Chapter 69: Damn rumours!

Adam

It was really tough training to be king, but I loved it. What I didn’t like, especially after my sister found her mate, were all the questions. Why was there such a huge rush to get me hitched and settled? Wasn’t I settled enough?! It was beginning to feel as if people didn’t think you were stable unless you were hitched with kids!

I hoped people would be focusing on my sister now that her betrothal ceremony was the next big thing, but the complete opposite was happening. It was as if it made them focus even more on the fact that I hadn’t found my mate!

“Hey son. What’s up?” My dad smiled as he and my mom walked into the office. I whipped around feeling my cheeks turn bright red instantly and sighed.

“Hi, baby boy.” My mom kissed me on the cheek.

“Good morning. Nothing much. Just ready to dig in.” My voice wavered and I quickly looked away. I couldn’t stand having them question me as well. All I wanted to do was just get to work.

Arora

Luke and I had been discussing what we were about to tell Adam for a while. He still hadn’t found his mate, and it was causing unnecessary rumours and strain. Besides, we were ready to retire. In many packs, the alphas handed over their titles when their sons were pretty young. Luke and I wanted to make sure as much as possible that Adam was ready for the responsibility. He wasn’t just going to be in charge of one pack. He was going to be our next king.

When we walked in, I could see he was in deep thought and I could only guess it was about the rumours. You shouldn’t miss them! We sat down, and I looked at Luke, who nodded.

“Son, your father and I have decided that it’s time for you to become king.” There was no other way to say it. I watched as shock registered, and then pure joy filled our son’s eyes.

“I’m honoured, but why now?” Adam frowned. We figured he would ask, and we have never lied to our children.

“Well, son, we feel that you are ready.” Luke shrugged as if that would answer Adam’s question and that would be that, but he clearly overestimated his powers of persuasion.

“Look, I appreciate that the two of you have so much trust in me and I don’t want to offend you, but don’t you have enough on your plate as it is? Helena’s mating ceremony is around the corner. If we had to change gears and start arranging my coronation at the same time …” Adam reminded me again of why Luke and I decided the timing was right. Our son grew up in the past couple of years. He was no longer the hormonal teenager that chased the next high in life.

“Well, we feel that we can handle it. Your coronation isn’t such a big thing to arrange since the protocol is already in place. The same with your sister’s ceremony.” I shrugged. It was a lot of work, but we went through far worse. Adam studied us for a moment and then a huge smile burst out all over his face.

“Congratulations, son.” Luke was the first to get up and hug Adam. I knew we had made the right choice when Adam’s first reaction was to make sure we weren’t taking on too much. We called Helena and her future mate and informed them of our decision and Helena was ecstatic.

If her reaction was anything to go by, I could rest assured that the coronation would overshadow any of the rumours that were going around. It would give the people something positive to discuss rather than wondering why our son hadn’t found his mate yet. I spent the rest of the morning with Helena finalizing the last of the details of her betrothal events before digging into the coronation arrangements with Adam.

It was going to be a tight couple of months, but we picked a date for the coronation and that was that. I had fought so hard to become queen, and now I was about to hand that over to my son. It felt strange, but good. Luke and I hadn’t told the children yet, but we had already picked out a suite on the other side of the castle.

I wanted to redecorate it before we handed everything over to Adam. Luke and I wanted to retire in a place that felt like home. A part of the castle where we could just be the old queen and her prince. Where we could have breakfast in our pajamas if we wanted. We also wanted to give Adam the royal chambers. If he was going to be king, he deserved to have the best bedroom in the castle.

Over the next couple of weeks, things happened fast. We attended all of Helena’s balls and picnics and I could see true love grow between her and her mate with each passing day. Our daughter looked happy and even Luke calmed down eventually. Our rooms were finished a week before the coronation, and we had the staff move all of our things over each time Adam wasn’t in the castle.

Two days before his coronation, we were finally ready and officially handed over our old bedroom. Helena and her mate were going to move to another floor in the castle, which meant Adam would have the entire floor in that wing to himself. Everything was changing again, but for the better.

On the morning of the coronation, Helena and I got ready in our suite while the boys got ready on Adam’s floor. When we met up at the main staircase, I smiled. I was proud of our little family. As we made our way down the aisle in church, I could see that our people were proud of us.

It filled my heart with hope for the future when our son walked down the aisle a couple of minutes later, looking every bit the king he was about to become.