the vampire queen as her parents, but as she had married into the royal family, that made her parents somewhat family.
He sighed, shaking his head. He couldn’t believe the mess his son had gotten them into. The great Raymond line entangled with traitorous werewolves and rogues of the fallen White Oak and Red Stone packs.
He’d need to go look through the family history to find out more about those packs and how they came to be rogues, but he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like it.
As the interview came to an end and Adolph had heard enough, he left and headed up the stairs to his chambers where Laurel was.
He wasn’t expecting to find her in the bathtub, lounging in cold water. Adolph lifted an eyebrow at her as her cheeks turned red. Her hair was piled up on her head and though he could feel the coolness in the bathing room, she seemed flushed.
“Don’t even ask.”
Adolph crossed the room, “Are you experiencing hot flashes?”
She pouted, “You knew this would happen?”
Adolph chuckled and slid to the floor to sit beside the tub. The metal of the tub was almost cold against his back. On the far table was the necklace from Eden, her charm bracelet, and her wedding ring.
“I was told by Raven a bit of what to expect.”
Laurel huffed, “No one told me! I’m so hot, Adolph, I don’t know what to do.”
Adolph chuckled, “Is the water not cool enough?”
“It’s lovely,” she confessed with a sigh, ‘I may stay in it all day, but the healer says that’s not good for the baby.”
“Hot water isn’t good for the baby or you for long periods, but if you’re running a fever, the cold water should be fine… You may get pruney though.”
She wrinkled her nose and leaned back against the cool side of the tub, peering at him out of the corner of her eye.
“What’s troubling you, my king?”
Adolph smiled, his eyes warming with desire, “... Call me that again.”
She flinched and shook her head, “I don’t think so. I’m hot and… you’re hot and… And I’m pregnant! Th-That can’t be good for the baby.”
He chuckled and reached into the tub to grasp her hand. Her skin was oddly cool and overheated.
“My mother would get this way when she was pregnant with Elizabeth,” Adolph said, wistfully. “She said this was the least favorite part of being pregnant.”
“And… what was her favorite?”
“Having my father wrapped around her little finger even more than usual.”
She laughed, “Your mother sounded like a character.”
“She was.”
“And you are stalling.”
Adolph’s lips twitched as he brought her cool fingers to his lips to kiss.
“I’ve… learned something about Delia.”
“What’s that?”
“She is descended from the White Oak and Red Stone packs.” His lips twitched, “Her parents are mated rogues.”
Laurel frowned, “What does that mean? I thought rogues didn’t have mates.”
Eden told her that there were only two ways to become a rogue: breaking a mate bond and succumbing to a blood aura. Did that mean that Delia’s parents had lost themselves to the blood aura?
“Rogues like them are different,” Adolph said. “They’re somewhere in between a blood aura rogue and someone who has lost a mate bond because their ability to make pack bonds have failed.”
“I wonder why Eden didn’t mention it…” Laurel said, “Is it possible that the Wiccans don’t know about it?”
Adolph shook his head, “They know… I’m sure he didn’t mention it because it wasn’t worth mentioning it, or maybe he didn’t know. The old packs who were not absorbed by the kingdom were thought to be dead.”
It was troubling that Delia had lied about it, but he couldn’t parse through the lie to see the truth.
“You’re worried?”
“A little bit, but more than that, Minister Mirabelle has taken Basil from the castle to prepare for his birthday.”
Laurel frowned, “... are you sure?”
“I’m sure that’s not all that he’s taken him for.”
Laurel nodded, “That means… he’s planning to invite us.”
“Yes.”
“And we… sort of have to go.”
He nodded, he squeezed her hand, “You will take the necklace and whatever safety talismans with us and keep them on your person.”
Laurel smiled and leaned forward, bestowing a cool kiss to his cheek, “Of course, dear husband.”
Her stomach churned at the look of concern on his face. She cupped his face.
“I won’t leave you.”
Adolph took her hand, “I won’t let you go.”
He’d kill them all if Laurel was taken from him. He knew that and worse than that, no one would be able to stop him. He shuddered.
He didn’t want that to happen, so he whispered a prayer that Gavin’s plan would fail spectacularly even as part of him knew that Gavin wasn’t the main threat that was spurring these dreams.