Chapter 85: Desperate Tactics

If there was one thing Delia could be sure of, it was Basil's physical attraction. He was a man, after all. She eyed herself in the mirror, examining every inch of her naked form beneath her robe.
She thought back to Eden's comment and huffed. She never thought she'd be reduced to trying to get pregnant by the idiot prince, but desperate times called for desperate tactics.
She closed her robe and resolved herself to walk to Basil's chambers. She'd put off sleeping with Basil since they got married with excuses, but that ended tonight.
She wondered if Laura had ever slept with Basil and sneered as the thought came to mind. She had no reason to compare herself to a dead woman who was too stupid to use her station to her advantage.
The woman hadn't even needed to use any tricks to get there and she'd been ousted with ease.
She walked down the corridor to reach Basil's room and found it empty as she entered. She looked around with a sigh before closing the door behind her and going to his bed-chamber. He wasn't there either.
Where could he be?
She sat on the bed, worrying her lip and trying to calm herself. Maybe he was heading back or talKing with his father. There was no telling.
She waited And waited until the door finally opened. Carefully, she arranged herself on the bed, allowing her bare legs to show through the slit of her robe as he entered the room.
Basil stopped, feeling her presence, and turned to stare at her for just a moment before the tension in his shoulders eased. Delia smiled at him and leaned forward, letting the robe slip from her shoulder.
“Hello, alpha…”
Basil blinked at her. Eyeing her carefully. She smelled good, the perfume wafted around the room, filling the air with a cloying scent. Her hair was down the way he liked and she was naked beneath the robe, yet his blood didn’t burn, his heart didn’t stir.
His wolf scoffed at the way she addressed him and turned away, unwilling to see anymore with such disdain it made his heart clench.
He turned his head to the mirror on the far wall and in it saw a nervous, young, sweet Laura standing beside the bed in a long white gown. He recognized the vision from the night of their wedding. Tina had deposited her in his room after she changed from the wedding ceremony. Her face had been red and bashful, sweet and innocent.
There had been only anxiety and hope in her eyes.
*“Y-Your Highness, I…”*
*“Who told you to come here?” Basil asked, looking at her. “Get out.”*
*Her eyes grew glossy, but she ducked her head with an apology and escaped without another word.*
He swallowed the pang of guilt that went through him and looked back at Delia.
“I know I…” Delia tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, looking down, a bit bashful, but her eyes seemed different. He couldn’t say what it was. “Have been putting it off, but I want to try…”
He approached the bed slowly and she leaned up, getting onto her knees and allowing the robe to slip off her other shoulder, nearly baring her breasts. She was beautiful looking up at him, a dream for someone, but the sight of her felt painful.
He sat beside her and cupped her face gently. She leaned close, her dreamy eyes drawing him in. How easy would it be to forget it? To slip the robe off her shoulders and lose himself in the pleasure of being with her?
Easy.
Something flickered in her eyes, a little bit of triumph that burned him and he drew back before his lips had grazed hers. He turned away from her.
“You should… You should return to your room, Delia.”
She gasped, “B-But alpha… I thought…”
She swallowed, her eyes burning with tears of frustration as she tried to keep her voice sweet and pleading. After months of salivating over the idea of getting into bed with her, he was pulling away from her like this?
“I thought you wanted me,” Delia said softly, making her voice tremble. “Do you not want me anymore?”
Basil couldn’t answer that question. He didn’t know what he wanted anymore.
“It’s not that, Delia,” Basil said gently, “It’s… just been a long day, and I have to get up early in the morning…”
His lips twitched wryly as he started to unbutton his shirt, “I wouldn’t want to… have to cut it short because I can barely keep my eyes open.”
Delia pouted, “I haven’t seen you all day…”
He sighed and sank into the chair beside his vanity and pulled off his boots. He was so tired he didn’t even want to bother calling a servant to run him a bath or undress him, content to do it himself just to speed up the process.
*What would Laura think of that?*
He winced at the twinge of pain that came with the thought.
“I’m sorry, Delia,” he said. “I’ve been with my father’s side of the family all day… They’ve been demanding, to say the least.”
His head was spinning with Raven’s voice, lecturing him about the history of the Raymond family. He didn’t know what to make of it. His grandfather had never mentioned anything they talked about and he had to remember it all for the sake of his future.
His father knew all of these things. At least, that is what Raven said and there was no one he could trust more to tell the truth about his father than his aunt.
“Well, you’re the prince,” Delia said. “You should just not go.”
Basil froze, “Not go?”
“Yes,” Delia said, “They can’t make you do anything. Who are they but a bunch of leaders from packs that you’ll be over when you take the throne… Aren’t you already above them?”
Basil looked up at her with a frown and narrowed eyes, “I would never shirk my duties towards my position.”
Delia flinched at his tone and drew back. Basil lowered his head and went back to undressing.
“And it’s insulting to think I would,” Basil said as he stood, “I don’t know what this is all about or how my grandfather could have forgotten this part of my education, but if my father needed to know it to become the king he is, I have to learn it as well, and I will.”
He went to his bathing chamber, “Good night, Delia.”
Delia stared after him, bristling at the clear dismissal in his voice. She pulled her robe closed and took in a shuddering breath. The panic began to rise, but she fought it down until she could stand and return to her room.
She’d messed up. She had to fix it and change her behavior. She didn’t have any aid helping her now, obscuring her mistakes from his eyes. He was thinking and seeing far more than he had before and likely ever had. She had to be careful.
If she couldn’t regain control over him, it would all be over for her and that couldn’t happen.

Basil went to bed mere moments after Delia had left his room, grateful that she had not seemed to want to fight as he was pulled into sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
He was awakened by the stern voice of an older attendant who had once worked at the castle and was now a member of the Black Mountains pack.
“Your Highness, please wake up or I will be forced to use drastic measures.”
He groaned and turned, looking up at the older man with a glare. His body ached, but he sat up and looked at the man before rubbing his eyes.
“Excellent,” he said. “If you would please dress casually, I will escort you to where Alpha Henry and Alpha Dorian await you.”
He grunt and rolled out of bed, exhausted though he slept through the night. He dressed in his most casual attire, careful to put his most worn boots on and try to comb his hair in one direction before following him.
He followed the man to the door leading to the garden. Henry was eating some sort of roll and Liam was laughing, high and relaxed. Looking at them, he felt oddly overdressed. Their clothes weren’t full of holes, exactly, but they were dingy as if the dye had been washed from them. Their boots were older and covered in mud.
How could they be seen this way? Were their packs in such dire straits?
Henry grinned at him, “Morning! How’d you sleep?”
Basil grimaced, “Not long enough.”
Liam nodded, “You’ll get used to it. Breakfast?”
Basil nodded and Liam offered him a satchel. He frowned at the bag and took it before reaching inside and pulling out a warm roll wrapped in cloth.
“Maria’s the best,” Henry said, his eyes twinkling. “Come on, we’re already running a bit close to time.”
Basil wanted to ask what he meant, but the scent of the bread and hot meat made him put the roll in his mouth and follow them without question. They walked past the portions of the garden he knew about and had visited often until they reached an overgrown section.
He didn’t know the royal gardener to slack off.
“Ah, I see what she meant. Well, it could be worse.”
Liam snorted, “You’re only saying that because you love mother so much it would hurt you to speak against her.”
“As it should hurt you.”
Dorian scoffed, “Well, she’s not my wife and I say her description was a gross understatement.”
“What do you mean?” Basil asked. “What is this place?”
“This is the site of the old temple, the royal temple to be specific… I’d say we could have it back up to standard within a month.”
Basil froze. What could that possibly mean?