Chapter 12 Accusations
Adrian's face went carefully blank, the mask he wore in council meetings sliding into place. "Lila was sick. I helped her. There's nothing more to explain."
"Don't lie to me." Celeste's voice rose. "I've watched you for months. The way you look at her when you think no one notices. The way she turns pale every time you enter a room. The way you both pretend so hard to ignore each other that it's obvious something is wrong."
Lila pushed herself up from the floor, legs shaking. Her dress was wrinkled, her carefully braided hair coming loose. She looked like exactly what she was: a woman who'd just broken down completely.
"I was overwhelmed by the announcement." She forced steadiness into her voice. "Happy for you, but also emotional. Adrian heard me being sick and came to help. That's all."
"That's all." Celeste laughed without humor. "My husband abandons our celebration, finds you in a bathroom, holds you while you both cry, and that's all." She turned to Adrian. "Do you think I'm stupid? Do you think I don't see what's happening in my own marriage?"
"Nothing is happening." Adrian's jaw clenched. "Lila needed help. I provided it. Now we should return to our guests."
"Our guests can wait." Celeste crossed her arms over her stomach, the gesture protective and possessive. "I want answers. Real answers. Why do you care so much about my little sister? Why does she matter to you?"
Adrian said nothing. The muscle in his jaw worked as he fought for words that wouldn't reveal everything.
"Because I'm her family." Lila stepped forward, drawing Celeste's attention. "Because when I feel overwhelmed or scared, I think about home. About you. And Adrian is your husband, which makes him family too. He was being kind, Celeste. Nothing more."
"Kind." Celeste's eyes narrowed. "Adrian is never kind. He's dutiful. Respectful. Controlled. But kind?" She moved closer to Lila. "He doesn't comfort people. He doesn't hold crying women. He doesn't abandon important events to check on anyone." Her voice dropped dangerously low. "Unless that person means something to him."
"She's your sister." Adrian's voice came out rough. "Of course she means something. She's part of your family, which makes her part of mine."
"No." Celeste shook her head. "Family doesn't explain the way you watch her. The way your whole body goes tense when another man speaks to her. The way you fought the council to let her stay in the palace when they wanted her gone."
"The council had no right to exile her."
"The council had every right. She's a unmarried woman living in the palace with no formal position. They wanted her married off or sent home, and you fought them for weeks to keep her here." Celeste's voice shook. "Why, Adrian? Why does she matter so much to you?"
Adrian's hands clenched into fists. Through the bond, Lila felt his desperation, his terror that the truth would destroy everything. But he couldn't explain his actions without revealing the mate bond, and revealing the bond would be catastrophic.
"I won't send away an innocent woman just because the council is uncomfortable with her presence." His voice turned cold, kingly. "Lila has done nothing wrong. She deserves protection, not exile."
"She deserves protection." Celeste repeated the words slowly. "From what? From who? What does my little sister need protection from that requires the King's personal attention?"
Lila's mind raced. She had to say something, had to give Celeste a reason that made sense. "From gossip. From people like Lady Margot who spread rumors about me. From nobles who see me as weak and unimportant. Adrian has been trying to shield me from the cruelty of court life."
"How noble of him." Celeste's tone made clear she believed none of it. "My husband, the great protector of sad little sisters." She stepped closer to Adrian. "I'm not blind. I see how unhappy you are. How you go through motions of our marriage without any real feeling. How you avoid my bed unless duty demands otherwise."
Adrian flinched. Lila felt his shame through the bond, his guilt at being such a terrible husband.
"I thought at first it was just your nature." Celeste continued. "That you were cold by disposition. But you're not cold with her." She pointed at Lila. "You feel something when you look at her. Something real."
"Celeste, stop." Adrian's voice carried warning. "You're upset because of the pregnancy. Your emotions are heightened. But you're imagining things that don't exist."
"Am I?" Celeste's hand went to her stomach again. "Then explain why I've felt like the other woman in my own marriage since our wedding day. Explain why my husband treats me with distant respect while treating my sister with actual care."
"I care about my responsibilities." Adrian's mask cracked slightly. "You're my wife. You're carrying my heir. Of course I want you happy and healthy."
"You want me functional." Celeste's eyes filled with tears. "You want me performing my role adequately. But you don't want me." Her voice broke. "You've never wanted me. Not once in four months of marriage have you looked at me the way you look at her."
