Chapter 24: The Dress

She had closed the box, put them on her table, and gone to bed without much preamble. In the morning, she called Sam and Lynn to her chambers.
“Good Morning, Miss Laurel,” Sam greeted. “How can we help?”
“Good Morning. If you could return all of this to His Majesty that would be wonderful.”
She gestured to the stack of boxes and the invitation’s envelope on top. Sam and Lynn glanced at each other and winced.
“Well…” Lynn started.
“I’d be happy to do anything for you, Miss Laurel,” Sam said, giving her a tense smile. “But we would rather be dropped into a den of vampires without a sword than return what the king gave you.”
“But—”
“No one can refuse the king's kindness.” Lynn shuddered, “Doing so would only make him angry.”
Laurel wasn’t sure what to make of it. Why were they all so afraid of him? The common people’s fear was a bit more understandable, but Sam and Lynn had been on the battlefield with him. Surely, they knew him well enough not to fear him like this.
With a sigh, she nodded, “I understand…”
She couldn’t return the gown and things, but she still didn’t plan on going, let alone being Adolph’s date. It was a marriage ceremony, not a dance party. The only woman who should be with the king on such an important occasion would be his queen and luna. If she did agree, what would people think of her? She could only imagine how long it would take them to find out about Jack and jeer at her. They’d call her a shameless seductress using her father’s death to get close to the king.
She knew this well enough, but could she return it all herself and refuse Adolph on her own? She’d have to. If she couldn’t send Sam and Lynn, she certainly couldn’t send Sarah. If Adolph was going to be upset, it would be best to make sure he was only upset with her. She picked up the boxes and the invitation carefully. Squaring her shoulders, she left her chambers and went to find the king’s office.
A guard stood nearby.
“Where would I find the king’s office?”
He looked at her strangely. A pair of maids walking down the corridor glanced at her and whispered as they turned the corner. She pursed her lips as the man seemed unable to answer her and continued down the hallway. A noble she recognized from her past life eyed the stack of boxes with interest but said nothing.
“Excuse me, where would I find the king’s office?”
The man paled and scurried away, stammering out something that was supposed to be an answer, but Laurel couldn’t understand.
She kept walking, rounding the corner and wishing she hadn’t started on this quest as Basil and Delia walked towards her. She kept her head low and watched them out of the corner of her eye.
As she expected, Basil’s gaze didn’t even glance at her, likely thinking she was just a maid.
Delia, however, stopped and stared at the boxes in her eyes, likely recognizing the brand of the dressmaker.
“Servant,” Delia said. Laurel bit back a sneer of annoyance at her tone. “This dress was sent to my room, I want to wear it tomorrow.”
Laurel looked at her in surprise. She almost laughed. She hadn’t known much about Delia in her past life beyond the circumstances of her arrival in the Imperial City, but listening to her now, she felt ridiculous. Pretty, she may be, especially dressed in all the nice fabric that Basil could manage for her, but she was also incredibly stupid and arrogant.
She and Basil were made for each other.
She inclined her head, “You must be mistaken. I am returning this dress to His Majesty, King Adolph. You would have to ask him for the dress.”
Delia flinched, her eyes widened a bit and she looked at Basil. The fear in her eyes was obvious, but seeing the way Basil looked at Delia only angered Laurel.
“How dare you lie in my presence, girl,” Basil glared at her. “It is a woman’s gown you are carrying. It could not be meant for my father.”
His tone grated her nerves and did her best to keep her tone pleasant.
“Your Highness,” she grit out, her voice sounded tight and impatient. Basil’s eyes widened and his cheeks flushed. “I am returning this to His Majesty. Join me if you are so certain that I’m lying.”
“You—“
His voice broke off and he narrowed his eyes before widening with recognition. Laurel’s heart sped up and she kept her gaze on him. She forced herself to remain calm. There was no way he would know she was Laura.
“Isn’t she… the woman the king invited to dinner the other day?” Delia asked.
Basil nodded, agreeing. He remembered her now. His father had told him that she was his mate, but Basil hadn’t paid much attention at the time. This close, he looked at her from head to toe: beautiful, bold, and somewhat vulgar.
There was no way this common girl was his father’s mate. She had more in common with the mistresses of the nobleman than someone worthy to stand beside his father. Still, it was clear that she was smart enough to seduce his father. What else could it be? How could his father fall for this young woman after years of being faithful to his mother’s memory? There were far more beautiful women in the kingdom with better attitudes and breeding.
He sneered at her, “I cannot believe a thing you say. Maids, come take these packages to Delia’s room.”
Laurel scoffed at his arrogance, clutching the packages in her arms. If it were some other nobleman or anyone else, she may have surrendered it all without a fuss and just told Adolph about it later, but this was Basil and Delia. Hadn't they taken enough from her?
She growled at the maid who approached her. The woman flinched away.
“This was given to me by the king! You can't just take it away—“
Basil frowned, “Why would my father give such expensive things to you? You are so vulgar--”
“Oh, really?” Laurel sneered back, “Does being in a castle and wearing fancy clothes stop a man who takes wrongly from another from being a thief?”
Basil froze for a moment. His eyes widened as he stared at her as if she had slapped him.
“Who is the rude one here? A young woman minding her business or the well-dressed thieves?”
There was something familiar about her that he couldn’t exactly put his finger on. There had only been one woman who had ever defied him: his late wife, Laura.
“How dare you insult the prince?” Delia screamed and turned. “Guards! Come and take this girl away!”
Delia lunged for the boxes, knocking the stack in her arms down. Laurel bent over to try to close the boxes and pick them up, but Delia grabbed the sleeve of the gown and pulled.
A loud rip cut through the air and silence followed.
Laurel’s jaw dropped open at the sight of the torn sleeve and her heart clenched with anger and grief. She hadn’t planned to wear it, but it had been a gift from Adolph. She admitted to having entertained an elaborate fantasy about wearing it and walking into the ceremony on his arm.
She would have been the most beautiful woman in the room on the arm of the most handsome man. Delia would have looked paltry by comparison and seethed with jealousy. She would watch Basil and Delia get married at Adolph’s side as if the matter didn’t concern her.
It had been a sweet revenge fantasy; she’d indulged in just a little bit the night before. When she’d been tempted to try it on, she packed up the boxes and forced herself to go to bed.
She grit her teeth. When she’d been luna, she’d had no way to beat Delia, but as Laurel, she could have at least have that little victory if she’d been willing to take it, but now, that was even less of a possibility because of Delia and Basil’s arrogance and stupidity.
It had been the same arrogance and stupidity that had driven her from the palace.
“What happened?”
A familiar voice, seething with anger and commanding, came from behind her. Delia paled. The maid scurried back several steps, and Basil seemed frozen.
She turned around to look up at Adolph. His eyes widened and he kneeled beside her, cupping her face. There had to have been something in her expression to make him do so.
“Laurel, what’s wrong?”
She felt her eyes burning with tears and them coursing down her cheeks, but she didn’t know how to answer him.