The accusation hung in the air, brutal and true. Lila wanted to sink through the floor. Adrian looked like he'd been struck.
"You're carrying my child." He said finally. "Everything I do is to protect that child and secure our kingdom's future. If I'm distant, it's because I'm focused on my duties as king."
"Liar." Celeste's voice turned to ice. "You're having an affair with my sister. I don't know when it started or how far it's gone, but I know something is happening between you two. And I will not tolerate it."
"There's no affair." Lila forced the words out. "I swear on the Moon Goddess, Celeste. Adrian and I have never touched inappropriately. Never kissed. Never done anything that would betray your marriage."
It was technically true. They'd held hands once. They talked through windows. But they'd never crossed the final line into physical betrayal.
Celeste studied her sister's face, searching for lies. "You swear on the Moon Goddess? You swear nothing physical has happened?"
"I swear." Lila met her eyes. "Adrian has been faithful to you in every way that matters."
"In every way that matters." Celeste's laugh was bitter. "But not in his heart. Not in the way he looks at you when he thinks I'm not watching." She turned back to Adrian. "I want her gone. Out of the palace. Out of the kingdom if necessary. I will not spend my pregnancy watching my husband pine for my little sister."
"No." Adrian's voice went hard. "Lila stays."
"I'm giving you a choice." Celeste's hands trembled. "Her or me. Your wife and child, or whatever this is with Lila. You can't have both."
"You're being irrational."
"I'm being a woman who knows her husband cares more about someone else." Celeste's voice cracked. "I'm being a wife who's tired of competing with her own sister for scraps of attention." She straightened, pulling together her shattered dignity. "Lila has one week to leave the palace. If she's still here after that, I go to the council. I tell them everything I've seen. Every look. Every moment. Every time you chose her over me."
"Celeste, please." Lila stepped forward. "Don't do this. Don't destroy your marriage over misunderstandings."
"It's not a misunderstanding." Celeste looked at her with something like pity. "You love him. Maybe you don't want to. Maybe you fight it every day. But you love him. I can see it written all over your face." Her eyes cut back to Adrian. "And he loves you too. That's the part that destroys me."
She walked to the door, paused with her hand on the frame. "One week, Lila. Then I go to the council and accuse you both of adultery. They'll exile you as a seductress. They might even annul my marriage to Adrian, which means my child loses legitimacy as heir." Her voice hardened. "So leave quietly, or we all burn together."
Celeste swept out of the bathroom, leaving devastated silence behind.
Lila collapsed against the wall. Adrian stood frozen, his careful control shattered. Through the bond, she felt his panic, his desperate scrambling for solutions to an impossible problem.
"I'll leave." Her voice came out hollow. "I'll pack tonight. Be gone before morning."
"No." Adrian moved to her. "You're not leaving."
"She'll destroy you if I stay. She'll go to the council with accusations that could fracture the kingdom. Your marriage will be questioned. Your heir's legitimacy. Everything you've built."
"I don't care."
"You have to care." Lila grabbed his arms. "You're a king. You have responsibilities that matter more than one person. More than me."
"Nothing matters more than you." His hands came up to frame her face. "Nothing."
"Adrian, please. Be reasonable. Let me go. It's the only solution."
"I have a plan." His voice dropped low, urgent. "Trust me. Don't leave yet. Give me time to fix this."
"What plan? What could possibly fix this situation?"
"I can't explain now. But trust me." His eyes burned into hers. "One week. That's what Celeste gave us. In one week, I'll have a solution. Just don't leave. Please."
Lila wanted to argue, wanted to demand details, wanted to make him see reason. But the desperate hope in his face stopped her. He looked like a drowning man clinging to driftwood, and she couldn't bring herself to let go.
"One week." She agreed quietly. "But if you don't have a real solution by then, I'm leaving whether you want me to or not."
Adrian pulled her into a brief, desperate embrace. "One week. I promise."
He released her and left quickly, returning to the celebration where hundreds of guests waited to congratulate him on his growing family. Lila sank to the bathroom floor again, exhausted and terrified.
One week. Seven days to find a solution to the impossible. Seven days before Celeste destroyed them all.
She didn't believe Adrian had a plan. She didn't believe anything could fix this mess. But she'd given him a week, and that meant seven more days of torture before the inevitable end.